Sweet potatoes-are they hard to grow??? (growing, fertilizer, vegetable, spring) - Garden -Trees, Grass, Lawn, Flowers, Irrigation, Landscaping... - City-Data Forum

brokensky · 07-13-2008, 05:41 PM

I have grown a lot of different veggies over my lifetime, but I have never grown sweet potatoes. I am no longer in a rural area . . . but I have a big hill in the back . . . and I was wondering if I could grow some sweet potatoes on that hill.

I know nothing about growing them! How hard are they to grow? When do you plant them? Do they require full sun all day?

Any info will be appreciated! Also, feel free to tell me if this is a totally nutty idea for a suburban situation!

azoria · 07-13-2008, 05:45 PM

I've never grown them, but I know they do extremely well in east Texas. It's hot, humid, and the soil is sandy.

I think sandy soil would be requisite.

wit-nit · 07-13-2008, 06:03 PM

Check this out for sweet potatoe information:The Gardener's Network - Vegetable Gardening: How to Grow Sweet Potatoes and Yams

Nomadicus · 07-13-2008, 07:18 PM

If your soil is heavy then you can work it up in the spring into flat topped ridges about 12-15" high. Cover it with a black plastic mulch. Plant the plants about 14" apart. The plastic mulch will keep pounding rains from hardening the ground and causing the sweet potatoes to be deformed. As the link posted above is recommending 6-24-24 fertilizer I used it in the 70's in conjuction with the plastic mulch. A friend and neighbor saw what I was doing and tried it to. We both had bumper crops the first time we tried it. It was purely experimental that year. One of his hills produced a weighed 13+ lbs. The good thing is that they were not stringy and had no corking. It's important to have the soil in the bed and the fertilizer blended so you don't burn the plant roots. HTH

harry chickpea · 07-14-2008, 07:26 AM

"As the link posted above is recommending 6-24-24 fertilizer... "

Just remember that the second and third nutrients will build up in the soil as you continue to use fertilizer. Nitrogen is typically the nutrient that will leach out, be used up, or change to an inert form quickly. 6-24-24 might be great the first couple of years, but I'd have a soil test before trying it a third year in the same area.