Mature Sweet Potato Plant

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Kerry Michaels is a writer and photographer with several years specializing in gardening and landscape design.
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Ornamental sweet potato vines are a classic "spiller" plant perfect for container gardening. This beautiful, fast-growing herbaceous perennial is native to North America and best planted in the spring once temperatures consistently stay about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It has long tendrils that tumble over the edges and down the sides of containers. Sweet potato vines are available in a wide variety of colors—from almost-black to chartreuse—and there are several different leaf shapes from which to choose.
Ornamental sweet potato vines are in the same family as edible sweet potatoes and are in fact the same species. The ornamental varieties are simply cultivars of the species plant. They are bred for the beauty of their leaves rather than their edible tubers, and the vines from these plants make them look more like morning glory or clematis than a member of the potato family.
While the leaves of the edible sweet potato are a delicious delicacy—especially when they are young and tender—eating the leaves of ornamental varieties is not recommended; they're not dangerous, but the leaves and tubers of these plants have a bitter taste.
Sweet potato vine, ornamental sweet potato vine
Ornamental sweet potato vines are versatile plants that are equally suitable for filling outdoor containers, spilling over a wall, or covering ground in a landscape bed. They also are popular as indoor plants and can be grown inside year-round or just during the cold of winter. Like many rooting vines, they can be vigorous growers in the right conditions and may need frequent trimming to stay in check. The parts you trim back can be used to propagate the plant elsewhere.
Sweet potato vines love the sun but will also grow in part shade and sometimes in full shade. The more sun the plant gets, the more vibrant its leaf color will typically be.
These plants prefer moist, well-drained soil that's fairly nutritious thanks to organic matter. They can easily rot if their soil remains too wet, so make sure that the container you choose has ample holes for drainage.
Sweet potato vines are considered drought-tolerant, though they will grow more vigorously with frequent watering. Water enough to keep the soil consistently moist but not overly wet. You may notice that the leaves wilt when the plant is thirsty.
These vines like sun more than high heat. In hot climates, they may do best with some shade, and they should be watched carefully so their soil doesn't dry out. They thrive in many humid climates but don't need high humidity as many other tropical plants do.
Feeding sweet potato vines is typically optional based on how much you want them to grow. A weekly feeding with a well-balanced fertilizer during their growing season will boost growth, but given their naturally robust habit, you may find that feeding also increases the need to cut them back.
There are a number of different types of sweet potato vines available on the market. The most notable difference between them is seen primarily in their color, though sometimes in their leaf shape as well. They include:
Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline’: Popular as a ground cover, this varietal is available in five different colors, including light green, yellow-green, bronze, purple, and red. Additionally, its leaves are shaped somewhat like maple leaves.
Ipomoea batatas ‘Margarita’ or ‘Marguerite’: This varietal of sweet potato vine is mounding but can be trained as a climber. Its foliage is a bright, light green or chartreuse when grown in full sun, and darker green if grown in shadier locations.
Ipomoea batatas ‘Blackie’: Dark purple, maple-like leaves; sometimes flowers with purple, trumpet-shaped blooms
Ipomoea batatas 'Ragtime': One of the varieties with narrow, divided leaves; coloring is a pale purple with some attractive natural variation
Sweet potato vines are easy to grow from existing plants. To do so, break off a branch that has several leaf nodes. Remove all the leaves off the bottom few inches and submerge the stem in water. In a few days, you should see roots. This strategy is a good way to overwinter sweet potato vines because they will last all winter in the water and be ready to plant in the spring.
Sweet potato vines are tuberous plants, so you can save tubers for the next season. Dig up the tubers before the first frost, let them dry, and store them for the winter in peat or vermiculite in a cool, dry place, such as a basement, crawlspace, or root cellar. In spring, the tubers will sprout and can be planted after the last frost. Divide them as needed before planting, making sure each tuber has at least one eye.
Sweet potato vines can become victims of the golden tortoise beetle, which looks like a teardrop of molten gold. While interesting to look at, the beetle will munch holes in your leaves, making them look like Swiss cheese in a very short amount of time.
