Can You Plant a Sweet Potato That Has Sprouted? (5 Things To Know)


Have you ever left a sweet potato out for too long?  As the days pass, chances are that it will start to sprout – but that doesn’t mean you have to throw it away.

So, can you plant a sweet potato that has sprouted?  You should not plant an entire sweet potato that has sprouted. However, you can plant “slips” (rooted sprouts) that grow out from a sprouted sweet potato. With proper care, slips will grow into plants that will produce sweet potatoes for you. You can also buy sweet potato slips from seed companies.

Of course, buying sweet potato slips from seed companies means that you get to choose which type you want to grow. This is helpful if you live in a cold area, since sweet potatoes like warm weather, and some don’t do well in northern climates.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at sweet potatoes and why they sprout.  We’ll also talk about how to plant sweet potato slips, how to care for sweet potato plants, and how to harvest and store them at the end of the season.

Let’s gets started.

Sweet Potatoes September 2022
Here is our sweet potato harvest from September 2022 – not bad!

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Can You Plant A Sweet Potato That Has Sprouted?

You should not plant an entire sweet potato that has sprouted.   Instead, you should wait for the sprouted parts to grow longer (8 to 12 inches with 1 or 2 leaves is ideal) and develop roots.

Eventually, these rooted sprouts (called “slips”) will be ready for planting in a container, raised bed, or garden. Most likely, you will be able to get several sweet potato slips from one tuber.

sprouted sweet potato
Don’t plant the entire sprouted sweet potato – wait until the sprouts develop roots and leaves. Then, you can remove the slips and plant them!

***Note: you can plant a potato (or parts of a potato) that has sprouted.  For more information, check out my article on planting sprouted potatoes.

Why Do Sweet Potatoes Sprout?

Like all plants, sweet potatoes have a goal of reproduction – they want to create a new generation of sweet potato plants.  Even in difficult circumstances, sweet potatoes will attempt to do just that.

Sweet potatoes contain plenty of nutrients and starches in their flesh. They use these resources to produce sprouts (called slips).

Sweet potatoes will sprout as long as conditions are warm and humid enough (and they are not damaged by cold or inhibited by chemicals).

thermometer
Keep temperatures warm, at 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (23.9 to 29.4 degrees Celsius), to encourage sweet potatoes to sprout.

Given the right conditions, the sprouts will eventually root and start growing into a new plant.  Sweet potatoes will break dormancy and begin to sprout with high temperature and humidity (this tells them that the season for growth is approaching, and it is time to reproduce).

The sweet potato is a member of the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae), and it is native to tropical regions of America.  As such, they prefer warm temperatures, and will be damaged by temperatures of 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) or lower.

sweet potato flower
Sweet potatoes are a member of the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae.

For more information, check out this article on sweet potatoes from Wikipedia.

How Long Do Sweet Potatoes Take To Sprout?

It will take about two weeks for sweet potatoes to sprout, given the right conditions (temperature and humidity).  After that, the sprouts should begin to root in 10 days.

sweet potato sprout
Sweet potatoes can take 2 weeks to sprout – longer if conditions are not ideal (or if they are treated with sprout inhibitors for long term storage).

You can plant sweet potato slips (rooted sprouts) in the garden, unless the weather is cold.  In that case, you can plant them in a container with potting soil until outdoor conditions improve.

For more information, check out this article on starting sweet potatoes from Clemson University.

How To Sprout Sweet Potatoes

The Clemson article above suggests suspending sweet potatoes in water to encourage them to start sprouting.  This method will work, and you will get slips for planting in the garden.

However, by starting the slips in water, you are denying them the nutrients found in soil. If you have the space available, consider sprouting your sweet potatoes in soil instead.

First, wash the sweet potatoes thoroughly, especially if you got them at a grocery store (make sure to dry them well to avoid mold and rotting). Many grocery stores use anti-sprouting chemicals on sweet potatoes to extend their shelf life.

sprouted sweet potato with roots and leaves
Wash off sprout inhibitors from grocery store sweet potatoes to encourage sprouting.

