Content
Intro
Growing sweet potatoes is a rewarding experience. From sprouts at first sight to digging in and harvesting your own produce, there are few things more satisfying than growing your own fresh food. But how do you grow sweet potatoes? This discussion is going to teach you how to grow both slips and mature plants: from planting seeds to harvesting tasty tubers!
How to Choose the Pot Needed for Sweet Potatoes
The container should be at least ten inches deep with a width of at least twelve inches. Grow bags can also be used to grow sweet potatoes. You may also want a potting mix or soil that is rich in organic matter and well-draining, such as garden loam, composted cow manure, peat moss, vermiculite.
Water Requirements
The water requirements for sweet potatoes are typically high, so make sure to water your sweet potatoes often, although they can handle a bit of a drought. Checking the soil with your finger a half-inch to an-inch feeling for moisture will be a good indication to the watering needs of the sweet potato.
Sunlight Requirements
Sweet potatoes need sunlight hours of at least six per day to produce the best quality.
Type of Soil Needed
I prefer to make a soil mix myself, but you may also choose a good potting soil. I like Happy Frog Potting Soil. It's essential to make sure you use a potting mix if you buy soil. Buying potting soil will get expensive. Well-draining soil is vital for growing in pots. Sweet potatoes need well-draining loamy soil rich in organic matter.
A good soil mixture is one part compost, one part coco coir, and one part perlite. I add three tablespoons of greensand, three tablespoons of bone meal, three tablespoons of blood meal, and one tablespoon of azomite to the mix.
How to Grow Sweet Potato Slips
Sweet potatoes are the most perfect food; they're packed with nutrients, naturally sweet and satisfying. But what do you do if your favorite potato slips past its prime? Plant it! That's right: get a cutting off just about any type (if grown in dirt) or even from an actual tuberous root vegetable- place this into the water until roots start growing - then once these shoots appear, pull them off to plant elsewhere for some more tasty tubers.
Sweet Potato GrowingTips
Tips:
-You may want to fertilize every two weeks with an organic fertilizer that is specifically designed for plants like cucumbers and tomatoes.
-If you are growing in containers, it's important not to prune the stems too much as this will weaken them over time.
Problems: Slips can dry out quickly due to their size - try using a cover or potting mix that holds moisture well around the slips when they are sitting on top of the soil surface!
Notes/Tidbits: The term "slip" refers both to young shoots from mature sweet potato vines (see picture below) which grow easily in water and to the slips produced by a sweet potato vine that can be grown in water.
Health Benefits of Sweet Potatoes
Growing sweet potatoes is easy and it's really important for us as gardeners to grow them because they contain vitamins, minerals, fiber and healthy carbohydrates! It is possible to grow these delicious vegetables too if you have limited space! The best way to do this is with containers or bags. The vitamins and minerals contained within sweet potatoes are Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Vitamin B-complex. Sweet potatoes also encompass potassium and magnesium which can help regulate blood sugar levels if consumed in moderation!
The health benefits include:
- Antioxidants can help prevent cancer and heart disease.
- Fiber helps with constipation, hemorrhoids, and lowers cholesterol levels.
- Potassium is good for the heart as well as lowering blood pressure and reducing high blood sugar which can reduce the risk of diabetes. It also offers protection from strokes!
Your garden can be as diverse and full of life as you want it to be, with all sorts of vegetables. Not only that, but by using containers your plants are easier to maintain than if they were in the ground! Sweet potatoes are a great plant for container gardening because their vines grow quickly and don't take up too much space on top of being delicious. They're also really easy to propagate from slips or cuttings so there's never any shortage at harvest time. What's your favorite sweet potato variety? Comment below!
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