Propagating Sweet Potato Vine

Next year I would like to start my own sweet potato vine--- how do i go about this.Some of the ones you buy are lime green, while others are a redish color. Can you tell me more about these vines. Thanks so much. Marlene

Doug says:

The different colours are simply different varieties and these range from the light lime-greens right through to blackish leaves. Stunning plants for sure in hanging baskets.

To begin with, sweet potato vines are not grown from seed but rather from cuttings or rooting up sections the tuber. So in order for you to have your own - buy the varieties you like right now. Grow them on this summer and plan on overwintering them.

Here's the deal on propagation.

Home gardeners are going to have best luck with taking tip cuttings and rooting these following the directions for tip cuttings on the websites.

Or, some gardeners have success by taking an 8-12 inch long section of a side-shoot (a growing vine off the main stem) and rooting this up in a glass of water. This is going to be a variable success rate but hey, it's really easy to try.

The other thing you can do is grow them, and propagate from the tuber itself. Treat it as you would a regular sweet potato and produce your own vines. You do this by:

Laying sweet potato roots on their sides in hotbedsd (temperatures between 75-80F) and cover with 2 inches of moist sand. The sweet potato will sprout and you remove each of these slips with a bit of a twisting motion to pull it away from the main root. Pot each slip up as you remove it from the mother plant and keep it very warm until new leaves and shoots develop. Leave the mother plant in place to continue producing baby shoots.

I have also seen home gardeners stick toothpicks into the tuber and suspend it in a glass of water (bottom in the water, top out) and the eyes will sprout new vines.

Got another question about sweet potato vine?