How to Grow a Sweet Potato Vine Indoors

PDF download Download Article
PDF download Download Article

Sweet potato vines are known for their delicious tubers and beautiful, trailing vines that make a lovely addition to your indoor plant collection. The best part about these plants is that they are easy to grow and take care of! Our steps below will teach you how to grow a sweet potato vine from a sweet potato, how to care for your new houseplant, and give you ideas on how to display it in your home.

Things You Should Know

  • Put an organic, untreated sweet potato in a glass of water to grow slips. Remove the slips when they are 6 inches (15 cm) tall.
  • Place the slips in a glass of water to root and plant them in a pot once the roots are about 1 inch (2 cm) long.
  • Set your sweet potato houseplant near a sunny window where it can hang or grow on a trellis.
Method 1
Method 1 of 4:

Sprouting Slips from Your Sweet Potato

PDF download Download Article
  1. Sweet potato vines are grown from slips, which are the stems that grow from a mature sweet potato. Most of the sweet potatoes you find in a store are treated with chemicals that prevent slips from growing, so look for organic, untreated sweet potatoes at your local farmer’s market. [1]
    • You can also ask if any of your friends or neighbors have a sweet potato they can spare from their garden.
  2. Your sweet potato needs lots of water in order to grow slips. Suspend your potato in a glass of water by poking 4 toothpicks around its middle. Then, balance the exposed toothpicks over the edge of your jar or glass so that the top half of the potato sticks out of the container. [2]
    • If you can find a perfectly snug jar or glass, you don’t have to use toothpicks. Just wedge the potato inside, making sure that the bottom half stays submerged while the top half sticks out of the jar. [3]
    Advertisement
  3. Choose a window where your slips will get a lot of warm light and where you can watch them grow. Make sure the temperature doesn’t drop below 50 °F (10 °C) to ensure that lots of healthy slips grow. [4]
    • Replace the jar with fresh water every 2 to 3 days. [5]
    • If you are growing slips during the colder months, or if the temperature drops, you can use a grow light or heat mat to keep your slips warm. [6]
  4. Several slips will begin to grow out of the top of your sweet potato in about 2 weeks. You will see the slips start to grow taller and sprout tiny, green leaves. [7]
  5. Gently twist at the base of each slip to remove it from the potato. Then, pull off most of the leaves on the stem, leaving only the 2 to 3 leaves at the very top. [8]
    • Growing slips from a sweet potato can be tricky, so don’t be discouraged if you only have a few, straggly slips sprouting, or none at all. If your slips aren’t growing tall and lush, the best thing to do is grab another potato – or a couple – and start the process again. [9]
    • If you have the opposite problem and have too many slips on your hands, they make great gifts for your friends and family!
    6. Advertisement
Method 2
Method 2 of 4:

Planting Your Slips

PDF download Download Article
  1. First, add about 1 inch (2 cm) of water to the glass – you want to see just the bottom of the stem submerged. Then, set the slips in front of a sunny window to keep them warm. This encourages root growth and gives you a nice view of your plant’s progress! [10]
  2. Your slips will start growing roots after about 1 to 2 weeks. Not all slips will grow roots, so remove any that aren’t producing roots after a couple of weeks. Be sure to give your slips nice clean water by refreshing their jars every 2 to 3 days or when it starts to become cloudy. [11]
  3. Fill a small nursery pot with a drainage hole with a well draining potting mix . Poke a hole into the soil and gently place the slip inside, leaving just the leaves exposed. Then give the slips a nice, good soak. [12]
    • You can also choose to grow your vine in the jar of water. All you have to do is change the water every couple of days to prevent it from becoming cloudy. When your sweet potato plant’s roots begin to fill up the bottom of its container, simply put it into a larger jar. [13]
    4. Advertisement
Method 3
Method 3 of 4:

Caring for Your Sweet Potato Houseplant

PDF download Download Article
  1. Find a place where your sweet potato plant will get about 6 hours of direct light each day. Sweet potatoes also love warm weather, so make sure the area you choose stays about 65-70 °F (18-21 °C).
    • Place a grow light 1 foot (30 cm) over your sweet potato plant if you do not have a warm, sunny area in your home. [14]
  2. Water your plant regularly so that the soil stays slightly moist. Sweet potatoes are considered drought tolerant, but thrive the best when they receive consistent watering. Let the top inch of soil dry out before each watering so your plant does not become waterlogged. [15]
  3. Fertilize your plant sparingly. Sweet potato plants will grow rapidly and healthily without fertilizer. However, you can encourage more growth with a multipurpose, houseplant fertilizer . Fertilize your sweet potato plant once a month and water it after so that the fertilizer disperses into the roots. [16]
  4. Regularly prune your sweet potato plant to stimulate growth. As you check on your plant’s growth, remove any dead and dying leaves that you see. It’s also a good idea to snip off any leggy, sparse vines to encourage a full, bushy plant. If you find that your vines are getting too long and unwieldy for your home, you can simply cut them off! [17]
  5. Repot your sweet potato plant when it starts to crowd its pot. While sweet potato plants are fast growers, they typically only need to be repotted every few years. However, you may find that your plant needs to be repotted earlier if it is rootbound. This is when the plant’s roots can no longer spread out in its pot and instead clump together, often taking the shape of the pot. [18]
    • Regularly check your plant to see if it is getting crowded in its pot.
  6. First, cut a healthy vine about 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) long and remove the leaves from the bottom â…” of the vine. Place the vine in a glass of water where it will receive indirect sun. Pot the cutting once the cutting has grown roots about 3 inches (7 cm) long for a new, baby sweet potato plant! [19]
    7. Advertisement
Method 4
Method 4 of 4:

