Set the pointed end of the sweet potato into the jar, and rest the toothpicks on its rim. Pour cool tap water into the jar until the bottom one-third of the sweet potato is submerged. How to Grow Sweet Potato Slips… Option 1 – your first option is to cut your potato in half and place the flat side down in a dish that you filled with a little bit of water. Set the sweet potato in a wide-mouthed jar so the toothpicks rest on the opening of the jar, supporting the full weight of the tuber. Blot the skin dry with a clean paper towel. The sweet potato plant is a hardy, easy-to-grow crop that yields large tubers. wikiHow's. This way the tip of the potato is pointing up and the potato will sprout from there. Old jam jars are a perfect size for most potatoes. They must be planted in a well-drained, fine sandy loam soil with a slightly acidic pH 5 to 7.5. Take the slips from the sweet potato root by twisting them while tugging on the slip. Once you have the slip in hand, place it in a glass or jar of water for about two weeks, until fine roots have developed on the slip. Overwinter plants in a frost-free greenhouse or windowsill. Again, change the water often. Place the jar beneath grow lights where the potato will receive sunlight. This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. By using our site, you agree to our. Set the sweet potato in a wide-mouthed jar so the toothpicks rest on the opening of the jar, supporting the full weight of the tuber. To keep the temperature regular, you may need to place the jar in a sunny window and replace cooler water with warm water 2 times every day. To create sprouts, carefully wash your potatoes and cut them either in half or in large sections. You can grow these in your kitchen window or anywhere else in your home, where there is natural sunlight. Check with local agricultural groups for their planting calendars to get a good idea when to plant the potato slips. The sweet potatoes will remain unspoiled at room temperature for up to a year if you've given them time to form a suberin coat. As their popularity increases, more and more intrepid gardeners are trying their hand at growing their own. Once you put the potato down in the jar, only about half of the potato should be in the water. Place on a sunny windowsill. The roots emerge quickly and are soon followed by masses of bright green, arrowhead-shaped leaves along slender, vining stems. Look for any slender emerging roots. Follow these steps to planting and growing your own sweet potato vine indoors. Bonus Tips for growing sweet potatoes. One method of producing slips at home is to root a healthy, unblemished sweet potato in a jar of water. At that time, growing sweet potato … This is natural. Use pots with drainage holes at the base to minimize moisture buildup in the soil. Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension: Sweet Potato, Missouri Botanical Garden: Ipomoea Batatas. Be careful not to cut or knick the stem of the slip while you’re trimming the leaves, as this can cause the potato to sprout from an undesirable spot on the slip. You can get ‚”slips” at the local nursery. Find the rooting end of the sweet potato, which is the narrower of the two ends. Put the sweet potato in the jar and wait for 3-4 weeks. Growing sweet potatoes works best in loamy, well-drained soil that is not too rich. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Sweet potato vines are poisonous to pets, so keep them in an out-of-the-way place. The vine grows out the top and the roots grow in the water. Rinse the sweet potato in cool, clean water to remove any caked on dirt. Onions in jars Home works. If they have, you might be able to ask them where you can get untreated sweet potatoes. Fill a wide-mouthed jar with water. Choose a different tuber if it has signs of damage because damaged sweet potatoes are more likely to turn moldy when rooting. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. You can choose to order these online or from a garden center, but you can also grow them at home easily. DIY Projects. Planting Sweet Potatoes. Both types grow best in sunny conditions, but if you want to grow the garden varieties that produce edible tubers, it will take quite a long growing season. One thing to note here is that sweet potatoes prefer a bit moisty soil. Choose a vessel that is at least 4 inches deep, so that the roots can grow downwards without obstruction. What Part of the Ginger Plant Do You Eat? Set the jar on an unshaded, east-facing windowsill or on a west- or south-facing windowsill with light shade. You put the end that is "pointed" down in the water in the jar. Each sweet potato can produce up to 50 slip sprouts. Last Updated: March 29, 2019 Check the water level in the jar every few days and add more if the level drops below the bottom of the sweet potato. Set the potato in the glass or jar with the sprouted end facing down, suspended over the glass with the toothpicks. DIY and Crafts. The best growing conditions for sweet potato plants. Press the toothpicks in halfway, or until they feel sturdy. The plant will begin to sprout roots within a week. Place each section in a jar or glass of water with half of the potato below the water and half above. Sweet potatoes grow easily in warm to hot climates, where they can be planted year round. May 9, 2017 - How to Plant and Grow Sweet Potatoes in a Jar - Perfect Healthy Tips. Sweet potatoes crop best at temperatures between 21-26°C (70-80°F). When I first started learning about growing sweet potatoes around 2010 there really wasn’t a lot of information out there on the big, bad Internet about how to grow them. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published, This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. You don't ever have to plant these. Place your sweet potato in a location (ideally a sunny window) where it can receive sunlight. If you really can’t stand to see another ad again, then please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Replace the water if it becomes cloudy or if it develops an unpleasant smell. Select a healthy sweet potato tuber and find a glass container slightly larger than the tuber. Even better, the leaves are edible and tasty. Learn more... Sweet potatoes make for a nutritious and filling side dish to most meals. "This article told me all I need to know to grow my own sweet potatoes in a container from a tuber I have sprouting. References. Step 4 Set your jar and potato in a sunny location, as potatoes love full sun. A sweet potato will start to grow "slips", which are stems with leaves. Find a mature, healthy sweet potato plant from