Next, find a suitable place to sprout your sweet potatoes.  This should be somewhere you can keep the soil warm, at 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (23.9 to 29.4 degrees Celsius).

One way to keep things warm is to place a tray with soil on top of a seedling heat mat.

Now, choose sweet potatoes for sprouting.  Remember that smaller sweet potatoes are better for sprouting (besides, wouldn’t you rather eat the larger ones?).

sweet potatoes
Smaller sweet potatoes are better for sprouting – leave the big ones for eating!

Finally, cover your sweet potatoes with 1 to 2 inches of soil and a layer of plastic mulch (clear or black). The plastic will help keep them warm until you remove it in 2 to 4 weeks (when sprouts emerge from the soil).

At 8 weeks (or when sprouts are 9 to 13 inches above the soil), you can cut the slips (long sprouts) from the sweet potato. Each slip can be planted and will grow into its own sweet potato plant.

While you wait for the sweet potatoes to sprout, keep the soil moist.  You can spray the soil frequently with a water bottle (plant mister), or use a humidity dome to trap moisture in the air around the sweet potatoes.

How To Plant Sprouted Sweet Potatoes

After your sweet potatoes form sprouts and the sprouts form roots, you have slips that are ready to plant (you can snap them off from the sweet potato close to where they emerged).  However, just because the slips are ready does not mean the weather is ready to cooperate!

You will need to wait for ideal conditions outdoors before planting your slips.  In the meantime, you can plant them in potting soil inside containers to give them a bit of a head start until you can transplant them outdoors.

Wait For The Right Weather Conditions To Plant Sweet Potato Slips

Sweet potatoes are a warm weather crop – if you plant them too early, the cold will kill them.  The University of Maryland Extension suggests waiting until soil temperatures are at least 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 degrees Celsius) before planting your sweet potato slips outside.

At the very least, you should wait until after any danger of frost has passed.  The Old Farmer’s Almanac suggests waiting until after the last spring frost date to plant your sweet potato slips. 

frost
Sweet potato is a warm weather crop, so a frost will kill it. Wait until after the last spring frost date to plant.

To find the last spring frost date for your area, check out the frost date calculator from the Old Farmer’s Almanac website.

If you live in a colder northern region, you may still be able to grow sweet potatoes.  However, you might want to choose varieties that are adapted to more temperate climates.

If you want to grow sweet potatoes in a colder climate, you might also need to extend the season in both the spring and fall. You can do this by using clear or black plastic mulch to increase soil temperature.

plastic wrap
Using clear or black plastic mulch to keep soil warm is helpful when growing sweet potatoes, since they are a (tropical) warm weather crop.

As an added benefit, this plastic will keep the soil moist and prevent some pests from getting to the sweet potato plants.

You should also take the time to “harden off” your sweet potato slips before transplanting them outside for good.  For more information, check out my article on how to harden off your seedlings (young plants).

Choose & Prepare A Garden Site For Sweet Potatoes

Given the right conditions, your sweet potato slips will grow into vigorous plants that will produce plenty of sweet potatoes for you.  That leads to an important question – what are the right conditions for growing sweet potatoes?

First, identify areas of your garden that get 8 or more hours of full fun per day, with partial shade during the rest of the day.  Avoid areas with full shade, since this will inhibit the growth of sweet potato plants.

daylight
Choose an area where your sweet potato plants will get plenty of sunlight daily.

Also, avoid planting your sweet potato slips near tall plants, such as tomatoes or pole beans.  Otherwise, these taller plants will shade the sweet potatoes too much as the season goes on.

If you must, plant the sweet potatoes on the south side of taller plants so they will get more sun (in the Northern Hemisphere).  Otherwise, plant sweet potatoes in their own area where they can get enough sunlight.

For more information, check out this article on growing sweet potatoes from the Mississippi State University Extension.

