If you found this video helpful, please "Like" and share it to help spread its reach! Thanks for watching 😀TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 Growing Sweet Potatoes 1:22 Tip #1: Containers VS Soil 5:09 Tip #2: Sweet Potato Soil Mix 8:05 Tip #3: Rooting Sweet Potato Slips 12:56 Tip #4: Fertilizing Sweet Potatoes 14:42 How To Plant Sweet Potato Slips 19:55 Tip #5: Vine Management 22:19 When To Harvest Sweet Potatoes 25:27 Adventures With Dale
Sooo 😂 I should've watched this BEFORE I planted my sweet potatoes in 10 gal pots last weekend... used only miracle grow potting soil with chunks of tree trunk/root instead of rocks at the bottom for drainage, no sand or other added stuff... 😕 do I remove plants - amend the soil with sand and perlite and replant? Or will that cause shock & delay growth bc of disturbing them again?
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Thank you thank you thank you 😊....I was just given sweet potato slips yesterday 😋 but didn't ask what kind.. Your explanation us the best I'm so glad I didn't need to keep strolling... Of course I'll need to watch a few times cause it's new to me and very good step by step instructions and information...
Sweet potatoes saved so many lives of Koreans through the generations just before me. There, rice runs out around April, and barley isn't available until June. Sweet potatoes filled the gap. It grew very well even without fertilizer, and the petioles were made to kimchi, which tasted better than nappa.
That's so interesting. I never grew sweet potatoes before, and I had no idea the camote tops/leaves are edible. I'll try growing some (and yams) because I love making kimchi. Also trying mizuna kimchi!
I’ve had sweet potatoes in storage for almost 8 months. I believe they’d be an amazing filler. They grow amazingly, leaves are edible when growing. Then the roots last so long when in dry storage.
What an absolutely awesome tutorial vlog on sweet potatoes. As an organic gardener for decades, I actually learned something I did not know. I can rectify the situation as per your instructions. Amazing video that I'm sharing as we speak. Blessings for you, your bride & Dale - and your gardens. Sherry 🥰 🙏 💞 🐕
Excellent video sir. Just some info for all you growers : at the end of the season , cut some big slips off and put them in a vase of water , keep in front of window ( or grow lights in basement ) and it will last thro winter into spring when you can plant them again. !!!
Usually, the sweet potatoes I harvest in November are sprouting by March. I keep the early sprouters for rooting. Once they begin to develop sprouts, they root in about a week on a heating mat.
Even I who live in the North of England 🇬🇧 can follow your tutorial and grow sweet potato. Thanks for the great information. I planted my sweet potatoes 2wks ago.they ok considering the weather but I will now be adding bone meal and watering more frequently and crossing my fingers for the best 👌 🎉
So excited for this year! Here in the PNW (very different Zone 8b here in Oregon, near Salem) we need to squeeze out some extra growing degrees before and after the peak of summer. I got a pack of 15gal fabric grow bags, and I've been planting out some slips over the last couple weeks. I'm experimenting with planting a tomato, a pepper, or a basil plant in some of the bags with the sweet potatoes, to see if we can get a dual harvest and gobble up some of the excess nitrogen. I have most of them in our 6x8 hobby greenhouse for now, since our average daily temps are still around 55°, where it's about 10° higher in the greenhouse, and they are all living their best life right now! I'm still waiting for our garlic and potatoes to finish in our main garden before I lay down some clear plastic on rows, cut slits and plant the slips. Then I'll drape some fabric row cover over the pvc low tunnel there to hold additional heat in. Last year we grew sweet potatoes for the first time, and got about 35 lbs without all this heat management or grow bags, so I'm hoping we can really ramp it up this year. 🤞
I was wondering how to grow sweet potatoes. I put one partly in water and it is growing a vine and now i know to cut the vibe into slips and plant those. Looks like I'm ordering more 25 gallon grow bags and making more soil. Thanks for your recipe for sweet potato soil. I'll get some play sand. Great video and so glad to cone across this when I did!
Literally spent the day looking into growing sweet potatoes and then... THIS VIDEO 🙌 It's like you have a crystal ball into what people are thinking of growing 😂😂😂
South Jersey here. It's great to know sweet potatoes love the sandy soil. I had no idea. That's all we have here in the Pine Barrens. I used leaf mulch compost this year in 20 gallon grow bags and have added bone meal from Espoma, the makers of Plant-Tone, right here in South Jersey, about a half hour from me. I will add some native soil in as you advise so my plants don't focus on leaf production. Although, my friend eats the leaves and says they are delicious. Last year I did them in 5 gallon buckets, but the groundhog realized he could knock over the buckets and wiped out my plants. With the 20 gallon grow bags, I think he will find it difficult this year. Learned a lot on this video. Thank you for sharing your tips.
I just planted my slips in a 20 gallon grow bag yesterday and it looks like I need to add some bone meal. I’m in the Triangle so all of your info is super helpful and timely! Thanks!!
Great video! The math I came up with to make your ratios scalable (based on 7:42) are as follows: - Peat Moss: 3.28 parts - Topsoil: 2.99 parts - Compost: 2.99 parts - Perlite: 1 part - Play Sand: 1.34 parts
I was just getting ready to plant some sweet potatoes here in Alabama so this video will be a great help, I took notes! thank you again for your very educational video
Ditto. In Houston also. I just dug up my Yukon Gold and some blue potatoes from a raised bed. I turned the soil 3x and kept finding more potatoes. It was a workout! After that, I'm trying grow bags for the first time. I'm doing a Japanese purple and Beauregard. I planted my slips about 5 days ago. I planted 2 per 20 gallon pot. I wasn't really sure how many I could fit in each pot. I did put a couple of tablespoons of bone meal in the hole when I planted them. Then I got busy and didn't add any other fertilizer. The potting soil I used has some though. After seeing your video, I'll "amend" my aggressive fertilizing plans. Would it pay to give them high N early to grow lots of foliage starting out, and then switch to a low N / high P midway through to encourage root growth?
