can sweet potatoes grow in a pot?

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ejennings San Angelo, TX(Zone 7b) May 07, 2007

I bought a sweet potatoe to eat but never did....and it started sprouting!! What can I do with it? It's kinda pretty. Should I just let it keep growing like it is?
Thanks for any ideas!! Elizabeth

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kmom246 Murfreesboro, TN(Zone 7a) May 07, 2007

Two years ago from Thanks Giving, I stuck one in a jar or water so that the bottom half was submerged and it grew roots (it did not have sprouts like yours). After it sprouted, it cut the 6-8" stems off and rooted them in water - which took only a few days. Some went outside and were promptly eaten to the ground by something (I'm guessing rabbits). Some went into pots as house plants. As houseplants, they really need as much light as you can give them. I went to pot one up to a bigger pot this spring and found it had a little 1" tuber! We don't have a long enough growing season to grow these as food here in NV, but in z8b, you probably could put them in the veggie garden and grow a crop from them for food. I don't think they tollerate any frost and have to be dug before the vines frost kill. As indoor plants with barely enough light to survive, I haven't seen mine bloom yet, but they are related to morning glories, so I imagine they would look something like that. Have fun. I love growing things that are from the grocery store.

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ejennings San Angelo, TX(Zone 7b) May 07, 2007

So I should get the sprouts in water to start rooting? I had no idea they did that. I just never ate it and forgot it...even though it was in my face everyday. LOL
Thanks for the help, Elizabeth

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kmom246 Murfreesboro, TN(Zone 7a) May 07, 2007

If you put the tuber in water half way, you will get even more sprouts than you have now. Then when the sprouts are 6-8" you can root them in water. When they have some unfurled leaves (which may happen before you root them in water), you can start hardening them off outside for a week or so and then put them in the garden. I eventually through out the original sweet potato as it used up most of its energy producing sprouts, but I think if I had planted the original in a pot after it started rooting and if I fed it like a houseplant, I might have it still. The vines are prolific.

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