Ornamental Sweet Potato, Sweet Potato Vine 'Margarita' (Ipomoea batatas)

Ornamental Sweet Potato, Sweet Potato Vine 'Margarita'
Ipomoea batatas

Margarita sweet potato vine tubers which I store until the spring so that they do not rot in the soil.

Hi Hazel!
This is interesting...when I have dug these, they are bright purple like turnip tops. The ipomea vine "Blackie" has white tubers. They do not winter well here, even when dug and stored.
One year I dug up a tuber about 8 inches in diameter...almost as big as a bowling ball...now I wish I had taken a picture of that!
I finally gave up growing this chartreuse color because of a mole cricket that eats BB pellet holes in the leaves, and because it attracts whiteflies. I found it too much trouble to lift up and spray all the time.
Hope you are doing well,
Susan

Hi, Susan. They are more purplish than the picture shows and are even more purplish than when I took the photo. I may need to take another photo of the tubers to capture the color better. I have mine in hanging baskets which makes them easier to take care of. The white 'Blackie" tubers were all dried up before I could salvage them. I have never been able to save them from year to year. Man, that 8 inch tuber was a real whopper. Doing real good ... I have been trying to propagate some plants in the greenhouse whch has kept me really busy lately. Thanks for your comments.

This message was edited Jan 29, 2005 3:12 PM

Hello

I have been growing this beautiful vine a few years now. I was told and this is silly that those tubers I am noe reading about were sweet potatos! funny now.They smell like a sweet potato.Anyway I have this as a ground cover and I mean I have massive amounts and it's stunning in my beds.I did not know I could save these tubers and replant.I need some help with how to and when to and all that kind of stuff.I live in North Carolina where winters are mild and mine will die off around late november or december.

Thank you

Before the first frost (my plants usually go dormant and have have lost their leaves by then) in the fall, dig, clean and dry the tubers dry the tubers for 10 days. They can be stored in a dry medium such as vermiculite or peat moss or some people suggest that they should be wrapped in newspaper to keep them from sprouting. Store them in a cool dry location in the garage, basement or cellar. Then, in the spring when they begin to sprout, plant them outside after the last frost when soil temperatures are consistently above 55 degrees. I have also kept mine that are in hanging baskets in the garage in the winter. I did not watered them except about once a month so that they would go dormant. When I did water them in the spring, I made sure that the soil dried between waterings to ensure that the tubers did not rot.