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If you have the key elements required for sweet potato growth, a harvest is almost guaranteed. Learning how to plant sweet potatoes can be as quick and easy or regimented as you want it to be. There are a couple of different methods you can use in planting sweet potato slips. There are a couple of edible parts of the sweet potato plant.
People in South America first learned how to plant sweet potatoes 5000 years ago. Sweet potatoes require a long hot dry growing season to produce the tubers that are still enjoyed as a staple in much of the world. The 'Georgia Jet' Sweet Potato has one of the shortest growing seasons which is 90 days and tolerates cooler temperatures than most. The warm soil needed during the growing season can be simulated with the use of hot boxes or black plastic spread over raised furrows in temperate zones. You may want starting soil trays for the slips to root in for about 6 weeks before planting them in the area they will finish growing in.
How to Plant Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are not grown from seed. Sweet potatoes are grown from starts called slips. Slips are the 3 to 5 inch vines that sprout from one end of a mature sweet potato. Techniques for getting a sweet potato to sprout and grow are many and varied. When you go about deciding how to plant sweet potatoes in your garden, it is recommended that you purchase starter sweet potatoes from a farm store or grange. Another option is buying several sweet potatoes from your local organic vegetable outlet. Once you have starter potatoes you have a variety of ways to go.
Some recommend soaking the potato and then laying in a tray of moist potting soil, others say put the potato in the pantry until it starts to sprout then put in soil and cover it until the green tips are barely seen. Others simply put the seed potato in the soil and cover it with an inch or two of soil. Keep the soil damp but not wet. Add more soil as the vine tip grows to get the maximum root system going. Snip the slips from the potato when they are around 5 inches long and plant in starter soil or directly in the ground if the weather and soil is warm enough.
Growing sweet potatoes in Rubber Maid bins, sawed-off whiskey barrels or metal troughs are all options for raising sweet potatoes in containers. As the vine spreads cover it with dirt to encourage further rooting. Water consistently until 6 weeks before the first frost is expected. Lift the tubers before the frost. The leaves of the vines are also edible and taste something like spinach. Pinching them off throughout the growing season for meals will not hurt the plant.
That is all there is to know about how to plant sweet potatoes. They are low maintenance, high yield crops once the vines cover the ground.
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Author Bio Box: Patricia Wainwright
Get all the facts about Plant Propagation and gardening articles at GreenThumbArticles.com!
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