I just dug up my sweet potato vine tubers and need to know how to store them. I had them growing in large pots, but I know they won't survive our winters here.
Has any one stored them over the winter?
Thanks,
Di
Storing ornamental sweet potato vine tubers
I am also interested. Would they make it in a GH in a hanging pot?
Peech~After the first killing frost, I just dig them up,remove the dead leaves, rinse the tubers off, let them air dry for a couple of hours, then store in a paper bag in the garage. For the potted ones...I just overwinter the pot in the garage after removing the dead foliage. Then in Spring, I move the pots outside or plant the tubers near the stone wall,water well and watch them grow. Of course, there are many different preferred methods, but both of the above work very well for me!! ;0)
Thanks garden. I have the purple ones and they were so pretty this summer.
Thanks Garden6! That should work well for me too since we're in the same zone. I have already dug mine out of the container and they are sitting on the patio waiting for me to put them to bed for the winter. I'll bag them and put them in the basement until Spring.
Di
I left mine in it's pot and brought it inside to a cool room. It grew again this year,in the same pot. I have already brought it in again. How large do the tubers generally get?
You're welcome! Maria, the tubers may vary in size, but will definitely look similar to sweet potatoes, but all can be saved and will happily grow for you next Spring. Some will be more fat and round and quite large, others smaller. Last year, my biggest tuber was about 8 inches long and 5 inches thick and others were small red potato size.
Last year I put mine in the garage, but they didn't make it through the winter. This year they go in the basement. I've also heard you can take cuttings and grow them in the house, so I'm going to try this, too. My purple ones bloomed off and on this year, I've never had that before.
I stored the tubers in a cardboard flat on a shelf in the basement. I cut them into pieces this spring, allowed the fresh cut area to air dry for a couple hours and stuck them in the dirt - purple and green, they all came up! This year, I'm starting them in pots inside on a heat mat... that way they'll give me the WOW affect sooner... It is such a versatile plant and sometimes a little expensive, even in the box stores.
AuntB, that is so exciting to here. Around here they are $5 for a single plant in a little pot. Do you bring them in before or after frost?
Last year, it was after a frost had claimed the foliage, I just dug down and retrieved the "potatoes". I use them everywhere, they are even climbing with some morning glories... in baskets and even directly in the ground... but I probably use at least a dozen plants or more, that is expensive! I was so happy to see them popping up out of the soil this year. I learned it from a DG'er, I'm happy to share any tip I can.
Are these the lime green and the deep purple leaved potato plants or are you taling about something else?
I overwintered the lime colored last year after I removed them from the ground and put in a pot & put under my house.....they were absolutely huge this summer....bigger than I've ever had them before & they used to stay outside year around in CA when I lived there.....I just cut everything off of it once frost got it & left it in the garage for acouple days then put in a pot with fresh soil, down under the house, brought out when it first started to warm up & planted....it had no eyes at the time but I'm not kidding, it grew huge.....
NOT from your forum BUT I brought my whole big pot (first FOLIAGE only container ever) and neglected it along with all the other houseplants. Brought the poor half dead creature out this spring and - for you Harry Potter fans - we call it "the plant who lived." Unfortunately Blackie didn't, only Margarita, but it was still lovely to have.
xx, Carrie
Yep, that's what I'm talkin' bout. Cool, huh? I remember sticking toothpicks in eatible sweet potatoes and dunking half of it in a glass of water to grow, as a child....I'm still cutting some into pieces to start inside next spring, but I will save a couple to use whole to see the difference..
It's funny, cause the Blackie "bulbs/taters" were white and the Margarita/Lime ones are red... the opposite of what I thought it should be...
Can you eat the taters? Don't laugh to hard I am just curious.
I think so... can't remember where i heard that, but i didn't make it up. AuntB, I have the same memory... those suckers would grow, too.
Talking about sticking toothpicks in a sweet potato and to watch it grow, I have done it also. Last year we took a avocado pit and stuck it in water and after it had rooted I planted it. I now have a 3 1/2 foot tall plant. I know I won't get any avocado's but it is fun to grow. It is starting to branch out I think there is three know.
I've done that with avocado before, too. I think eventually you can get "fruit" from them... NO DON'T EAT the kind of sweet potatoes we put in flower pots, they're ornamental, I doubt they would be fatal, but probably not very tastey... But you can plant the toothpick kind and dig in fall for sweet potato pie.
Actually the ornamental SP tubers are edible and not dangerous, but the plant was grown and selected for according to the best color and not the best tasting tubers so the taste won't be that great.
Thanks Beth. I can't remember what the vines of the good tasting ones look like, darker than the lime colored one, but maybe they are just as pretty.
A lot of the indian tribes would eat ALL the tubers of the Ipomoea group during starvation times, but didn't particularily care for them.
Here is an historical photo of Ipomoea leptophylla, quite a meal!
Wow. Very informative - I thought I knew all I needed to know about sweet potato vines, but now I know a LOT more, and all very interesting. First frost is any day now around here, so I have to bring in "The Plant Who Lived", and decide what to do for the winter. Maybe the kitchen window...
I just went out and dug up my Blackie, I only had 1 planted, and transplanted it in a pot and put it in the GH. Cut off all but a few new leaves. I still have some tubers that I am letting air dry and will wrap them in newpaper and store alway until around the end of March then plant them so they will have a start before I put them out side. I have never tried to save these before so hope it works. If it doesn't I will do like I do every year and buy a couple of new ones.
I've tried overwintering them in the greenhouse and storing the tuber for spring. I've always had better success storing the tuber in dormancy. Trying to grow them in cooler weather is possible, but they fall prey to every pest and disease you can imagine. All manner of bugs just love to munch on the leaves.
YMMV, so see how your's do.
Like I said this is my first year, I may regret it.
I just store the tubers dormant, less worry about bugs, that way, plenty of hibiscus and brugs to bring bugs in.. Here's what happened with the ones I made "tater salad" out of. (cut up the tubers, air dried a bit and plunked in the planter in May) I really expected them to rot. But in a few weeks, I found cute little tater leaves peeking up at me, I was tickled pink. pic maybe a month ago, I forgot I had one..
I love the color in your pic Garden6, full sun all day? Some shade? It's more yellowish, I love it!
Next year I will have to pick up some chartreuse green vines to go with the blackie that I now have. It is so pretty.
If I end up with a high yeild, I'll send some down to you Linda. That planter had dahlias, cannas, peruvian daffodils, morning glories and a pineapple lily in it... The canna's and dahlias kind of fizzled out, the daffs didn't bloom so I was happy the glories, lily and sweet potatoes picked up the slack.
Well if you should happen to have enough let me know and I will send you some postage.
Your setting is real pretty.
Aunt B, I put summer bulbs in panty hose and hang them in the back corner of my basement. Is this what you mean by storing dormant? Or should I just bring the pot in and put it in the basement once frost kills the tops, and leave it dry all winter? Thanks for sharing your experience! Cathy
I think the panty hose idea sounds great. I kept mine in a darker part of the basement. I would make sure the pots are bone dry, if I tried holding them over that way.. they're too expensive to be an annual.
Aunt B, expensive, isn't that the truth. One skinny little vine with 5 leaves is $5 around here. They have come down in price now that they are getting more popular. I think I'll ask my neighbors for their taters after the frost, I could sell them next spring to pay for my garden habit!