Sweet Potato Vine Indoors

January 24, 2024 Post a Comment

Sweet potato vine indoors

Potted sweet potato vines can be brought indoors and kept as houseplants. They can be allowed to go dormant, and you can store the tubers. You can take cuttings, and bring those indoors for the winter.

How long does a sweet potato vine last?

Sweet potato vines are easy to cultivate, maintain, and keep alive for many years as long as they remain inside or are temperature-controlled during periods of freezing temperatures. How fast do sweet potato vines grow? These plants are fast-growing vines that can grow up to 10 feet long in a single growing season.

Does sweet potato vine like sun or shade?

Does sweet potato vine like sun or shade? Plants are adaptable to varying light conditions from full sun to shade. Foliage color is richest when plants receive at least 6 hours of full sun per day. Leaves will be greener when planted in shade.

How do you care for a potted sweet potato vine?

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 cold is too cold for sweet potato vine?

Sweet potato roots continue to grow until frost kills the vines. Roots can be left in the ground for a short while; however, a hard frost can cause damage to roots near the surface. Chilling injury also results to roots when soil temperatures drop to 50°F or lower, and this can result in internal decay in storage.

Can you leave sweet potato vine in water?

You can propagate sweet potato vine in either water or soil, both are great methods to use.

How do you store sweet potato vines over winter?

To overwinter the tubers, cut the vines to ground level, then dig them up before the first frost in autumn. Dig carefully and be careful not to slice into the tubers. Brush the soil lightly off the tubers, then store them, not touching, in a cardboard box filled with peat moss, sand, or vermiculite.

Do sweet potato vines come back every 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.

Do sweet potato vines need to climb?

Sweet potato vines aren't vivacious climbers, preferring instead to crawl along the ground. As they crawl, the vines set down roots along the length of the stem. Where these vines root in the ground, you'll find sweet potato tubers in the fall.

Why are my sweet potato vines dying?

Root rot is the most common reason for sweet potato vine leaves to turn yellow or brown. To help prevent this, make sure your soil, and the container if planted in one, drain well, they don't like wet feet. Fungal infection is also a leading cause of yellow or brown leaves.

How do I make my sweet potato vine bushy?

If the sweet potato vine gets too long, cut it back a few inches to force the vine to get bushier. The tip of the vine that was pinched off can be rooted in water or moist soil. Your sweet potato vines can be planted outside in late May to produce sweet potatoes that can be dug and eaten in the fall.

Should I trim my sweet potato vines?

The long vines of sweet potatoes can overrun a garden. In early to mid-September, feel free to cut them back by 25%. This simply makes the plants easier to deal with when digging. Sweet potatoes with edible tubers developing below the ground.

Can sweet potato vine grow in pots?

Sweet potato vines are ideal for containers because they can adapt to varying levels of light. They will thrive on a shady porch as well as on a sunny balcony. If the plant begins to droop, give it plenty of water.

When should I repot my sweet potato vine?

The best time to re-pot is in the early spring.

Select a new container for your plant that is at least 2 inches larger than the original pot.
Disinfect previously used pots made of any material, by soaking in one part liquid bleach and nine parts water for thirty minutes.

How do you repot a sweet potato vine?

Transplanting Sweet Potato Vines Add the cuttings to a container of water. After roots form, leave the cuttings in the container or pot them up as houseplants. Transplant rooted cuttings outdoors in late spring or early summer.

Will potato vine come back after a freeze?

Answer: Potato shoots (stems) are sensitive to freezing temperatures. Symptoms of freeze damage may vary from blackening of the leaf margins (minor damage) to death of all aboveground growth (severe damage). Fortunately, severely damaged potatoes will send up new growth (shoots) within 10 to 14 days.

Is sweet potato vine poisonous to dogs?

Sweet potato vine plants are safe for dogs and puppies to eat as long as they don't ingest any seeds. The seeds can be toxic if enough are eaten. Eating seed may cause hallucinations, vomiting, difficulty swallowing, or mouth dryness. Sweet potato vines are tropical plants.

Can I winterize sweet potato vine?

Heeling in Sweet Potato Vines over Winter and spread a thick layer of mulch around the container to act as a blanket to protect the roots. This is one way of winterizing a sweet potato vine. So long as the tubers don't freeze, the plant should spring back when warm temperatures arrive.

Do you bury sweet potato vines?

The best soil for sweet potatoes is loose and rich in organic matter. In the garden, mix some well-aged compost into each planting hole and then plant slips 12-18" apart, burying the stem with soil right up to the first pair of leaves.