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

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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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Many ways to grow things. You could have just a patch of swt potatoes and pick whenever you like. I'm growing them in my volunteer gardens. Take a slip of vine (about 40cm long), strip all the leaves off except the last 10cm of the growing tip, plant it along the ground with the tip out of the soil. Swt potatoes will grow from where the leaves were broken off. Or if you like put the slips in a bucket of water to have the slip producing roots before you plant it.

- ML

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