I just planted my slips this afternoon! They’re in a 20 gal grow bag with granular and some bone meal but maybe 1/4 of what you recommended so I think I’ll redo them with way more bone meal in the morning! Thanks!!
LOVE your channel. I'm a little late to use some of your amazing tips but now I know how to plan better for next year! Keep up the great work! You have great enthusiasm and personality!
I live in East ARKANSAS… my buddy owns one of the largest suppliers of sweet potatoes to Wal-Mart and other vendors… He taught me to plant the slip in an L shape.. lay the stem flat and bury, make the upturn just enough for the leaf and a few inches to stick up… not sure why… Matthews Sweet Potato Farms…
This is right on time. I just got my slips today and this is my first time growing sweet potatoes. Going to plant one slip per 15 gallon grow bag. I went back and fourth between 10 or 20 gallon so I figured 15 was good. What do you think?
i like the sweet potato leaves we eat them by boiling them then mix them with onions ginger and tomato mix them with vinegar, i just bought one piece of sweet potato from the market i want to try to plant them to grow some leaves so i can eat salads.
Darn! Wish I had seen this 2 months ago! I’ve been fertilizing my corn weekly and regular potatoes every two weeks as you advised, so I figured something similar for sweet potatoes! My slips are in 20 gallon container. So what do I do? Leave them alone?
I'm not sure what you mean. My sunroom is so hot right now, it's unusable until the sun sets. For the winter, you have to put a heater inside. There isn't too much more to it than that.
I would root them in a water bottle that I cut in 1/3rd of the way up. The top part (2/3rd of the bottle upsidedown) would contain soil with the slip and the cap with any type of tissue going through a hole in it. Put it (upside down) in the bottom part containing water. That way, not only do you not need to water it, but the roots will take off in the soil, which you can just "transplant" in the desired container. [Kinda hard to put into words]
@@TheMillennialGardener I am not talking about a garden. I am talking about agriculture. Not raised beds, buckets nor bags. Deer will wreck sweet potatoes. If the vines are 5 foot or more the deer will eat every leaf. I would be willing to be that the majority of sweet potatoes grown in the US are not grown inside of an 8 foot or higher fence.
@@TheMillennialGardener ty I’m going to have to take a closer look at your garden to see what your fencing looks like. I only have a 4’ x 12’ inground garden, but I’m not planting anything in it this year and that’s another story. Neighbor cats have used it a couple times to poop in it and I’m sorry I’m too OCD to plant any vegetables that I plan on eating……. I will amend it cover it up and wait till next year……. I have containers on the back deck with my veggies that I like …….also wonder about how do you harvest if you have a fence around it? 🥰👵🏻. I’ll have to look and see if you have a video on how to put a fence around the garden. Hello from Hiddenite NC……..ty Anthony and congrats on your recent Wedding……
Very informative, never tried potatoes of any kind yet but this information goes hand in hand with carrots and beets. I haven’t seen you grow either of these root crops. Your sandy soils would be ideal. Try playing some music for your man Dale. A little bit louder. Thanks for your information
fwiw I live in Florida Old school gardeners grow sweet potato Vines/leaves, yr round, as a secret Nutrient Boost for the compost pile. They would grow specific sweet potato plants just for compost & would feed them fish Hydrolysate for vigorous growth. btw We eat the Leaves in Stir-Fry, soups, jambalaya & Gumbo ✝️🇺🇲🚜
The rooting step takes only 2-3 days. It isn't really any effort. I don't like burying my sweet potatoes, because I grow them indoors and they may rot. I also don't want to snap the vine off. I want it to keep growing to keep producing slips.
Im a recent single father of a 17 year old son. After thousands of dollars in the courts getting full custody of Him , even tho He has lived with me for 6 years now. It really means alot to me to buy some merch just to support you bc i know you have the best gardening content and i know you work hard at it. Not just growing everything using knowlege, ti'rial and error but even the filming and editing. Thanks bro look forward to your content EVERYDAY
As soon as I can afford the extra dollar I'm getting some merch. Also what is the water soluble fertilizer you like I know it has a parent company or something but 7 usually use miracle ground in a pinch. You are the one that taught me to use bone meal and not so much blood meal on fruiting plants, I still used a little tho when planting and my garden here in Petal, Ms is doing great, with a lot of help from you. If you get this I wanna send you some pics of my tomatoes I'm growing upsidedown
saw your sweet potato slip video a few months back and tried to find the two sweet potatoes you had but couldn't (guess ill have to go online I live in a small town) so just used a regular one. I feel like its been forever since I planted the sweet potato but I think im finally starting to get a slip! I know im late on growing them but still super excited and going to send it anyway since I am in containers thanks again for your videos!
The fresher the sweet potato, the longer it takes to root. If you got yourself a really fresh sweet potato from the grocery store, it can take 1-2 months to get going. I save my old sweet potatoes from the previous season. Old sweet potatoes I dug up in November begin to root quickly in late March. In fact, some of them will have already started to sprout in my garage, and I use them. The best sweet potatoes to root are old sweet potatoes from last year's harvest. I am growing Murasaki, Stoke's Purple and Okinawan, because they're more expensive and harder to find. The orange potatoes are a dime a dozen as they say. I love growing the Japanese-style varieties.
Yes it was fresh I knew it would take a minute but wanted to do it anyway lol I will be better prepared next year by getting some and letting them get old can’t wait
Great info, I have a question though: Let me rephrase this question: does the sweet potato plant have to choose either vine&leaf development or root development? Assuming a long enough growing season, is it viable to keep a steady supply of nitrogen for leaf production? Is the sacrifice towards root production permanent, i.e. the roots will never develop into large sweet potatoes? Or is this advice intended for shorter growing seasons, where time is of the essence, and a gardener must choose between the two?
What do you have on the ground of your garden? What kind of plastic do you use? I'd like to do something like this in my yard as well. I'm hoping it will help keep the weeds (and invasive blackberry bushes at bay).