Displaying Your Sweet Potato Houseplant

PDF download Download Article
  1. Sweet potato plants are vining plants and grow beautifully when trailing down from a high place. You can make your own macramé plant hanger and set it in the corner of your living room for a boho, jungle vibe. Or you can simply let its vines cascade down from a tall windowsill or plant stand .
  2. Sweet potato vines also grow beautifully vertically, though they need guidance to grow upwards. Use an indoor trellis that stakes directly into the pot and gently wrap the vines around and through each opening. You can also wrap the vines around a ladder bookcase or up the sides of a plant stand . [20]
  3. Play with different leaf textures by adding your vining sweet potato with a squat cactus or tall, pointed snake plant. Arrange your plants in odd numbers like 3, 5, and 7 for a dynamic and interesting display! [21]
    4. Advertisement

Expert Q&A

Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
      Advertisement

      Video

      Tips

      • Your sweet potato vine houseplant will grow sweet potatoes. If you want to harvest them, it typically takes about 150 days for container grown sweet potatoes to produce potatoes. [22]
        Thanks
        Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
      Submit a Tip
      All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
      Name
      Please provide your name and last initial
      Submit
      Thanks for submitting a tip for review!
      Advertisement

      Warnings

      Advertisement

      Things You’ll Need

      Sprouting Slips from Your Sweet Potato

      • Organic, untreated sweet potato
      • Jar or glass
      • Toothpicks
      • Grow light , optional
      • Heat mat , optional

      Planting Your Slips

      Caring for Your Sweet Potato Houseplant

      Displaying Your Sweet Potato Houseplant

      You Might Also Like

      How to
      Start a Garden: A Comprehensive Guide
      How to
      Prepare and Plant a Garden
      How to
      Build a Lean to Shed
      How & When to Prune Limelight Hydrangeas for Best Growth
      How to
      Prune a Schefflera Plant
      How to
      Prune Dracaena
      How to
      Prune a Magnolia Tree
      How to
      Prune a Tree
      How to
      Prune Forsythia
      How and When to Prune Rose of Sharon for Healthy, Attractive Growth
      How to
      Prune a Mulberry Tree
      6 Ways to Water Your Plants While You're on Vacation
      How to
      Prune Ferns
      When and How to Prune Citrus Trees
      Advertisement

      References

      1. ↑ https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/sweet-potatoes/grow-your-own
      2. ↑ https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/sweet-potato/
      3. ↑ https://cipotato.org/sweetpotato/how-sweetpotato-grows/
      4. ↑ https://www.mofga.org/resources/sweet-potatoes/grow-your-own-sweet-potatoes/
      5. ↑ https://piedmontmastergardeners.org/article/how-to-grow-your-own-sweet-potato-slips/
      6. ↑ https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/files/187714.pdf
      7. ↑ https://kidsgardening.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sweet-Potato-Growing-Guide.pdf
      8. ↑ https://nevegetable.org/crops/sweet-potato
      9. ↑ https://northerngardener.org/sweet-potato/
      1. ↑ https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/vegetables/sweet-potatoes
      2. ↑ https://extension.umd.edu/resource/growing-sweet-potatoes-home-garden/
      3. ↑ https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/sweet-potatoes-in-the-garden
      4. ↑ https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2010/10/EHT-026-Easy-Gardening-Sweet-Potatoes.pdf
      5. ↑ https://web.extension.illinois.edu/gpe/case5/c5hgi.html
      6. ↑ https://extension.unh.edu/resource/growing-sweetpotatoes-new-hampshire-fact-sheet
      7. ↑ https://utopia.org/guide/the-best-fertilizer-for-indoor-plants-and-when-to-use-it/
      8. ↑ https://www.thrive.org.uk/get-gardening/caring-for-houseplants
      9. ↑ https://www.bbg.org/article/when_why_and_how_to_repot_your_houseplants
      10. ↑ https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/visual-guides/propagating-plants-by-cuttings
      11. ↑ https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6368
      12. ↑ https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/decorating-with-plants
      13. ↑ https://www.mofga.org/resources/sweet-potatoes/grow-your-own-sweet-potatoes/
      14. ↑ https://northerngardener.org/sweet-potato/

      About This Article

      In other languages
      Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 34,564 times.
      If you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission .

      Did this article help you?

      Advertisement