Overview

Embark on a rewarding gardening journey with our premium selection of sweet potato slips. This variety pack includes 15 vigorous live slips, carefully chosen to bring a diverse and delicious harvest to your home garden. You’ll receive a mix of popular Beauregard, the delectable Japanese white sweet potato, and the vibrant purple sweet potato. Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are not only a versatile and nutritious vegetable but also relatively easy to grow, making them a fantastic choice for both novice and experienced gardeners. These slips are the young, sprouted shoots from mature sweet potatoes, ready to be planted directly into your garden beds or containers to establish robust plants that will yield an abundance of tubers. Get ready to grow sweet potatoes that are fresh, flavorful, and incredibly satisfying.

Our sweet potato slips are selected for their health and readiness to thrive, ensuring you get a strong start to your growing season. This collection offers a unique opportunity to experience different sweet potato profiles, from the classic Beauregard’s orange flesh and sweet flavor to the firm texture of Japanese White and the antioxidant-rich, deep purple hue of the Purple variety. Planting these slips is an economical and enjoyable way to produce your own organic sweet potatoes, allowing you to control the growing conditions and harvest the freshest produce possible.

Key Benefits

Growing your own sweet potato slips offers a multitude of advantages beyond just fresh produce. This variety pack ensures a diverse culinary experience and a visually appealing harvest. These plants are known for their resilience and ability to produce abundantly, making them a top choice for productive gardens. Achieve a bountiful yield and enjoy the satisfaction of harvesting your own homegrown vegetables.

• Diverse Harvest: Receive 15 slips comprising three distinct varieties – Beauregard, Japanese White, and Purple – offering a range of flavors, textures, and colors for culinary exploration. This variety enhances your gardening experience and your plate.
• Nutrient-Rich Produce: Sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The purple sweet potato, in particular, is celebrated for its high anthocyanin content, contributing to a healthier diet.
• Easy to Grow: These live slips are simple to plant and establish, making them suitable for gardeners of all skill levels. With proper sweet potato plant care, you can expect a successful harvest.
• Abundant Yield: Sweet potato plants are prolific producers, meaning a single planting of these sweet potato slips can provide a significant harvest for your family.
• Versatile Culinary Use: From baking and roasting to frying and mashing, each variety offers unique characteristics perfect for various dishes. The Japanese white sweet potato is excellent for savory preparations, while Beauregard is a classic for sweet applications.
• Supports Healthy Soil: As a vine crop, sweet potatoes can help suppress weeds and contribute to soil health, benefiting your overall garden ecosystem.
• Satisfaction of Homegrown: Experience the pride and superior taste of sweet potatoes you’ve grown yourself, free from commercial chemicals and picked at peak ripeness.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Successful sweet potato plant care begins with proper planting and attentive maintenance. Sweet potatoes thrive in warm weather and require a long growing season, typically 90 to 120 days of frost-free conditions. Choose a location in your garden that receives at least 6-8 hours of full sunlight daily. While they can tolerate some partial shade, optimal tuber development occurs in full sun. Ensure your soil is well-draining, loose, and rich in organic matter. A sandy loam is ideal, with a pH between 5.8 and 6.2. Avoid heavy clay soils, as these can hinder tuber formation and lead to rot.

When planting your sweet potato slips, gently separate them and plant them about 10-18 inches apart in rows that are 3-4 feet apart. Bury the slip up to the second or third leaf node, ensuring several nodes are underground from which roots and tubers will form. Water thoroughly after planting. Consistent watering is crucial during the initial establishment phase and during dry spells, especially when tubers are forming. However, avoid overwatering, as this can lead to disease. Reduce watering as harvest approaches to prevent splitting. Fertilize your sweet potatoes with a balanced fertilizer or one slightly higher in phosphorus and potassium rather than nitrogen, which promotes leafy growth over tuber development. Compost or well-rotted manure can be incorporated into the soil before planting to provide essential nutrients. Keep the planting area free of weeds, as competition can reduce your yield. Watch out for pests like sweet potato weevils and deer; companion planting or physical barriers can help deter them. Harvesting typically occurs before the first frost, when the leaves begin to yellow. Carefully dig up the tubers to avoid damage. The Japanese white sweet potato and purple sweet potato varieties will show their distinctive colors as they mature.

Size & Details

This offering includes 15 sweet potato slips, each a healthy, live cutting ready for immediate planting. The slips typically measure between 6 to 12 inches in length, with several leaves and nodes present, indicating robust growth potential. They are shipped without soil, carefully packaged to ensure their vitality upon arrival. Sweet potato plants are vigorous growers, with vines that can spread several feet, making them excellent for ground cover or trellising. Expect tubers to begin forming within a few weeks of planting, with a full harvest ready in approximately 3 to 4 months, depending on your climate and growing conditions. The Beauregard variety is known for its large, uniform tubers, while the Japanese white sweet potato tends to be more elongated, and the purple sweet potato offers smaller, more compact tubers. These slips provide an excellent foundation for a productive and diverse sweet potato patch.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big does this sweet potato plant get? A: Sweet potato plants are vining crops, with vines typically spreading 3 to 6 feet or more across the ground. The tubers themselves vary in size depending on the variety and growing conditions, usually ranging from 6 to 12 inches long.
• Q: What size pot does it come in? A: This product consists of 15 sweet potato slips, which are live cuttings without soil or a pot. They are ready to be planted directly into your garden or containers upon arrival.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: Sweet potatoes are primarily grown outdoors as an annual crop in most climates. They require warm temperatures and full sun to produce tubers. While the vines can be grown indoors as an ornamental, tuber production is best achieved outdoors.
• Q: How much sunlight does it need? A: For optimal tuber development, sweet potato plants require at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight per day. They can tolerate partial shade, but yields may be reduced.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: Yes, sweet potatoes are considered relatively easy to grow, especially with good soil preparation and consistent watering. They are quite resilient once established, making sweet potato plant care manageable for most gardeners.
• Q: What condition will it arrive in? A: Your sweet potato slips will arrive as fresh, live cuttings, carefully packaged to ensure they are healthy and ready for planting. Some wilting may occur during transit but they typically recover quickly once planted and watered.
• Q: When is the best time to plant sweet potato slips? A: The best time to plant sweet potato slips is after all danger of frost has passed and the soil temperature has warmed to at least 60°F (15°C), typically late spring or early summer.
• Q: How long until I can harvest sweet potatoes? A: Sweet potatoes are usually ready for harvest in 90 to 120 days after planting the slips. You can typically tell they are ready when the leaves begin to yellow and the vines start to die back, usually before the first hard frost.
• Q: Can I grow the purple sweet potato in containers? A: Yes, sweet potatoes, including the purple sweet potato variety, can be successfully grown in large containers, grow bags, or raised beds. Ensure the container is at least 15-20 gallons to allow for adequate tuber development.
• Q: What does the Japanese white sweet potato taste like? A: The Japanese white sweet potato has a drier, firmer texture and a subtly sweet, nutty flavor compared to the moister, sweeter orange varieties. It’s excellent for roasting, frying, or savory dishes.