"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 Feb 2003 21:37:46 -0700, "Dwayne" wrote:

The best way is to lay them on the ground or in a container in the house,
which ever works best for you and depending how far south you live.
Cover
them with about an inch of sand and water it slightly. If it is warm
enough, it will start growing slips that will come out of the sand. When
they get 7 to 9 inches tall, hold the potatoe down with the fingers of
one
hand, and pull a slip up with the other. Remove any leaves for 3 or 4
inches up, and set it in a cup or glass of water. You dont want any
leaves
in the water. Leave it there for 2 or 3 days, and then plant it outside
in
the garden, or pot. Good luck. Dwayne

Dan D. wrote
I had 3 different varieties of decorative sweet potato vines
in hanging pots last season. When frost was right around
the corner last fall I emptied the pots and found a sweet potato
in each pot. I've left them laying on a shelf in my basement and
they seem OK. At least they are firm and not moldy.
I want to get sprouts from them for this year if I can.

How do you root a sweet potato??

Dwayne's suggestion sounds about right. The people that grew sweet
potatoes in a community garden always set out "slips." As for rooting
one, they seem pretty hard to *stop* from rooting. I expect cutting up
with at least one 'eye' per chunk, and putting into moist sand or
planter mix would do just fine. A sweet potato simply left out in
some light will often (usually?) begin to produce sprouts


It all depends on what you expect from the sweet potatoes. Do you want to
raise a beautiful plant for in the house, or on the patio, or do you want to
produce a crop of sweet potatoes?

I learned my method from the guys who grew them to eat in Arkansas. With
this method you could get up to 10 slips per potato. I just looked at one
of my seed potatoes that I am going to use this year, and it has 3 slips
already coming out of it, not from an "eye", but on the stem.

Have you ever tried planting an eye, and if so, what kind of luck did you
have. I have used my method for four years now and last year I planted
nearly 100 sweet potato plants and gave extra slips to three people for
their garden at 10 to 15 slips each. That came from approximately 20 seed
potatoes.

Try it both ways and from then on, use the method you like best. Let us
know how you did.

Good luck. Dwayne