Can we grow sweet potatoes 🍠 directly put in the ground without slip? Because I put in 2 sweet potatoes directly in my pot mid May , and now I’m not sure if there are any grown potatoes underneath 😢 I’ll find next month 😊😊
I’ve had to trim them out of necessity. Keep in mind pruning usually *stimulates* vigor, which isn’t what you want. It draws energy into even more vine production.
@TheMillennialGardener Thanks. I had so many vines in the past, but I also had a fairly good harvest. I have little white/grey many legged bugs that are in my soil that munch on the potatoes, too. I need to find out what they are and see if there is an organic solution. BTW, I live in North Texas.
The Champ taking a scientific approach to growing sweet taters. I never thought of it like this and totally makes sense. Thanks Guru You the man and thanks for ALL You have taught me
Trying all of your watermelon tips now. Actually built a tee pee to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans on that perfectly give my watermelons shade and got the vines growing on black weed guard and so far they are doing great/. Also trying the watermelon tips on pumpkins seeing how my girl spends a couple Benjamin's every year carving pumpkins. Thanks Buddy
i am new to gardening. i live in central Mississippi and love fruits, jalapeno and bananas peppers, and limited vegetables. potatoes and sweet potatoes and tomatoes mainly. I want to know how to get started i have a 4x4 box, and a two by8 box right now. i want more lol. where do i get started and what all can i grow here. and when. I will be starting to watch your videos but there is a lot. one final thing. do you direct seed your plants or would it be better to just by them since i will be on a somewhat small garden. Oh final final question do you have a place so i can ask questions to get the answers thanks again
When you harvest your sweet potatoes, you must store them in a cool, dry place. They will keep for months. I save some of them to root next spring and start the process all over again.
i live in the tropics and i am taking on growing sweet potatoes in huge grow bags. I want to harvest 4 times per year. substrate from coco is relatively cheap here and I have all the water I need. i also can get sand. nobody has any info on how to grow these in coco coir, so I will have to learn on my own.
I have both the jobes vegetable and tomatoes fertilizer and the bone meal. I have a 20 gallon container with five plants in one and only one in another. How much did you say to give the plants ? And did you also say to do it every ten days?
Handle? Well, as long as it doesn't frost or freeze, they will survive. However, they start getting sickly when it gets colder than 50F regularly. They'll start having nutrient uptake problems. I plant mine in May, because nights aren't colder than 60F after this point and they never struggle, but not everyone has such warm nights, so I'd say 50F and warmer.
Oh wow, you definitely need more than that! More slips = more roots, at least to an extent. Too many is no good, either. 6 worked beautifully for me in a 20 gallon grow bag. I can’t remember if I weighed them. I think I did, but the video is linked in the description. You can see the final result.
@@TheMillennialGardener I averaged a little over 8 lbs per bag in 5B. I saw the video, I think I yielded more judging by visual comparison but your biggest looked bigger than mine. I'm also growing Beauregards in 30 gal bags so they're probably more prolific that your Nagasaki Reds. My biggest one was 1 1/2 lbs. I'm trying a test this summer, I've got three in one pot and one only in all of the others. Couple weeks yet, it's a little too early to be putting SP out. I'm really getting f... sick of them in the house, lol.
“In ground” and “raised beds” are two different things to me. We’re growing them in ground this year, because they simply take over the raised bed garden.
My tulips don't grow. Paid neighbour girl $40 to plant them properly since I thought I was doing something wrong. Only 2 plants grew and flowered. One on far south end, one north end of my flower garden!!! The rest didn't flower. I have 45 yr. old big, pink flowered Petunias, I think, that bloom every year! I never did anything special as I remember and they were transplanted at least twice by myself. Any ideas? Any ideas? I had girl do it by the book!!!
I’ve never had that issue. I can’t grow them past early November due to frost, so I can say that will not happen after only 6 months in ground. I don’t know what happens if you grow them in the tropics where they’ll be perennials and get enormous.
Are they flowering? And are they different varieties? Most tomatillos are not self-fertile, so if you only plant one variety, even if you plant multiple plants, you will not get cross-pollination. They must be genetically unique varieties in most cases.
Yes, a lot of flowering. I had one planted but was dying so I researched and learned I needed to add a companion plant and once I did that both plants took off. I have them planted next to 2 other tomato plants (sun gold tomatoes which have produced an abundance of tomatoes). 🤷🏼♀️
Sweet potatoes aren't grown from seed. If you buy rooted slips from Lowe's, they are fine to plant now in most climates. As long as your nights are over 50 degrees F, plant away.
Not being a negative Nancy, but I don’t like that you seem to be discouraging people from growing them simply for the foliage. My summers are long, dry, and hot, like 2 months of 100+ days, and sweet potatoes are one of the only greens that just keep producing through it. I don’t mind the sweet potatoes but I’m growing several vines, just for the delicious and nutritious greens in July and August. I understand it might be too late to get big potatoes but they are very worth growing for just for their greens in my opinion.
I said in the video that the leaves are edible. The reality is that almost everyone that grows sweet potatoes does so for the roots, and fertilizing in a way that maximizes leaves causes poor root production. No matter how you fertilize them, you will have vines, but promoting fertilizing that will lead to lots of vine growth will leave the masses with a disappointing harvest.
@@TheMillennialGardener absolutely. I wasn’t knocking your fertilization recommendation, just that you said it was too late to grow them for most people and that it wasn’t worth starting them now because you might not get big potatoes. I was just saying for me, it’s worth growing them for the greens, even if I don’t get big roots.
Please help. Someone gave me a sweet potato slip and said here ya go, grow some sweet potatoes. Thing is, I don't know if it's the sweet potatoes grown for eating or the ornamental kind which is also supposedly edible if not the tastiest. I can't seem to find a clear cut answer. Surely the leaves are different or something.
