Sprouted in Cup
I used to start my sweet potatoes like this, in a cup or jar of water.
Sprouted Sweet Potato
Now I don’t start them at all. I just let some old potatoes sprout on their own and plant the sprouts.
I haven’t started sweet potatoes either in water or soil for quite a few years. After I realized that old sweet potatoes almost always put out viable sprouts on their own after about a year and a half, a discovery of leaving some in storage far too long, I just keep a few potatoes around to sprout on their own.
These sprouts are clones of the parent, and we get good starts without any of the hassles of worrying about mold in the water or rot on the root.
Handling these sprouts is easier and far more reliable than trying to root in water or soil. Now I just pot off the sprout a few weeks before planting time to give them a chance to set some roots and then plant those in late May.
Good morning,
My husband and I didn’t get to the Garden Show at Alliant as I had a hip replacement Feb 8th. Anyway, I had interacted with you on this blog about getting some sweet potato starters from you, only if you have extras. We have a few sweet potatoes left over from last year that we purposely kept back to put in water. I like your idea better starting with shoots. I never did find the variety you spoke of in previous comments.
Thank you and kind regards, Pam Seiler