Next, identify areas of your garden that have good soil for growing sweet potatoes.  Ideally, the soil will be light and sandy (rather than heavy or clay).

soil
The ideal soil for sweet potatoes is light and sandy. This gives the tubers soft soil to form and grow into.

According to the Oklahoma State University Extension, sweet potatoes can tolerate a range of soil pH levels, from 5.5. to 6.8. However, the ideal soil pH range is 5.8 to 6.0 (somewhat acidic).

To find out your soil pH, you can use a home test kit, or send it away to your local agricultural extension for testing. To learn more, check out my article on how to test your soil.

You can use fertilizer if your soil is poor, but avoid using too much nitrogen, since this will lead to plants with lots of vines and leaves, but very little in terms of sweet potatoes.

For more information, check out my article on low-nitrogen fertilizer.

When your sweet potato slips are ready for transplant, dig a trench 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 centimeters) deep.  Plant the slips 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters) apart.

shovel
Dig a trench 3 to 4 inches deep for planting sweet potatoes. Place plants 8 to 12 inches apart.

Leave 3 feet (0.9 meters) between rows.  This gives you enough space for watering, fertilizing, weeding, inspecting, and harvesting your plants as they grow.

Of course, you can always opt to grow sweet potatoes in containers. Just make sure that the containers are deep enough to allow the roots to grow and the tubers to form (18 to 24 inches deep should be enough).


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Watering Sweet Potato Plants

Sweet potatoes are able to tolerate both heat and drought once they are established.  However, young plants are vulnerable to drought during transplant and early development.

Water your sweet potatoes in the morning to give them time to dry out during the day (wet leaves overnight can promote disease).  The University of Georgia suggests you stop watering 3 to 4 weeks before harvest to prevent splitting of the sweet potatoes.

watering can
Water sweet potato plants carefully after transplanting. They can tolerate drought once established.

When the top inch or so of soil above the sweet potatoes is dry, give them water.  There is no rule for when this needs to be done.

It will depend on temperature, humidity, your soil, and how much water the sweet potatoes use.  Your best bet is to check the soil with your fingers each day to see if it is dry.

If you have trouble with dry soil, check out my article on how to treat dry soil.

Harvesting & Storing Sweet Potatoes

You’ve sprouted the sweet potatoes, planted the slips, and cared for the plants throughout the summer.  Now it’s time to harvest and store the sweet potatoes!

When To Harvest Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes mature in 85 to 120 days (3 to 4 months) after planting slips.  Make sure to harvest them well before the first frost in your area (watch the calendar, and also the weather forecast!)

If your sweet potatoes are exposed to cold, they will become hard inside. At that point, they will not soften up (no matter how much you cook them!)

If you are not sure whether it is time to harvest yet, you can dig up a few sweet potatoes to check on the size of the tubers (roots).  According to Clemson University, you can harvest when 30% of the roots are at least 3.5 inches in diameter.

sweet potatoes
Harvest sweet potatoes when 30% of them (about 1 in 3) are at least 3.5 inches in diameter.

So, if 1 out of the 3 sweet potatoes you dug up is at least 3.5 inches in diameter, then you are ready to harvest!

How To Harvest Sweet Potatoes

When you harvest sweet potatoes, cut the vines first and remove them.  This will make it much easier to dig up the tubers.

sweet potato leaves
Before you try to harvest sweet potato tubers, cut the vines to give yourself some space to work. You can compost the vines if you like.

You can put the vines in your compost pile if you have one (you can learn more about making your own compost in my article here).

When digging for sweet potatoes, use a small tool (or your hands) to dig.  Handle the sweet potatoes gently.  Otherwise, you will damage the skin or bruise the flesh, and they will not keep as long in storage.

garden trowel
A trowel can help you to dig up sweet potatoes, but go easy to avoid damaging the tubers.

Brush off the dirt (you can use your hands or an old brush you might have lying around).  Just don’t wash them, since getting them wet will reduce storage life.

According to the University of New Hampshire Extension, you should wait a few weeks after harvesting your sweet potatoes before eating them for best results.  That way, some of the starch will turn to sugar, making for a delicious meal when baked or mashed!

