Sweet potatoes are members of the Convolvulaceae (morning glory) family. They are grown for their trailing vines and colorful blooms as well as their edible, nutrient-rich roots. It’s no surprise that sweet potatoes propagate differently than regular spuds because they’re from a different family.
Sweet potatoes, unlike most other vegetables, are grown from slips rather than seeds. Slips are shoots grown from a mature sweet potato. Learn how to grow sweet potatoes, when to harvest them, and how to cure them after they’ve been harvested.
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Steps On How To Plant Sweet Potato Slips
Step 1: Initiate the Slips
If you buy a sweet potato from the store, choose an organic variety that has not been treated.
You’ll need several healthy, clean sweet potatoes to get started with your slips. Each sweet potato has the potential to produce up to 50 slip sprouts. To make sprouts, thoroughly wash your potatoes and cut them in half or large sections.
Step 2: Root the Slips
You must separate your sprouted sweet potatoes into plantable slips once they have sprouted. To do this, carefully twist each sprout away from the sweet potato. Place each sprout in a shallow bowl, with the bottom half of the stem submerged in water and the leaves dangling over the rim.
Roots will emerge from the bottom of each new plant within a few days. When the roots of the new slips are about an inch long, they are ready to plant. To keep your slips healthy, keep the water fresh and discard any slips that aren’t producing roots or appear to be wilting.
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Step 3: Get the Soil Ready for the Slips
You have a little extra work to do before planting sweet potato slips. To grow large tubers, sweet potatoes require loose, well-drained soil. You don’t want the roots to encounter opposition as they try to expand within the soil. When it comes to growing sweet potatoes successfully, loose soil is more important than almost any other factor.
Step 4: Sow the Slips
Plant slips in prepared soil, roots pointing down. Place the slip so that the bottom half is covered with dirt and the top half, which contains all of the new leaves, is above ground.
Take care not to squish the new plant. Sweet potatoes dislike being bruised or bumped around. Press the surrounding dirt gently to set the plant and remove any remaining air pockets. Continue in this manner until all of your slips have been planted.
Make sure your plants are properly spaced; it is generally recommended to space slips 12-18 inches apart.
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Step 5: Water
Once all of the slips are in place, water them. You’ll need to soak them thoroughly until all of the surrounding dirt is saturated. New plants, such as slips, require daily watering for the first week and every other day for the second week.
Waterings can be spaced further apart each week until you’re only watering once a week. If the ground is extremely dry or there has been a lot of rain, you may need to modify this schedule in your garden. Sweet potatoes can withstand drought, but they produce less, so keep them watered during the hottest months of the year.
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How To Harvest Sweet Potato Slips
The time it takes to harvest sweet potatoes will vary depending on the cultivar. It is critical to read the packaging when receiving your slips. Most varieties mature in three to four months – 90 to 120 days – but some newer varieties mature in less time and are bred specifically for short-season northern climates.
Digging up your sweet potatoes is simple, but it will require some heavy lifting and back muscle. Wait until the soil is dry for a day. Lift the soil gently with a shovel or a pitchfork. Take care not to bruise or pierce the skin of the potatoes. Pull them out of the ground with your hands, shaking off the dirt as you go.
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How To Cure Sweet Potatoes
When you’ve harvested all of your sweet potatoes, it’s time to cure them. Allow the newly dug potatoes to dry in the sun and fresh air for a few hours. Then, for a couple of weeks, store them in a box lined with newspaper in a well-ventilated area. The ideal temperature for allowing them to dry, or cure, is 85 to 90 degrees.
Next, move the sweet potatoes to a cooler location — somewhere between 55 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The ideal humidity level would be 75 to 80%. Check the sweet potatoes regularly and discard any that show signs of spoilage. They should keep if properly cured.
Originally posted on March 22, 2022 @ 9:44 pm
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