Depending on where you live, there are a couple of other pests that feast on your sweet potato vines. The sweet potato looper is a caterpillar that chews on the leaves, while the sweet potato whitefly can drain the plant of nutrients and stunt its growth. In some areas, sweet potato weevils may also pose a problem.
Sweet potato vines are also prone to leaf fungus, particularly if they are planted in the same place for multiple seasons. Minimize this problem by varying the planting locations from one season to the next.
Learn tips for creating your most beautiful (and bountiful) garden ever.
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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Sweet Potatoes
Learn how to grow sweet potatoes! A root vegetable with deep orange flesh, delicious sweet potatoes are commonly grown in southern regions as they require four months of warm weather; northern regions can have success with select varieties. Here’s how to plant, care for, and harvest sweet potatoes!
A large, naturally sweet-tasting root of the morning glory family (not related to potatoes), sweet potatoes are a very undemanding crop to grow as long as you have sun and warm soil; this is a tropical plant. Sweet potatoes are drought- and heat-tolerant and have few pests or diseases.
Though traditionally more of a Southern crop, there are many short-season varieties of sweet potato today which will grow in the North (even parts of Canada!) when grown in raised beds that are mulched with black plastic.
The sweet potato is also very nutritious, a top source of beta-carotene, and relatively low in calories. Just a few plants can produce a generous harvest of this orange-fleshed vegetable, which can be stored even longer than winter squash.
Sweet potatoes are sometimes called yams, even in grocery stores. Technically, they are NOT a true yam which is a giant dry tuber from Africa, sometimes found in specialty shops. The sweet potato that we grow in the U.S. has a deep orange flesh and copper skin. So whatever you or a grocery store may wish to call it, we’re growing what you see in the photo below!

Image: Sweet potatoes are grown from slips—sprouts grown from existing potatoes! Credit: Lex20/Getty Images.

Image: We thinks sweet potatoes make a nice ground cover, too! Credit: Getty Images.
Flea beetles
Stem rot (Fusarium wilt)
Sweet potato scurf
White rust
Whiteflies
The fastest-growing sweet potato varieties have orange flesh, but you might also consider varieties with white, yellow, or even purple flesh. Note that orange-flesh varieties cook up moist; white and yellow sweet potatoes become creamy; purple sweets are dry and starchy.
Sweet potatoes are a very healthy root vegetable, and they provide many benefits. Here’s why you should eat sweet potatoes.
They were used in folk remedies to treat asthma, night blindness, and diarrhea.
Not only are sweet potatoes not yams (which are related to grasses and lilies), but they’re also not related to regular white potatoes which belong to the nightshade family (versus the morning glory family). Potatoes’ edible portion is a tuber; sweet potatoes are root vegetables.
To the cook, sweet potatoes are easier than pie (or sweet potato pie!).
As a general rule, don’t substitute sweet potatoes for regular potatoes in recipes; the two aren’t related. Sweet potatoes don’t hold together the way potatoes do, and their strong flavor can overwhelm a dish meant for a milder potato taste. Sweet potatoes are also not related to yams. But they make a fine substitute for pumpkin, especially in desserts.
Submitted by David Farrington on May 24, 2021 - 7:39am
I have grown sweet potatoes the last two years with good results. To get my slips, I place a sweet potato in a small vase and fill with water with half of the potato out of the water. The roots start to grow and it produces the growth out of the half of the potato. After the growth is 3 to 4 inches tall I snip them off and place in a cup of water to root for a few days to a week. I will be planting them as soon as Thursday. I also intend to let the long vines grow up a fence this year to save space.
Submitted by Daniel Anzaya on May 21, 2021 - 11:28am
One is required to weed sweet potato vines after one month (4 weeks) of plantation, then spay forliar booster to improve growth and also spray Duduthrine to kill pests
Submitted by Food Forests on March 27, 2021 - 12:37pm
This will be the first year growing sweet potatoes for me. I plan on growing some in large fabric pots and some in beds. Sweet potatoes need plenty of room in the soil to produce roots, so a larger pot that is at least 12” deep is ideal. Plant the rooted slips (lengths of the vine with roots at one end, pruning off all leaves except the top few opposite the rooted end) a few inches below the surface of the soil, leaving the leafy crown above the soil. There are plenty of great how to videos on YouTube to see how this is done, and other helpful tips to ensure a good harvest of roots, instead of lots of leaves.