Posted this on the wrong video. Sorry for the duplication. Maybe I will get replies with clarification. Confused here. I used your ratio for soil to grow bags and I have way more than I should that I cant fit and now Im confused about my ratio. Did I put too much compost in each now. Mercy. Here was my takeaway formula from your video. #crying 3 - 20 gallon grow bags • 2.2 cu feet peat moss (holds moisture & the nutrition added) • 2 cu feet top soil • 2 cu feet compost (cow manure) • 100 lb play sand (promotes drainage) • 5 gal bucket of perlite (drainage & aeration) • Mulch for the top (shredded pine wood)
ok I just rewatched. I think you used 3 - 25 gallon bags. Forgive me. First time planting any veggie ever. Mixing all this soil has been neat. #learningcurve
No idea why anyone would add perlite to sand for drainage. I'd add vermiculite instead if I had sand, but just increasing its organic matter component would benefit just as much as adding expensive bagged inputs that impact the environment. Just sayin'
Is your soil pH correct and are you feeding them well? Blueberries need acidic soil pH and enough food to fruit heavily. For insects, you can cover them in insect netting.
You just answered why my sweet potatoes are all leaves and hardly anything under the soil. My soil is too rich! Thank you for this great instructional video. I like how you explain clearly with attention to details easily missed. The leaves aren't wasted for us. We're Asian and sweet potato leaves are normal everyday food for us. Better than spinach imo, none of the metallic aftertaste that spinach has
I over fertilized last year and had great looking vines and only a few potatoes. It's a reasonable mistake to make. I'm going for better results this year! I sprouted organic Garnets from the grocery store last year. The few potatoes that we got were great. I ordered a couple of different ones to try this year from Hoss.
I love spinach, started eating it this year when I grew it. I didn’t really eat my sweet potato leaves last year. So imma definitely hope I enjoy them more because they grow in such abundance in comparison
Great tips on growing sweet potatoes. For Okinawan sweet potato, here's what I do that worked for me in the ground in zone 9a. Everything is similar but here is what worked for me: 1) I fertilize 15-15-15 All Purpose Granular Fertilizer every 2 weeks for the 1-2 months; 2) switch to 6-30-30 Water Soluble for the rest of the season every 2 weeks; season ends in month 4 or 5 when the tubers are the size I am after. For growing in pots, I am still experimenting, hopefully this season experiment will produce more tubers.
If you grow the slips like Deep South Homestead where you put the swt potatoes in soil 4-6 inches down and just pull them to remove from the potato (not cut) then they will already have roots on them and there's no reason to put them in water prior to planting.
If you’re doing this indoors in potting mix, which I and most growers do due to climate limitations, you run the risk of the sweet potatoes rotting. Most of us don’t live in a climate where we can do so outdoors after frost stops. If we waited until last frost to plant our potatoes to begin slip production, our slips would be in the ground too late. Rooting in water takes literally 2-3 days. It isn’t a big deal by any means.
If you found this video helpful, please "Like" and share it to help spread its reach! Thanks for watching 😀TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 Growing Sweet Potatoes
1:22 Tip #1: Containers VS Soil
5:09 Tip #2: Sweet Potato Soil Mix
8:05 Tip #3: Rooting Sweet Potato Slips
12:56 Tip #4: Fertilizing Sweet Potatoes
14:42 How To Plant Sweet Potato Slips
19:55 Tip #5: Vine Management
22:19 When To Harvest Sweet Potatoes
25:27 Adventures With Dale
Thanks for all you do to help me have a more successful garden!😊
Sooo 😂 I should've watched this BEFORE I planted my sweet potatoes in 10 gal pots last weekend... used only miracle grow potting soil with chunks of tree trunk/root instead of rocks at the bottom for drainage, no sand or other added stuff... 😕 do I remove plants - amend the soil with sand and perlite and replant?
Or will that cause shock & delay growth bc of disturbing them again?
L
This is the absolute BEST explanation I’ve ever seen on sweet potato slips.
Thank you! I’m happy to hear it was helpful.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you thank you thank you 😊....I was just given sweet potato slips yesterday 😋 but didn't ask what kind..
Your explanation us the best I'm so glad I didn't need to keep strolling...
Of course I'll need to watch a few times cause it's new to me and very good step by step instructions and information...
Sweet potatoes saved so many lives of Koreans through the generations just before me. There, rice runs out around April, and barley isn't available until June. Sweet potatoes filled the gap. It grew very well even without fertilizer, and the petioles were made to kimchi, which tasted better than nappa.
That's so interesting. I never grew sweet potatoes before, and I had no idea the camote tops/leaves are edible. I'll try growing some (and yams) because I love making kimchi. Also trying mizuna kimchi!
Sweet potatoes are a great storage food. I still have a few leftover from my harvest last November.
@@TheMillennialGardenerthat's amazing, any special storage?
I’ve had sweet potatoes in storage for almost 8 months. I believe they’d be an amazing filler. They grow amazingly, leaves are edible when growing. Then the roots last so long when in dry storage.
@@jimdandy4329I still have some Beauregard sweet potatoes from last fall as well. All I did to store is put them in a box in a closet of a bedroom.
What an absolutely awesome tutorial vlog on sweet potatoes. As an organic gardener for decades, I actually learned something I did not know. I can rectify the situation as per your instructions. Amazing video that I'm sharing as we speak.
Blessings for you, your bride & Dale - and your gardens. Sherry 🥰 🙏 💞 🐕
Thank you! I'm glad to hear it was helpful.
Excellent video sir. Just some info for all you growers : at the end of the season , cut some big slips off and put them in a vase of water , keep in front of window ( or grow lights in basement ) and it will last thro winter into spring when you can plant them again. !!!
Usually, the sweet potatoes I harvest in November are sprouting by March. I keep the early sprouters for rooting. Once they begin to develop sprouts, they root in about a week on a heating mat.
