Growing Sweet Potato, also Kumara

Ipomoea batatas : Convolvulaceae / the morning glory family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec

Not recommended for growing in USA - Zone 5a regions

  • Plant shoots or cuttings (Slips). Best planted at soil temperatures between 63°F and 95°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 16 - 24 inches apart
  • Harvest in 15-17 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Best in Separate bed

Your comments and tips

08 Jun 15, Winsom (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hello, saw where you have the purple sweet potato cuttings and would post to someone who was looking for it. I live in Brisbane and was looking for the purple skinned sweet potato. How do I go about sending you the costs for this? regards Winsom
16 May 15, Carole Hanley (USA - Zone 10b climate)
I would like to grow these wonderful sweet potato here in Nevada. We ate them in New Zealand and they are beyond good.
13 Apr 15, Charles Lee (Australia - tropical climate)
I bought my "seed" tuber as a vegetable in the supermarket. Some gardening experts say to wait until leaves yellow & plants die back before harvesting. I am in Townsville and that did not work. Plants grew 12 months a year. Tubers were bigger than footballs, woody and had insect attack and rot. Suggest you follow other advise that recommends harvest in 16 weeks. Tubers are smaller and tender.
09 Apr 15, Bill (Australia - temperate climate)
The orange sweet potato/kumara can grow like a weed. I recently dug up a patch and for months tiny kumara plants were sprouting. Some from the smallest pieces of broken root. If you see one you like in the supermarket, I suggest you chop some up and plant it. To harvest, they poke out of the ground when ready. Feel around for a big one, then remove it by hand. Be careful not to break it in two.
30 Jan 15, Shona (Australia - temperate climate)
Bunnings sells the kumara plant in QLD along with feijoa trees which were both thought to be a NZ thing only? Or you can get on eBay though there are certain restrictions with sending fruit or plant matter between states.
05 Aug 14, Peter Wheldon (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I saw Jerry Coleby-Williams of Gardening Australia use a crop of marigold in a garden bed for a season to 'gas' or fumigate the nematodes organically. Apparently farmer's friends or cobblers pegs do the same thing. So you could pull the kumara up, cultivate the bed and plant a heap of marigold in to deal with the nematodes if that is what the grubs were.
09 May 14, Joe De Ornelas (Australia - temperate climate)
Hello, I live in Perth and I've been in search of the ORANGE KUMARA, but to no luck. Does anybody know were I might be able to purchase this elusive plant?
18 Feb 16, Carol (Australia - temperate climate)
The orange one is called Beaurgard. See if you can find a supplier in WA :)
07 Apr 15, Susan Johnson (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Diggers Club (Vic) and Green Harvest (Q'ld) sell the orange sweet potato, which is quite distinct from NZ Kumera.
26 Jan 15, Peter (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Kumara are purple and lemon on the inside and taste chestnutty not like the sweet potato in Australia. When you taste a kumara it taste nothing like what some supermarkets are selling as New Zealand kumara.
Showing 211 - 220 of 307 comments

Hi there.. I harvested my Kumara in March and unfortunately most of them tubers had multiple small holes in them. Looks like some type of insects got there first and ruined it. Is there anything that I can spray them with and kill them little bugs before they ruin my crops next season.. cheers

- Sam

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