Grow your own food, collect your own water, make your own heat, and make something to enable your family to survive that can’t be shut off like a faucet, or easily taken away. Plant fruit, and nut trees, and other perennial crops that reliably produce food every year with minimal effort.
Submitted by tuyen on December 8, 2020 - 4:48am
Weather here ideal for growing and I have been careful not to overwater...but there were lots of roots in the soil but not one potato...Any extra advice would be very much appreciated...from a jobless Lady, who is trying to be as self sufficient as possible...
I have planted sweet potatoes since April 2020 and as at yesterday 13th October, no good tubers were seen but roots that have not developed. Only one or two tubers harvested on a ridge. So, I begin to wonder of the harvest time.
Submitted by Alicat on October 28, 2020 - 7:54am
Hi, from the Canary Islands, Last year I planted sweet potatoes in pots, (presuming that sweet potatoes grew from sweet potatoes) obviously not the case, and sadly I threw away all the vines, as I had not researched the eating of sweet potatoes leaves, (which I have eaten on salads and in tortillas ever since I knew the leaves were edible. Sadly once again I have had lots of leaves, after planting the rooted vines that I took off sweet potatoes , they all had great roots, but after more than 120 days, the leaves have turned yellow (sadly cannot eat these) but normally this means the harvest is ready, well I was hoping....But no...Nothing, not one potatoes ..So I have resigned myself to keep purchasing the potatoes but grow lots of leaves, and enjoy them...Maybe one day ...I shall find a Potato...
Weather here ideal for growing and I have been careful not to overwater...but there were lots of roots in the soil but not one potato...Any extra advice would be very much appreciated...from a jobless Lady, who is trying to be as self sufficient as possible...
Submitted by The Editors on October 28, 2020 - 2:04pm
Hi Alicat, You can indeed grow a sweet potato from the slips of another sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are not grown from seeds like most vegetables. They are grown from “slips” which are the root sprouts. However, store-bought sweet potatoes are often waxed to prevent sprouting. It’s best to plant root sprouts, called slips, from nurseries and mail-order suppliers. Do you have a friend who grows garden sweet potatoes? Or, you could reach out to a gardening group to find a gardener who grows sweet potatoes. If not, you need to go to your local nursery and inquire. And yes, the leaves are edible! They contain high dietary fiber, too. 
Here’s how it’s done: About six weeks before it’s time to plant sweet potatoes outdoors, place the roots in a box of moist sand, sawdust, or chopped leaves in a warm spot (75 to 80 degrees). Shoots will sprout, and when they reach 6 to 9 inches long, cut them off the root. Remove and dispose of the bottom inch from each slip, as that portion sometimes harbors disease organisms. 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.
For sweet potatoes to grow well, they do need soil with plenty of organic matter for food. Work in plenty of compost (which you can make). Create long, wide, 10-inch-high ridges spaced 3½ feet apart. (A 10-foot row will produce 8 to 10 pounds of potatoes.)
Submitted by Lanre Adebayo on October 14, 2020 - 7:27am
I have planted sweet potatoes since April 2020 and as at yesterday 13th October, no good tubers were seen but roots that have not developed. Only one or two tubers harvested on a ridge. So, I begin to wonder of the harvest time. I did not see the leaves turn green. Could be soil be the issue becos I am not in the North, but planted at the half a plot of my residence. Grateful advuse
Submitted by The Editors on October 14, 2020 - 4:22pm
It’s difficult to know why your plants did not thrive. Soil? Maybe. They like a sunny spot with loamy, well-drained soil. Sweet potatoes aren’t too picky, but they do prefer soil on the sandier side, and need plenty of air space in the soil for roots to reach down. If your soil is clay, rocky, or compacted, consider raised beds. Read above and below for more possible reasons/explanations.