Even I who live in the North of England 🇬🇧 can follow your tutorial and grow sweet potato. Thanks for the great information. I planted my sweet potatoes 2wks ago.they ok considering the weather but I will now be adding bone meal and watering more frequently and crossing my fingers for the best 👌 🎉
So excited for this year! Here in the PNW (very different Zone 8b here in Oregon, near Salem) we need to squeeze out some extra growing degrees before and after the peak of summer. I got a pack of 15gal fabric grow bags, and I've been planting out some slips over the last couple weeks. I'm experimenting with planting a tomato, a pepper, or a basil plant in some of the bags with the sweet potatoes, to see if we can get a dual harvest and gobble up some of the excess nitrogen. I have most of them in our 6x8 hobby greenhouse for now, since our average daily temps are still around 55°, where it's about 10° higher in the greenhouse, and they are all living their best life right now! I'm still waiting for our garlic and potatoes to finish in our main garden before I lay down some clear plastic on rows, cut slits and plant the slips. Then I'll drape some fabric row cover over the pvc low tunnel there to hold additional heat in. Last year we grew sweet potatoes for the first time, and got about 35 lbs without all this heat management or grow bags, so I'm hoping we can really ramp it up this year. 🤞
I was wondering how to grow sweet potatoes. I put one partly in water and it is growing a vine and now i know to cut the vibe into slips and plant those.
Looks like I'm ordering more 25 gallon grow bags and making more soil. Thanks for your recipe for sweet potato soil. I'll get some play sand.
Great video and so glad to cone across this when I did!
Agreed 💯 you have the best videos on growing sweet potatoes! Hi Dale!
Awesome teaching. Thank you Anthony 😊❤
You're welcome!
Yay! Sweet potatoes! 🍠
Literally spent the day looking into growing sweet potatoes and then... THIS VIDEO 🙌
It's like you have a crystal ball into what people are thinking of growing 😂😂😂
South Jersey here. It's great to know sweet potatoes love the sandy soil. I had no idea. That's all we have here in the Pine Barrens. I used leaf mulch compost this year in 20 gallon grow bags and have added bone meal from Espoma, the makers of Plant-Tone, right here in South Jersey, about a half hour from me. I will add some native soil in as you advise so my plants don't focus on leaf production. Although, my friend eats the leaves and says they are delicious. Last year I did them in 5 gallon buckets, but the groundhog realized he could knock over the buckets and wiped out my plants. With the 20 gallon grow bags, I think he will find it difficult this year. Learned a lot on this video. Thank you for sharing your tips.
I kept my vines alive over the winter and I planted them 2 weeks ago.
Yup, this is my first time growing sweet potatoes, and I love how easy they are to root from slips. Fabulous.
Best of luck!
I just planted my slips in a 20 gallon grow bag yesterday and it looks like I need to add some bone meal. I’m in the Triangle so all of your info is super helpful and timely! Thanks!!
Good Boy, Dale! ❤
Thank you for all your knowledge!
You're welcome!
Thanks you very much I will try this year if possible !!!
Great video! The math I came up with to make your ratios scalable (based on 7:42) are as follows:
- Peat Moss: 3.28 parts
- Topsoil: 2.99 parts
- Compost: 2.99 parts
- Perlite: 1 part
- Play Sand: 1.34 parts
Absolutely best video on this subject! Planted some today before seeing this and regret the 101010 I used…washing it out quickly!
I was just getting ready to plant some sweet potatoes here in Alabama so this video will be a great help, I took notes! thank you again for your very educational video
Thanks! In Houston we wash out so much that tips on how to help my plants recover is great!!
Same here. It isn’t unusual to get 4-5 inches of rain in a single afternoon thunderstorm 😤
Ditto. In Houston also.
I just dug up my Yukon Gold and some blue potatoes from a raised bed. I turned the soil 3x and kept finding more potatoes. It was a workout!
After that, I'm trying grow bags for the first time. I'm doing a Japanese purple and Beauregard. I planted my slips about 5 days ago. I planted 2 per 20 gallon pot. I wasn't really sure how many I could fit in each pot. I did put a couple of tablespoons of bone meal in the hole when I planted them. Then I got busy and didn't add any other fertilizer. The potting soil I used has some though. After seeing your video, I'll "amend" my aggressive fertilizing plans.
Would it pay to give them high N early to grow lots of foliage starting out, and then switch to a low N / high P midway through to encourage root growth?
One your best videos!!! Thanks from Fayetteville, NC
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I used your storage tub and heat mat method in my basement and it worked like a charm.
Awesome! It’s the best way to cure them. It makes life so easy.
I just planted my slips this afternoon! They’re in a 20 gal grow bag with granular and some bone meal but maybe 1/4 of what you recommended so I think I’ll redo them with way more bone meal in the morning! Thanks!!
No worries. You can always top dress. I’m pretty generous with fertilizer at planting.
LOVE your channel. I'm a little late to use some of your amazing tips but now I know how to plan better for next year! Keep up the great work! You have great enthusiasm and personality!
I'm going to try bigger grow bags and bone meal this year. Thanks!
You're welcome!
Fascinating! Thanks for this video! I just found your channel and it's been very informative!
You’re welcome! Glad you’re enjoying the videos!
Very informative and helpful. My slips are ready and I was considering where to plant them. Very timely here in Florida.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for saying the date and location at the beginning. Ur growing zone would be appreciated as well
You're welcome. Location information is in the video description.
I live in East ARKANSAS… my buddy owns one of the largest suppliers of sweet potatoes to Wal-Mart and other vendors… He taught me to plant the slip in an L shape.. lay the stem flat and bury, make the upturn just enough for the leaf and a few inches to stick up… not sure why… Matthews Sweet Potato Farms…
This is right on time. I just got my slips today and this is my first time growing sweet potatoes. Going to plant one slip per 15 gallon grow bag. I went back and fourth between 10 or 20 gallon so I figured 15 was good. What do you think?
i like the sweet potato leaves we eat them by boiling them then mix them with onions ginger and tomato mix them with vinegar, i just bought one piece of sweet potato from the market i want to try to plant them to grow some leaves so i can eat salads.
Darn! Wish I had seen this 2 months ago! I’ve been fertilizing my corn weekly and regular potatoes every two weeks as you advised, so I figured something similar for sweet potatoes! My slips are in 20 gallon container. So what do I do? Leave them alone?