the store or a friend’s garden. Over 3-4 weeks, slips will grow from the top of the potato, as long as the temperature of the jar never drops below 50 °F (10 °C). [1] Poke four toothpicks into the sides of the organic sweet potato. [1] X Research source The most common and popular sweet potato varieties (available at most stores) are … Insert the bottom end of the potato into the water and suspend it against the top of the jar by the toothpicks. Both edible and ornamental varieties of sweet potato grow quite well in large pots. Rinse the sweet potato in cool water to remove any caked on dirt. 1. Once those slips start to develop, they'll each have their own root system. Make sure at least two of the "eyes" are below the surface of the water. To double check that the sweet potato is suitable to use, ask the farmer or booth worker if they’ve sprayed the potatoes with BudNip or other sprout inhibitor. Cut off the leafy shoots to promote longer, more vining growth. Take out some sturdy toothpicks. Step 1, Choose a sweet potato. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. Take note, however, they … Sweet Potatoes Indoors. You can snap those off the mother sweet potato and plant those individual slips into the ground or in a large container in the home. When it comes to sweet potatoes which are grown in pots, they prefer soil, which has a sandy composition and that provides good enough draining. Set it in a bright window out of direct sun. You can grow sweet potato vines indoors, although you are unlikely to harvest tubers unless indoors means in a greenhouse. They can also tolerate light frosts as long as the soil temperature stays above 55°F. This article has been viewed 20,173 times. Once your sweet potatoes have sprouted, you have to separate them i… There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. The temperature must stay above {[convert|50|F|C}} if you're leaving the bucket outside. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. You can simply grow the potato in a container of water or grow the plant in a pot. Growing sweet potatoes can require a lot of space however, with the use of containers and compact varieties any gardener is able to grow their own. Use an organic sweet potato. Use three toothpicks to hold the sweet potato half in/half out of the water. If you don't want to use your hand, you can also use a small garden spade to dig the holes. X Once rooted, the tuber can be used for growing sweet potatoes in the garden or enjoyed as an ornamental houseplant or as an outdoor perennial in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 through 11, according to Missouri Botanical Extension. Watch for roots in roughly 10 days and leafy shoots shortly after that. Option 2 – fill a jar with water. Some potatoes may have grown more than others. Have fun growing them from slips to harvest. Sunlight and water are difficult to spread evenly between all 6 of the slips. Insert four toothpicks into the flesh around the center of the tuber, one on each side. Choose a, clean, healthy and organic sweet potato with no signs of rot or soft spots. Another way to grow slips is to suspend a sweet potato in a jar of water. Keep greenhouse plants well watered, and feed every other week with a high-potassium liquid feed. Submerge the bottom of the potato in the water. Root sweet potatoes in early spring. Place the jar beneath grow lights where the potato will receive sunlight. Once the slips have sprouted, twist them off, place them in water to grow roots. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 20,173 times. Use gentle pressure on the tuber to avoid tearing or damaging the skin. The Best Ways to Grow Sweet Potato Cuttings. Change the water about once a week. This process causes a thin protective layer to form on the outer skin of the potato known as suberin. Adjust the toothpicks to reach the edges of the jar if they are too short to support the sweet potato. Slips parts of a sweet potato vine. May 9, 2017 - How to Plant and Grow Sweet Potatoes in a Jar - Perfect Healthy Tips. To start your slips, you need several healthy, clean sweet potatoes. Transplant the rooted sweet potato into a pot of soil and grow it indoors as a houseplant, or transplant it into a permanent bed outdoors in spring after the soil temperature has warmed and all frost danger has passed. They grow well in containers, and the container offers additional protection against slugs and other pests that might damage the plants in a standard garden. Fill a rooting jar with lukewarm water. Sweet potatoes need heat to grow, so if … It takes 100 to 140 days for sweet potatoes to grow harvestable tubers, depending on the variety. Supermarket sweet potatoes are often sprayed with a chemical called “BudNip” that stops slips from sprouting. When the bottom, cut portion of the sweet potato is partially covered with water and the upper portion is exposed to air and sunlight, roots will begin to grow from the bottom and stems from the top. Sweet potatoes are extremely heat tolerant. This type of soil will increase the growth of the leaves, but stunt the growth of the potato. Fill a wide-mouthed glass or jar with water. Directions of how to plant sweet potatoes in jar: 1. Hold the sweet potato upright with the narrow, rooting end pointing downward and the broader end pointing up. Don’t expect to plant sweet potato from seed. Fill the jar with enough water to cover the bottom three inches of the tuber. Your sweet potato will begin sprouting vines in several days. Plant a sweet potato in water, and almost before your eyes it transforms into a sprawling vine with lime green or purple-tinged leaves. Sweet potatoes are best grown from cuttings, which are not, in fact, rooted and technically called 'slips'. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. If your potato already has a growing eye, place that end in the water. Growing Sprouting Sweet Potato Slips. Ideally, the pH is between 5.8 and 6.2, although, they will tolerate a more acidic pH to 5.0; Plant slips 10-12 inches apart and allows room for the vines to grow, they will create their own tropical ground cover. Explore. Slowly fill the jar with water to within about an inch of the top. How to gro w sweet potatoes in water using glass jars .. Indoors Class projects and school works. Remember which end is the rooting end because the tuber must be correctly placed in the jar. Use toothpicks to hold the potato in place (Image 1). Now it is the time to choose the soil and make the right mixture, so sweet potatoes could be planted and grown in a good way. 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