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

01 Jun 22, Bryon Ellison (Australia - tropical climate)
Does any one know what is a similar species in Australia?
30 Apr 22, Robyn ballantine (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
When we have a big supply, how do you cure? And keep them. ? I have found they just rot when we dig them up
02 May 22, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Don't water them for the last 2 weeks or so before digging them up - toughen them up a bit.. Put them out in the sun or shaded area for a week or two to get a tough skin. Then in a cool dry place. They should keep for few months.
21 Apr 22, Julie Edwards (USA - Zone 5a climate)
When do I plant the slips sweet potatoes? In my zone. We have been having late frost as late as March the past couple of years
22 Apr 22, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
There is no planting guide for your climate zone in the USA. Your climate doesn't suit by the sound of it.
05 Apr 22, (Australia - temperate climate)
i was looking for websites to help with my school project and this helped so much. thanks alot.
14 Mar 22, Malcolm (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)
I have grown a large bed of kumara in a school garden. The entire bed is covered in healthy top growth. But I can't feel any tubers when I lift up a section of top growth. I'm interested in the comments on pulling up runners, although I may be too late now, in mid-March. Do I just hack away at the long vines, cutting them back to where they enter the soil. Or am I wasting my time, since we are about a month from harvest?
09 Apr 22, Will (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
No, you are not wasting your time growing them. Even if there are no tubers, the top leaves can be harvested. They are commonly harvested & eaten in the Philippines. Steam them. They commonly used them with raw tomatoes, in their summer.
15 Mar 22, Mike Logan (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
In sub tropical Australia where I live, they grow them in rows. The rows are hilled up about 1/2m high and the slips are planted in the top of the hill. A slip is the last 200-300mm of the vine when they are about 10 weeks old. Plant the slip with the top part out of the ground, Keep soil moist until they start to grow. Your problem is you probably have over fertilised with nitrogen. Go by the time to harvest guide here if you don't have a crop by say 4mths then you probably won't. The potatoes will be around where you planted the tube or runner not along the vines.
12 Mar 22, DeAnn Johnson (USA - Zone 5a climate)
Thank you so much for the GREAT Tip!!!
Showing 31 - 40 of 307 comments

The best way to plant sweet potatoes is to take a piece of vine with growing tip at one end about 400mm long, strip most of the leaves off but leave the growing tip (last 150mm) plant that in a trench with the tip sticking out of the soil. Water every day until it starts growing. Along the slip where the leaves joined the vine tubers will grow.

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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
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