Awesome! QUESTION, can you make a video in how to weather your sun room for the different seasons? Thanks man!
I'm not sure what you mean. My sunroom is so hot right now, it's unusable until the sun sets. For the winter, you have to put a heater inside. There isn't too much more to it than that.
I would root them in a water bottle that I cut in 1/3rd of the way up. The top part (2/3rd of the bottle upsidedown) would contain soil with the slip and the cap with any type of tissue going through a hole in it. Put it (upside down) in the bottom part containing water. That way, not only do you not need to water it, but the roots will take off in the soil, which you can just "transplant" in the desired container. [Kinda hard to put into words]
Helpful- thanks!
Your ground covering what does that help, in gardening',,,,,,,thanks
Here is the real tip... Keep the deer away from them. Deer will destroy them.
What about Rabbits???
Fencing should be mandatory for any garden. I consider it as essential as the soil itself.
@@TheMillennialGardener I am not talking about a garden. I am talking about agriculture. Not raised beds, buckets nor bags. Deer will wreck sweet potatoes. If the vines are 5 foot or more the deer will eat every leaf. I would be willing to be that the majority of sweet potatoes grown in the US are not grown inside of an 8 foot or higher fence.
Rabbits ate mine two years ago. Last year I planted them in stock tanks and ended up with skinny sweet potatoes. They were tasty! 😉
@@TheMillennialGardener ty I’m going to have to take a closer look at your garden to see what your fencing looks like. I only have a 4’ x 12’ inground garden, but I’m not planting anything in it this year and that’s another story. Neighbor cats have used it a couple times to poop in it and I’m sorry I’m too OCD to plant any vegetables that I plan on eating……. I will amend it cover it up and wait till next year……. I have containers on the back deck with my veggies that I like …….also wonder about how do you harvest if you have a fence around it? 🥰👵🏻. I’ll have to look and see if you have a video on how to put a fence around the garden. Hello from Hiddenite NC……..ty Anthony and congrats on your recent Wedding……
Very informative, never tried potatoes of any kind yet but this information goes hand in hand with carrots and beets. I haven’t seen you grow either of these root crops. Your sandy soils would be ideal. Try playing some music for your man Dale. A little bit louder. Thanks for your information
As always, well done!
Thank you!
fwiw
I live in Florida
Old school gardeners grow sweet potato Vines/leaves, yr round, as a secret Nutrient Boost for the compost pile.
They would grow specific sweet potato plants just for compost & would feed them fish Hydrolysate for vigorous growth.
btw
We eat the Leaves in Stir-Fry, soups, jambalaya & Gumbo
✝️🇺🇲🚜
You can skip the rooting step and simply harvest the plugs with the roots and plant in soil. It works wonderfully, try it!
The rooting step takes only 2-3 days. It isn't really any effort. I don't like burying my sweet potatoes, because I grow them indoors and they may rot. I also don't want to snap the vine off. I want it to keep growing to keep producing slips.
Im a recent single father of a 17 year old son. After thousands of dollars in the courts getting full custody of Him , even tho He has lived with me for 6 years now. It really means alot to me to buy some merch just to support you bc i know you have the best gardening content and i know you work hard at it. Not just growing everything using knowlege, ti'rial and error but even the filming and editing. Thanks bro look forward to your content EVERYDAY
As soon as I can afford the extra dollar I'm getting some merch. Also what is the water soluble fertilizer you like I know it has a parent company or something but 7 usually use miracle ground in a pinch. You are the one that taught me to use bone meal and not so much blood meal on fruiting plants, I still used a little tho when planting and my garden here in Petal, Ms is doing great, with a lot of help from you. If you get this I wanna send you some pics of my tomatoes I'm growing upsidedown
saw your sweet potato slip video a few months back and tried to find the two sweet potatoes you had but couldn't (guess ill have to go online I live in a small town) so just used a regular one. I feel like its been forever since I planted the sweet potato but I think im finally starting to get a slip! I know im late on growing them but still super excited and going to send it anyway since I am in containers thanks again for your videos!
The fresher the sweet potato, the longer it takes to root. If you got yourself a really fresh sweet potato from the grocery store, it can take 1-2 months to get going. I save my old sweet potatoes from the previous season. Old sweet potatoes I dug up in November begin to root quickly in late March. In fact, some of them will have already started to sprout in my garage, and I use them. The best sweet potatoes to root are old sweet potatoes from last year's harvest. I am growing Murasaki, Stoke's Purple and Okinawan, because they're more expensive and harder to find. The orange potatoes are a dime a dozen as they say. I love growing the Japanese-style varieties.
Yes it was fresh I knew it would take a minute but wanted to do it anyway lol I will be better prepared next year by getting some and letting them get old can’t wait
Thanks for the tips. I need the vines not the roots.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
You're welcome!
Thank you for sharing.❤
You're welcome!
Great info, I have a question though:
Let me rephrase this question: does the sweet potato plant have to choose either vine&leaf development or root development? Assuming a long enough growing season, is it viable to keep a steady supply of nitrogen for leaf production? Is the sacrifice towards root production permanent, i.e. the roots will never develop into large sweet potatoes? Or is this advice intended for shorter growing seasons, where time is of the essence, and a gardener must choose between the two?
Are you suppose to trim the vines to get better sweet potatoes?
Great video!
Thanks!
If you have roots coming from the potatoes after being in water, can I plant the potato itself?
What do you have on the ground of your garden? What kind of plastic do you use? I'd like to do something like this in my yard as well. I'm hoping it will help keep the weeds (and invasive blackberry bushes at bay).
It is weed barrier. I provided links in the video description.
Great video.
Thanks!
Can we grow sweet potatoes 🍠 directly put in the ground without slip?