How Many Sweet Potatoes Per Plant?

One plant can produce several sweet potatoes, but on average, you can expect 4 sweet potatoes per plant.

sweet potatoes
You can expect about a pound (16 ounces) of sweet potatoes per plant. At an average of 4 ounces per tuber, you can expect 4 tubers per plant.

The Iowa State University Extension suggests that 50 plants will yield about one bushel (50 pounds) of sweet potatoes, or 1 pound per plant.

A medium sweet potato weighs 4 ounces on average, so that means about 4 medium sweet potatoes (4*4 = 16 ounces = 1 pound) per plant.

Of course, it also depends on the variety, the climate, the soil, and the care you give your plants!

How To Store Sweet Potatoes

Make sure to store sweet potatoes in a place that stays at 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 degrees Celsius) or above.  Otherwise, they will become stringy and impossible to eat.  Note: this also means that you should not refrigerate them (at least not until they are cooked!)

Also, keep the humidity high for sweet potatoes while you cure them. The University of Maryland Extension suggests a relative humidity level of 80% to 90%.

sweet potatoes
Cure sweet potatoes at high relative humidity (80% to 90%) before long term storage.

One good way to maintain high humidity in an area is by using a humidity dome (often used for seed germination).  For more information, check out my article on humidity domes.

To learn more, check out this article on sweet potatoes from the South Dakota State University Extension.

Where To Buy Sweet Potato Slips

If you cannot sprout enough sweet potato slips at home, you can always buy some to supplement your garden.

Sweet potato slips are a little harder to find than some other common garden plants. However, you can still find them online from places like:

When buying sweet potato slips, choose varieties that grow well in your climate and that have resistance to diseases that are common in your area.

Potential Sweet Potato Problems

There are a few problems to look out for when planting sprouted sweet potatoes to grow your own produce.

Sprout Inhibitors On Sweet Potatoes

Many store-bought sweet potatoes are treated with sprout inhibitors.  These are simply chemicals that discourage the sweet potatoes from sprouting.

sweet potatoes grocery store
Many grocery stores use sprout inhibitors to prevent sprouting on sweet potatoes. This extends their shelf life, but makes it harder for you to get slips!

This is helpful for increasing the shelf life of sweet potatoes in grocery stores.  However, it will make it more difficult for you to sprout your sweet potatoes.

You can wash sweet potatoes thoroughly to remove sprout inhibitors. Do this just before you plant the tubers for sprouting.

Diseases

Fusarium root rot is one disease that may affect your sweet potato plants.  It is caused by the fungus Fusarium solani, which can affect many different plants.  In sweet potatoes, fusarium root rot appears as brown concentric rings.

To avoid fusarium root rot, avoid harvesting when soil is cool and damp, or when the soil is too dry.  Since fusarium root rot is caused by a fungus, high humidity levels will also make it worse.  Also, use crop rotation (avoid planting the same crop in the same place every year).

For more information, check out this article on fusarium root rot from the North Carolina State University Extension.

Pests

One common insect pest of sweet potatoes is the root-knot nematode, which also affects other garden plants.

Animal pests of sweet potatoes include deer, rabbits, squirrels, and voles. If you have problems with these animal pests, consider planting herbs or flowers that they dislike near your sweet potatoes.

deer
Deer and other animal pests may give your sweet potato plants trouble.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this article gave you enough information on how to plant slips from sprouted sweet potatoes, how to care for the plants, and how to harvest and store your bounty.

You should also have enough information to avoid some of the more common problems with growing sweet potatoes.

You can learn about all sorts of different sweet potato varieties (of all colors) here.

You might want to read my article on how sweet potatoes grow.

You can also plant sprouted onions – to learn how, check out my article here.

I hope that you found the article helpful – if so, please share it with someone who can use the information.


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~Jonathon


Jon M

Hi, I'm Jon. Let's solve your gardening problems, spend more time growing, and get the best harvest every year!

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