gary350
Full Access Member
Sweet potatoes are a Zero maintenance crop. Plants love 100°f hot blistering sun all day in dry soft desert soil. We don't eat sweet potatoes not even at Thanksgiving but 20 yrs ago I found it to be a fun challenge to see how many lbs. of potatoes I could grow from 1 plant. I grew 25 lbs. several times, 35 lbs. 1 time and a 8 lb. sweet potato that looked like 10 sweet potatoes all grown together as 1 big lumpy potato. Look at the drawing row 1 is 9 plants, do nothing all summer each plant grows 15 lbs. of potatoes. Make sure soil is very soft row 1 will grow 20 to 25 lbs. of new potatoes from each plant. Row 2 is 1 plant in the center with 2 vines going left and 2 vines going right. Vines have the ability to grow roots and more new potatoes every place the root knob touches the soil. There is a tiny root at each leaf. Put a small rocks on the vine to hold root down then water it the root grows another potato. If you can get 15 potatoes to the left and 15 potatoes to the right plus the mother plant in center it will grow 50 to 70 lbs. of new potatoes. I don't grew sweet potatoes anymore it is a waste of garden space a row of Zinnia flowers are more fun. Buy slips at the garden store or sprout a sweet potatoes in a glass of water 2 months before last frost.