Because I put in 2 sweet potatoes directly in my pot mid May , and now I’m not sure if there are any grown potatoes underneath 😢
I’ll find next month 😊😊
For all your plants
You'll have to water more bit the roots will be much larger
I have big huge lush incredible vines and no potatoes yet 😢😢 started early too in June and nothing
Love you
Thank you 😊
I was considering keeping my vines trimmed this year in the hope that the plant would spend more energy on the roots. What are your thoughts?
I’ve had to trim them out of necessity. Keep in mind pruning usually *stimulates* vigor, which isn’t what you want. It draws energy into even more vine production.
@TheMillennialGardener Thanks. I had so many vines in the past, but I also had a fairly good harvest. I have little white/grey many legged bugs that are in my soil that munch on the potatoes, too. I need to find out what they are and see if there is an organic solution. BTW, I live in North Texas.
The Champ taking a scientific approach to growing sweet taters. I never thought of it like this and totally makes sense. Thanks Guru You the man and thanks for ALL You have taught me
Wayyy far south Mississippi here
Trying all of your watermelon tips now. Actually built a tee pee to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans on that perfectly give my watermelons shade and got the vines growing on black weed guard and so far they are doing great/. Also trying the watermelon tips on pumpkins seeing how my girl spends a couple Benjamin's every year carving pumpkins. Thanks Buddy
I only learned this after years of mistakes. The best lessons are learned the hard way!
i am new to gardening. i live in central Mississippi and love fruits, jalapeno and bananas peppers, and limited vegetables. potatoes and sweet potatoes and tomatoes mainly. I want to know how to get started i have a 4x4 box, and a two by8 box right now. i want more lol. where do i get started and what all can i grow here. and when. I will be starting to watch your videos but there is a lot. one final thing. do you direct seed your plants or would it be better to just by them since i will be on a somewhat small garden. Oh final final question do you have a place so i can ask questions to get the answers thanks again
i have a question about something you said about over wintering sweet potatoes, How?
When you harvest your sweet potatoes, you must store them in a cool, dry place. They will keep for months. I save some of them to root next spring and start the process all over again.
Awe, poor buddy doesn't like storms!
Unfortunately 😔 He’s getting worse with it as he gets older.
Can the vines be trimmed if they get unruly? Is about 6 feet of vine sufficient?
Yes. I have no choice sometimes.
good to know
Just put mine in the straw bale!!! Hopefully they will do amazing
Best of luck! Be sure to fertilize them.
I've learned so much from you! Thanks for all you do!! Congrats also on your big day!!!
I grew mine 2 years ago in bales and they were fabulous ❤
Can the vine be grown on the ground ? Let them run like runners ?
Yes. They will take up a lot of room that way, so you will need space.
i live in the tropics and i am taking on growing sweet potatoes in huge grow bags. I want to harvest 4 times per year. substrate from coco is relatively cheap here and I have all the water I need. i also can get sand. nobody has any info on how to grow these in coco coir, so I will have to learn on my own.
Oh, deer go nuts for sweet potato vines.i use a thin sheet of alminum that regelects some night light , crinkles and waves. Help to keep them at ay.
Fencing is a cure-all. Fences are a gardener’s best friend.
I have both the jobes vegetable and tomatoes fertilizer and the bone meal. I have a 20 gallon container with five plants in one and only one in another. How much did you say to give the plants ? And did you also say to do it every ten days?
It's ok Dale we love ya
He tries his best 🐕
What is the lowest temperature they can handle overnight?
Handle? Well, as long as it doesn't frost or freeze, they will survive. However, they start getting sickly when it gets colder than 50F regularly. They'll start having nutrient uptake problems. I plant mine in May, because nights aren't colder than 60F after this point and they never struggle, but not everyone has such warm nights, so I'd say 50F and warmer.
I didn't know you could put so many slips in a bag, I just did one per bag last year. How many lbs did you yield per bag last year in the 20 gal bags?
Oh wow, you definitely need more than that! More slips = more roots, at least to an extent. Too many is no good, either. 6 worked beautifully for me in a 20 gallon grow bag. I can’t remember if I weighed them. I think I did, but the video is linked in the description. You can see the final result.
@@TheMillennialGardener I averaged a little over 8 lbs per bag in 5B. I saw the video, I think I yielded more judging by visual comparison but your biggest looked bigger than mine. I'm also growing Beauregards in 30 gal bags so they're probably more prolific that your Nagasaki Reds. My biggest one was 1 1/2 lbs. I'm trying a test this summer, I've got three in one pot and one only in all of the others. Couple weeks yet, it's a little too early to be putting SP out. I'm really getting f... sick of them in the house, lol.
“In ground” and “raised beds” are two different things to me. We’re growing them in ground this year, because they simply take over the raised bed garden.
My tulips don't grow. Paid neighbour girl $40 to plant them properly since I thought I was doing something wrong. Only 2 plants grew and flowered. One on far south end, one north end of my flower garden!!! The rest didn't flower.
I have 45 yr. old big, pink flowered Petunias, I think, that bloom every year! I never did anything special as I remember and they were transplanted at least twice by myself.
Any ideas?
Any ideas? I had girl do it by the book!!!
Question: Do sweet potatoes ever get "woody" or inedible from being left in the grow bags too long? Not counting cold damage.
I’ve never had that issue. I can’t grow them past early November due to frost, so I can say that will not happen after only 6 months in ground. I don’t know what happens if you grow them in the tropics where they’ll be perennials and get enormous.
I'm growing in both tubs and the ground
Good comparison. For me, the bags grew better.
Question, I transplanted 2 tomatillos and as of now, still no tomatillos 🤔 I see the small husks but not growing. Thoughts 💭?
Are they flowering? And are they different varieties? Most tomatillos are not self-fertile, so if you only plant one variety, even if you plant multiple plants, you will not get cross-pollination. They must be genetically unique varieties in most cases.
Yes, a lot of flowering. I had one planted but was dying so I researched and learned I needed to add a companion plant and once I did that both plants took off. I have them planted next to 2 other tomato plants (sun gold tomatoes which have produced an abundance of tomatoes). 🤷🏼♀️
Great video.everything i wanted to know without the chitty chat.
