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Homegrown Slips to Grow Your Own Sweet Potato Vine

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Looking for unique garden ideas?  Did you know you can grow your own sweet potato vine?  You just have to grow a slip off of an organic potato that you already have!  How cool is that?  They make for some wonderful fresh garden produce!

 

Homegrown Slips to Grow Your Own Sweet Potato Vine

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We live in Utah and my husband is a big sweet potato fan, so we grow them.  Last year when we were at the nursery getting a few starter plants, he asked about sweet potato starters.

 

The person who was working told him they didn’t have any because sweet potatoes don’t grow well in Utah’s climate.  My husband then proudly proceeded to tell her that he had grown them successfully the previous year!  So humble 🙂

 

sweet potato vines

 

Since we weren’t able to get sweet potato slips from the nursery last year, we had to make another plan.  You can order sweet potato slips from catalogs or online…or you can grow your own.

 

Last year he ordered some sweet potato slips, but this year growing them has been a fun little project for us.  Growing sweet potato slips is fairly easy to do.

 

Once you plant your slips you can just grow them indoors until it gets really warm outside.  Sweet potato vines grow best in a warm climate (warmth is really important!), with some sun and some shade.  Once it is nice and warm, you can transplant the sweet potato vines in your garden.

 

One of my college roommates, who is an amazing gardener, tried growing them in the Portland area and it was just too wet.  However, if you live somewhere that is nice and warm, you’re golden!  If you want to try growing your own sweet potato slips, I can help you!  Let me tell you how it is done!

 

How to Grow Slips for Sweet Potato Vines

 

Start with an organic sweet potato.  Yep, from the grocery store.  Make sure it is organic, though.  Avoid genetically modified sweet potatoes.  They may not work because they aren’t designed to reproduce.

 

Smaller-sized (a couple of inches in diameter) organic sweet potatoes work better for growing slips than large ones.

 

Submerge half of the organic sweet potato in a cup of water, using toothpicks to hold it in place.  The other half of the sweet potato should be sticking out in the open air.

 

Let your slips grow in a warm place, like near a window where there is good sunlight or near a radiator that is in use.

 

You see those little purple sprouts coming out of the sweet potato?  Those will be the slips (they are purple because we grew purple sweet potatoes).

 

sweet potato slip

 

Remember:  Unless you live somewhere that is warm all year round, grow them in indoor gardening containers until after the last frost and you are sure it will stay plenty warm outside.

 

sweet potato vines

 

When the sprouts have four or five leaves, separate them into slips that you can plant (that’s what my husband is doing in the picture below-pulling the purple sprout off of the sweet potato).

 

sweet potato vines

 

When the time comes to transplant them, the soil will need to be well-drained and loose.  Loosen the soil about 5 inches deep and a few inches around where you are planting the slips.  It is important that there is no significant resistance in the soil or they won’t grow well.

 

When transplanting into the garden, we break off the bottom couple of leaves and then plant the slip in the soil with the upper 1-2 leaves sticking out of the ground.  (If you don’t have the land for a garden, you can also grow them in large containers or flower pots.)

 

That’s it!  Easy as that! Be sure to follow my gardening board on Pinterest!

 

Sweet Potato Vines

 

See you next time!

Deb

 

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Kathy

Tuesday 28th of May 2019

I have great success cutting them in half and setting the cut side about a half inch deep in a pan of wet soil. A 9x13 disposable aluminum foil pan will hold about a dozen halves (6 taters). Keep the soil moist. If any slight mold forms, spray lightly with hydrogen peroxide. Be patient. It takes mine 6-8 weeks.

Debra

Friday 31st of May 2019

Those are great tips!

Kathy

Tuesday 28th of May 2019

How are you supposed to know if a grocery-store-bought sweet potato is organic or genetically modified? Or if it's been treated to not sprout (most have been)? Instead, buy your sweet potatoes to plant from a farmer's market in the late summer or early fall and store them.

Debra

Friday 31st of May 2019

That is absolutely another option. But organic certified at the grocery store works, too. :)

Kathy

Tuesday 28th of May 2019

And install a 15-foot fence if you have deer nearby. Sweet potato vines are crack cocaine to a deer. Or string 3 or 4 strands of 30# clear fishing line on posts. The deer can't see 30# clear line, and touching it spooks them. Don't tie anything to it, or they will know how high to jump.

Debra

Friday 31st of May 2019

That's a great suggestion. I live in suburbia, so deer never crossed my mind! We just have to keep our chickens away from the garden!

A DIY Folding Workbench & 6 Gardening DIYs & Tips + Funtastic Friday Link Party | ambient wares

Saturday 11th of March 2017

[…] Homegrown Slips to Grow Sweet Potato Vines by Life Between The Kitchen and The Coop […]

Angie ~ ambient wares

Thursday 9th of March 2017

Hi Debra! I wanted you to know I'll be including your 'How to Grow Slips for Sweet Potato Vines' in a round up at tonight's party :)

Debra

Thursday 9th of March 2017

Oh, yay! Thanks! :)

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