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The care of sweet potato plants is similar to most other vining houseplants in the home, spending summers outdoors. While tolerant of drought, these plants prefer to be kept moist (not soggy). Though prolific growers, you may fertilize monthly, if desired, using a general all-purpose, water soluble fertilizer.
How do you care for a potted sweet potato vine?
Caring For Sweet Potato Vines in Pots This plant likes morning sunlight and partial shade in the afternoon. Deep watering once or twice a week is recommended. Fertilizing is not necessary and can cause a leggy plant. Prune regularly to remove dead and dry leaves.
How do you keep a sweet potato plant alive?
Overwintering Ornamental Sweet Potatoes as Tubers Take off any greenery that still remains. Pack the tubers in some well moistened peat moss or newspaper and place in a cool, dark place. Check the tubers every week to ensure they stay moist and mist them if necessary.
How often do you water sweet potato vines?
How often do you water sweet potato vine? Keep soil evenly moist. Make sure plants receive an inch of water per week, or more during extreme heat. Containerized plants will need to be watered more often, every 1-2 days during hot spells.
Can a sweet potato vine grow indoors?
You can simply grow a sweet potato vine as a hanging houseplant in a smaller container where your plant with beautiful lime green foliage can spill out, and enjoy eating sweet potato leaves as well. Containers also need a trellis to help the vines move upward rather than outward as they spread all around your home.
Why is my sweet potato plant dying?
Root rot and fusarium wilt may cause sweet potato vines to develop yellow or brown leaves that wither and drop, although these diseases are more common in edible sweet potato crops than in ornamental sweet potato vines. Use nitrate nitrogen rather than ammonium nitrogen to reduce the incidence of fungal diseases.
What does it mean when a sweet potato plant flowers?
Flowers on a potato plant indicate that its tubers (the edible part of the plant that grows underground) are starting to form. After you see flowers form on your potato plant, you know that the plant is doing well, and that it is getting closer to harvest time.
How long will a sweet potato plant live?
The sweet potato is a perennial plant (one that lives for more than 2 years) originating in the tropical Americas. When grown in the United States, it is treated as a warm-season annual (a plant that completes its life cycle in 1 year).
Do sweet potatoes come back every year?
Ornamental sweet potato vines will come back every year if you live in a warm enough climate (zones 9+). However, they will not survive outside through the winter in colder climates.
Will sweet potatoes come back next year?
After a hard frost, a sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas) usually look like something the cat left out in the rain, limp, rotten and dead, but as long as the roots survive it will come back in the spring. Sweet potato vine grows as a perennial in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 through 11.
Can you overwater sweet potato vines?
Water. Sweet potato vines are drought-tolerant, though they will grow more vigorously with frequent watering.
Why are the leaves on my sweet potato vine turning yellow?
Nutritional deficiencies may also contribute to sweet potato leaves turning yellow. The most common deficiency is lack of nitrogen, which can be treated with a nitrogen rich fertilizer. A magnesium deficiency will also show as yellowing leaves since magnesium is used by the plant to make chlorophyll.
How do you keep sweet potato vines healthy?
It is best to keep your sweet potato vine’s soil moist at all times. This means you should assess the soil at least once per week and determine if watering is necessary. In times of extreme heat, you can increase your watering to a daily schedule. Fertilizer can help your sweet potato vine.
How much sun does a sweet potato plant need?
They enjoy full sun (at least 6-8 hours during the growing season) and thrive in loose, well-drained, nutrient-rich soils – although they will tolerate almost any planting site. Select and prepare the planting site for the benefit of your sweet potato plants so that, come harvest, you get a bountiful crop!.
How long does it take to grow a sweet potato?
Sweet potatoes mature in 90 to 170 days and they’re extremely frost sensitive. Plant in full sun three to four weeks after the last frost when the soil has warmed. Make holes 6 inches deep and 12 inches apart. Bury slips up to the top leaves, press the soil down gently but firmly, and water well.
How do you grow sweet potatoes in pots?
It is important to have a good soil mix when planting in your containers. Using a container mix amended with compost, sand and a fertilizer high in potash is ideal. Place about four inches of soil in your container, then place the sweet potato slips on top and then add about three more inches of soil to secure them.
What is the best fertilizer for sweet potatoes?
Because potatoes are a root vegetable that grows below the surface of the soil, phosphate and potassium are more beneficial to potato growth. A fertilizer formula of 5-10-10 or 8-24-24 works well for sweet potatoes. You can begin fertilizing sweet potatoes about 2 weeks after transplanting them into your garden.
Why are my sweet potato leaves turning purple?
When you notice a plant with purple leaves rather than the normal green color, it is most likely due to a phosphorus deficiency. All plants need phosphorus (P) in order to create energy, sugars, and nucleic acids. If the soil is cool early in the growing season, a phosphorus deficiency may develop in some plants.
