propagation of sweet potato vine

the last thing i wanna do right now is to start letting my spv go to sleep for the winter......but i am reading that is what i need to do to have it for the spring....SO, my brain said lets do cuttings also, and grow the thing indoors and i am reading that they dont do so well indoors....my question to you is :

1. if i take cuttings and root them in soil will they last all winter like coleus ??

2. will the spv grow all winter in my sun room??

3 should i bite the bullet and just start letting them go dormant??

4 any other suggestions??

they should do fine in yr sunrm. I would start with the top-cut aabout 4" down and take off all but the top 2-3 leaves and stick in wet dirt. then work your way down the stem and in 4" pieces-do the same thing. leave the top leave of the stem cuttings. The more you cut them back, the thicker it will get. So when the cuttings get longer, cut them and make cuttings from the tops.

tiger....i am alot dense...when you say: 'leave the top leave of the stem cuttings'; what do you mean?? and/or why am i leaving a leaf??

you also say: the more you cut them back the thicker it will get; is that bad? when you refer to thicker do you mean the stem or the amount of foliage on the stem??

thanks so much:)

Sticks-you are not dense-I just took shortcuts explaining it! Its very similar to taking cuttings of coleus-remember that thread that I wrote on coleus cuttings? Same with sweet potato.
Once you have taken the top off, then you have stem sections ( and be sure to keep the cuttings facing the same direction so you know which is the top and bottom of the cutting) that have a few leaves on them-take off all the leaves except the top leave of that cutting.
It is good to have a thicker plant instead of one long strand-so thats why I say to keep cutting back the plants. Just make sure that when you take the top off there are some small leaves at the base of the plant and they will all grow out. I am refering to how thick and bushy the plant will become-there will be a lot of tops and stems coming out instead of one long stem
I always leave a leaf so that when the plant starts to develop roots it will have a leaf to help it grow

ok thanks for the explanation....and because of you i have about 500 coleus cutting!!!
i am praying that 1/2 will make it till spring

tiger,I missed your thread on coleus,and have too many to move inside,is there a solution,for over wintering,I'm in z7,and hope their's hope.Mike

mike...you will need to take cuttings; root them in soil and keep them that way...i will find the link for you:)

here you go:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/596774/

Thanks,sticks,I'll be keeping this thread in my favorities,and refer.Thanks again, Mike

not a prob....i have about 250 cuttings going right now...will keep on cutting so that i have some for spring!!!

I am not sure if this is a hold over from last year or a newly developed this year. (I had a spv in the same bed last year, and planted one this year) When I pulled up and cut back the vine this year, I found this monster! I am going to move it to the back in a new bed and mulch it. I will tag it and see if it comes back up next year. I would say it is about 7" in diam.

oh sheila....i wanna see...i wanna see!!!

I will try again. We have that photo bug going on again, it looks like.

OMG that is HUGE; mine spv's are from cuttings....do they grow into one of those??

Well in the past when I have pulled out vines, there has been very small ones on the roots. Some maybe 2" long and 1" wide. This is a first for me. I thought they were annuals here, but maybe that one over-wintered? I wonder if you could pull it up and store it cool, dry place and set them out in the spring? This one is the 'Margrita' and kept taking over the walkway, now I see why! I did have the 'Blackie' come back also this year, but it isn't where it has to be pulled out, and never grows as much as this one does.

I over wintered one last year and the 'potato' is about 3 times the size of Sheila's! It's hard to believe.

Oh my gosh, then they are hardy if it survived your Zone! I know it was the vine from hell this year. I cut it back twice off of the walkway. Guess I will make sure to look for the spuds next time I want to get rid of one.

sheila...what do you mean by hardy??

Well it is not suppose to be a survivor in our zone, according to the PF listing. But evidentally it is, and thriving too.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53068/index.html
Hardiness:
USDA Zone 8b: to -9.4° C (15° F)
USDA Zone 9a: to -6.6° C (20° F)
USDA Zone 9b: to -3.8° C (25° F)
USDA Zone 10a: to -1.1°C (30° F)
USDA Zone 10b: to 1.7° C (35° F)
USDA Zone 11: above 4.5° C (40° F