Growing Sweet Potato, also Kumara

Ipomoea batatas : Convolvulaceae / the morning glory family

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

(Best months for growing Sweet Potato in Australia - temperate regions)

  • P = Plant crowns
  • Plant shoots or cuttings (Slips). Best planted at soil temperatures between 17°C and 35°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 40 - 60 cm apart
  • Harvest in 15-17 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Best in Separate bed

Your comments and tips

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09 Feb 09, Grahame (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Michelle, It's probably a little late to put sweet potatoes in now as they take quite a few months to produce. You can get 'seed potatoes' from nurseries, usually from Goodman seeds. You other option is to just buy one from a good greengrocer and grow from that. The idea in Victoria is to plant the tuber in to a pot and wait for it to sprout. Once the sprouts are big enough you take cuttings and stick them in the ground and away they go.
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17 Jul 10, Jo (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Thanks for the info - I am new to the game and was wondering the same thing! All set to (excuse the pun) have a dig at growing some sweet potatoes now! Cheers!
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06 Feb 09, Michelle (Australia - temperate climate)
where do i buy sweet potatoes..? in Melbourne.
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21 Mar 19, Damien Cooke (Australia - temperate climate)
Bunnings are still selling them here in Adelaide
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Showing 191 - 194 of 194 comments
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Plant a couple of sweet potatoes and use the slips from them. Use the new vine part. Strip most of the leaves off a 250-300mm piece. Did trench and lay flat with the growing tip out of the ground. Water a lot the first 2 weeks. That is the way commercial growers plant sweet potato in Qld

- Anon

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