Submitted by Elwood Hurrin on September 30, 2020 - 11:46am
i just dug my sweet potatoes her in Va. I told my wife I'm going to try cutting some vines that still have roots on them and put them in a bag and freeze them for next year. I wonder if they'll grow ? What do you think ?
Submitted by The Editors on October 2, 2020 - 1:47pm
Sweet potato vines are tropical plants, which means that they cannot withstand cold temperatures for long. Because of this, freezing the vines will kill them, unfortunately!
Submitted by Shelby on August 3, 2020 - 3:09pm
It is early August in Northern Texas, and my sweet potato plant has large, healthy leaves and vines growing along the fence out of a small box in the backyard. However, I will be moving several hours South by car and will either have to transplant my plant in the car and replant it in our new home, or harvest them soon. Which is my best bet?
Submitted by The Editors on August 7, 2020 - 4:04pm
It sounds like the roots are in the “small box.” (You know the roots are the sweet potatoes and they are at the base of the vines under the soil, right? Just checking.) Can you take the plant with you, with the box and vines intact? If not, you can dig around in the box and see how big the roots are and decide then whether to take it altogether or harvest what you find.
Submitted by David on May 18, 2019 - 3:42am
Although I haven't tried this yet, I've heard that you can plant regular potatoes in old tires, stacked atop one another & filled with dirt; to minimize space I would assume.
My question is, can sweet potatoes be planted this way as well?
Submitted by The Editors on May 21, 2019 - 3:38pm
The idea of using old tires as planters is not something we can get behind (recommend), Sure, some sources suggest that they are safe short term (biodegradation being a long term process) and they are harmful if they have been burned or are shredded for use. It just seems that there are so many things that can be used as containers why get tires involved. In terms of growing habit, sweets do not grow like “regular” potatoes; it is not necessary to stack dirt up around sweets.
Submitted by Nick Ryan on September 15, 2019 - 6:31pm
I read that vulcanised rubber contains high levels of heavy metals and other toxic compounds. I don't know whether they would definitely leach into soil and plants but I would avoid using tires for growing anything.
Submitted by Bonnie katzenberg on April 28, 2019 - 8:02am
We planted sweet potato slips and half of them were eaten, rabbits. A few of the nibbled vines still had a slight green slip poking out of the ground. Will the slips die or continue to grow?
Submitted by The Editors on May 21, 2019 - 3:40pm
Try to protect the remaining slip; cover them carefully with screening or something like (but closer woven than) chicken wire. The slips might make it. It’s still early in season.
Submitted by Roob on March 30, 2019 - 8:15pm
I've had this potato patch for over a year. I decided to dig it up today. March 30, 2019. They are really small, very hard and white. What are these?
Submitted by DIANE CEDARLEAF on December 31, 2018 - 3:40am
I'm new at this. I halved a sweet potato and placed the exposed surface in a glass with water. They sprouted beautiful leafy green stems! The stems are bushy and maybe 6 inches long now. Did I wait too long to plant them in the soil? If I twist them off, I fear breaking the stem and roots. Can't I just carefully slice around each stem and try to not disturb the roots- planting the slip with a margin of original potato around it? Thanks!
Submitted by TQTQ on November 11, 2018 - 12:44am
I harvested my first crop of back yard sweet potatoes today, Houston area. Late harvest, I know. They have been in since May and it is been too wet. Some of the sweets looked like they have ridges, other look bit. I saw grubs in my bed and will take steps to treat them.
My question - what do I do with the damaged potatoes? If I can remove the portion of the potato with the damage, are they safe to eat or cure for slips for next year?
Submitted by The Editors on November 13, 2018 - 12:06pm
If these were our sweets we would cut out the damaged area and proceed as normal—eating them or slipping them. BTW, you’re in good company: Did you know that Texas is the fifth largest producer of sweets in the United States?
It’s unfortunate that the grubs got to the sweets before you did. We looked for a solution and this Louisiana State U Ag Cen
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