Sweet potatoes are a great option if you’re starting to plan on growing something in your yard. Compared other fruits and veegtables, sweet potatoes are high yielding and easy to manage. If you have a small plot, plant these bronzed tubers, and after a while you can have sweet potatoes grown in your own plot for dinner. Follow the steps below to grow your sweet potatoes and start with seedlings.
1. Dig a hole. Sweet potatoes require a larger field than other garden vegetables. Each hole is 30-60 cm apart. The depth is 3 cm from the base of the plant to the root of the tuber.
2. Planting. Put the sweet potato seedlings one by one in the hols dug beforehand, and cover the stem with about 1.5 cm of soil. The leaf part of the sweet potato will grow vines, while the roots will grow tubers 15-30 cm deep in the soil.
3. Cover the film. Protect your sweet potatoes from cold weather by using grow tunnel and covering them with film. This will also help stop weeds from growing and prevent sweet potato vines from overgrowing, robbing the tubers of nutrients.
4. Watering. When sweet potatoes are first planted, they need a lot of water. Over time, you should reduce watering to only about once a week later. Start with daily watering, then reduce the number of waterings weekly.
5. Wait for the tubers to grow. Sweet potatoes need a relatively long growth period, and they won’t be ready for harvest until early fall (which happens to coincide with Thanksgiving). Continue to water and weed weekly to keep the plants healthy.
6. Harvest sweet potatoes. About 120 days after planting, sweet potatoes should have reached full maturity. If possible, delay harvesting your sweet potatoes as long as possible (before frost), as this will result in bigger, better-tasting tubers.
7. Post-harvest handling of sweet potatoes. After the sweet potato is harvested, it must be post-treated. This step is very important. This makes the sweet potatoes more flavorful (they don’t have flavor when first dug out）and tougher skins. Put the sweet potato in a place where the temperature is 84 Fahrenheit degree to 95 Fahrenheit degree and the humidity is 80-90% for 5-10 days. After that, they’re ready to cook ! A warmer and humidifier can be placed in a small room for post-processing of harvested sweet potatoes.
8. Store your sweet potatoes. One of the great things about these lovely tubers is that if stored properly, they can stay fresh for many months and still be delicious. Store them in an open, dry place with temperatures aroung 70 Fahrenheit degree (which means no refrigeration!). Never store sweet potatoes in a plastic bag or airtight container.
Note:
The longer the post-processing time, the better the sweet potato will taste. Therefore, post-processing can take as long as several weeks, if desired.
After sweet potatoes are harvested, avoid dropping or bumping. Because they are especially prone to large breakages.
Try not to use a hoe or rake to loosen the soil when planting sweet potatoes. Because these tools can damage growing tubers.
Avoid fertilizing sweet potatoes during the growing season. Fertilizing can make vines grow wild and affect tuber growth.
