Propagation: Ornamental Sweet Potatoes, 1 by HollyAnnS

HollyAnnS wrote:
Sounds like you are all doing really good.
Jeanette, You said you pulled yours up? Was it still in the ground? In many areas you can leave them in the ground and they will just grow back every year. Do your sprouts look like Tri-color? I have not had good luck with the Tri-color as they don't seem to come true from the potatoes. I have no idea why not? I had a Tri-color (pink,white,green) potato that I got from a friend several years ago and the sprouts I got from it were green with slight reddish tint. Whereas the Margarita and Blackie always come true. If your tuber is planted you can cut the sprout tops off and root the tops make sure you have a couple of leave buds.
Billie, Carolyn is right the only way I know of to get the potatoes or tubers is to grow your own. Buy a few plants this spring and dig them up next fall.
Carolyn, Take a good look at your potato and see if you see where more sprouts are going to come up. Usually you can tell if there are more waiting to come. I usually don't take all the sprouts at one time as once they get started producing sprouts they come up at different times in different spots so they aren't all ready to harvest at the same time. Some potatoes only produce a few starters and others will keep producing more and more. If you don't see more coming I wouldn't take both of them but if you see signs of more to come then go ahead. Gently pull them off and put them in water.
It's only been a couple of days but I already have small roots on the tops I cut from my windowsill plants. If you take cuttings remove the lower leaves by cutting them off the stem. Careful you don't cut the leaf buds that is where the roots will come from.