You may keep them out side in your garden.Don't let send dry out.Water as needed.

the old fashioned water jar and toothpicks worked great for me! I had 6 slips from two potatoes and they are all doing good in the dirt now! Hope I can get a few for sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving:-)

g'day julieann,

easier ways to do it see our presentation, should be in a well lit position and in cold areas, a warm postion as well.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens growing sweet potato's & pineapples page

There's no place on earth that's too hot for sweet potatos,in fact they grow very well here in our desert climate. Because it's a heat loving plant we don't plant the slips until around the middle of May. You can propagate slips by placing a sweet potato in a moist bed of compost or peat moss and keep the temperature at 70 degrees or above for a few weeks. Sweet potatos will thrive in loose sandy loam soil of low fertility. Before planting the temperature should exceed 70 degrees.

Greg
Nevada

Hi Julieann, I started sweet potatoes the way you described in the laundry room with a small window. They sprouted slow but fine.

I appreciate all of the responses but didn't quite get my question answered. Light or no light??? How long to leave on if they need light?

The garage where they are sprouting is warm. Heck, everything in South Louisiana is warm!

you have no natural light? you will need light, if using a grow type light then i guess there is some recommendations coming with that device.

len

I place the sweet potato horizontally on surface of the pot so that the potato is barely visible.Any potting soil will work to fill the pot.Keep the pot in the garden as soon as temp. reaches 70 F or above.Sprouts appear from both ends.I harvested in excess of 40 sprouts from 2 potatoes and still some are on the way.Water regularly to keep the surface wet all the time.

How do you call the light from a small window in the laundry room? Indirect light? Mother nature turns it on at dawn and turns it off at dusk :-)

But I guess you were looking for specific answers regarding sprouting in the dark garage, which I haven't tried and wouldn't know.

Julieann,

You will want light, pretty much equivalent to "full sunlight," for a minimum of 6 hours a day. To get the roots to start sprouting you don't need any light, just warmth, which you have. But to get healthy sprouts you need light. If that light is artificial, or through a window pane, then you will want to harden them off, before planting. One does this by setting the slips in a place outside, where they will receive, say, an hour of direct sunlight a day, and after a day or two, increasing that exposure, until they can tolerate at least 6 hours of direct sunlight. Without hardening them off, they will sunburn and possibly die.

Since you are already in a warm climate why not simply plant your roots in a spot in your garden and let them sprout naturally? You can then pull your slips and plant them in their permanent location.

There are many opinions on how to start sweet potatoes; ie. water vs. soil, cutting vs. not cutting, position of the root, etc. Fortunately, sweet potatoes are pretty forgiving. The one thing they MUST have is heat.

Personally, I avoid cutting the roots, as I see this as an opportunity to introduce harmful bacteria. I have had roots rot when cut. But this is not very common.

I'm attaching a link to Sandhill Preservation Center's Sweet potato catalog. The introduction on growing conditions is the best I've ever read.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Here is a link that might be useful: Sweet Potato Growing Info/ Sandhill Preservation