Im n indiana is it to late to start from seeds say from lowes u think?
Sweet potatoes aren't grown from seed. If you buy rooted slips from Lowe's, they are fine to plant now in most climates. As long as your nights are over 50 degrees F, plant away.
Not being a negative Nancy, but I don’t like that you seem to be discouraging people from growing them simply for the foliage. My summers are long, dry, and hot, like 2 months of 100+ days, and sweet potatoes are one of the only greens that just keep producing through it. I don’t mind the sweet potatoes but I’m growing several vines, just for the delicious and nutritious greens in July and August. I understand it might be too late to get big potatoes but they are very worth growing for just for their greens in my opinion.
I said in the video that the leaves are edible. The reality is that almost everyone that grows sweet potatoes does so for the roots, and fertilizing in a way that maximizes leaves causes poor root production. No matter how you fertilize them, you will have vines, but promoting fertilizing that will lead to lots of vine growth will leave the masses with a disappointing harvest.
@@TheMillennialGardener absolutely. I wasn’t knocking your fertilization recommendation, just that you said it was too late to grow them for most people and that it wasn’t worth starting them now because you might not get big potatoes. I was just saying for me, it’s worth growing them for the greens, even if I don’t get big roots.
Please help. Someone gave me a sweet potato slip and said here ya go, grow some sweet potatoes. Thing is, I don't know if it's the sweet potatoes grown for eating or the ornamental kind which is also supposedly edible if not the tastiest. I can't seem to find a clear cut answer. Surely the leaves are different or something.
What about tips in tons of lettuce? ❤
It's too late to plant lettuce in most of the country. Lettuce generally needs 50 and 60 degree weather. I won't plant lettuce until September.
Posted this on the wrong video. Sorry for the duplication. Maybe I will get replies with clarification.
Confused here. I used your ratio for soil to grow bags and I have way more than I should that I cant fit and now Im confused about my ratio. Did I put too much compost in each now. Mercy. Here was my takeaway formula from your video. #crying
3 - 20 gallon grow bags
• 2.2 cu feet peat moss (holds moisture & the nutrition added)
• 2 cu feet top soil
• 2 cu feet compost (cow manure)
• 100 lb play sand (promotes drainage)
• 5 gal bucket of perlite (drainage & aeration)
• Mulch for the top (shredded pine wood)
ok I just rewatched. I think you used 3 - 25 gallon bags. Forgive me. First time planting any veggie ever. Mixing all this soil has been neat. #learningcurve
Lots of nitrogen. I want vines for stir fry
I never over feed my sweet potatoes
Good idea.
No idea why anyone would add perlite to sand for drainage. I'd add vermiculite instead if I had sand, but just increasing its organic matter component would benefit just as much as adding expensive bagged inputs that impact the environment.
Just sayin'
We grow about 200# of Sweet Potatoes each summer. My husband is diabetic and white potatoes are not good for him.
Put sand in the soil not compost
I'm sorry but as an Asian, that is not the "best" way to grow swet potatoes. In fact, that is the most time-consuming way to do it.
So what is the best way …we would like to know.Ta
My blueberries are not making too many blueberries 🫐 wondering what I need to do and also bugs are eating my leafs what to do?
Is your soil pH correct and are you feeding them well? Blueberries need acidic soil pH and enough food to fruit heavily. For insects, you can cover them in insect netting.
Just in time!!! I’m about to plant my slips today!! Thank you!!
You're welcome! Glad to be timely.
Wow just planted my sweet potatoes today.
Planted sweet potatoes yesterday, it's the first year trying. I have clay soil .keeping my fingers crossed! 🤞
You have a lovely, lush garden!
Thank you! If you have slips left over, you can start some in containers and compare results in the fall.
You just answered why my sweet potatoes are all leaves and hardly anything under the soil. My soil is too rich! Thank you for this great instructional video. I like how you explain clearly with attention to details easily missed.
The leaves aren't wasted for us. We're Asian and sweet potato leaves are normal everyday food for us. Better than spinach imo, none of the metallic aftertaste that spinach has
I over fertilized last year and had great looking vines and only a few potatoes. It's a reasonable mistake to make. I'm going for better results this year! I sprouted organic Garnets from the grocery store last year. The few potatoes that we got were great. I ordered a couple of different ones to try this year from Hoss.
I love spinach, started eating it this year when I grew it. I didn’t really eat my sweet potato leaves last year. So imma definitely hope I enjoy them more because they grow in such abundance in comparison
Just tried one raw. After taste I liked but I think I enjoy the spinach more raw. Need to try it cooked. But it was worth the try
@@breakdown2878we use them in anything, soups, omelette, stir fry. It's a perfect green that doesn't overwhelm the dish
@@yellowdog762jb I'm going for better results for everything this year since the price of produce skyrocketing!
Great tips on growing sweet potatoes. For Okinawan sweet potato, here's what I do that worked for me in the ground in zone 9a. Everything is similar but here is what worked for me: 1) I fertilize 15-15-15 All Purpose Granular Fertilizer every 2 weeks for the 1-2 months; 2) switch to 6-30-30 Water Soluble for the rest of the season every 2 weeks; season ends in month 4 or 5 when the tubers are the size I am after. For growing in pots, I am still experimenting, hopefully this season experiment will produce more tubers.
If you grow the slips like Deep South Homestead where you put the swt potatoes in soil 4-6 inches down and just pull them to remove from the potato (not cut) then they will already have roots on them and there's no reason to put them in water prior to planting.
If you’re doing this indoors in potting mix, which I and most growers do due to climate limitations, you run the risk of the sweet potatoes rotting. Most of us don’t live in a climate where we can do so outdoors after frost stops. If we waited until last frost to plant our potatoes to begin slip production, our slips would be in the ground too late. Rooting in water takes literally 2-3 days. It isn’t a big deal by any means.
All your content is very thorough and very helpful. Thank You
You're welcome!
Perfect timing! I've had some slips rooting in water.
Glad to be timely!