Not to worry, just plant them in good soil. Plants are smarter than we are. If conditions suit them, they will do fine on their own. Sweet potatoes do like elevated soil (I plant on lists) and while they are competitive , they don't care for competition. ( keep them weeded)

Sweet potato slips are vigorous and resilient. I often lose some slips, but that purely negligence on my part. Planting them in the morning, on the hottest day of the year, with the sun blaring down on them. Give them soft, loamy soil. Water them frequently, and they'll produce like crazy. I figure I get between 5-7 lbs per plant when I harvest. This year I too ordered 3 varieties from Tatorman. In terms of their overall appearance, one was quite vigorous, one was less so, and the third had very few leaves. I immediately planted out 60% of them and within a week of being in the ground they all look the same. The others I placed in jars of water until I could get another bed prepped. Finally planted them out yesterday. Most of them looked good, but two of the slips were in rough shape. If they make it, great. If not, I've got plenty of slips that I started from last year's crop that I can plant out if I want. In my 4 years of growing them, they've easily been the easiest, most vigorous, productive plant I've harvested. I did use some landscape fabric a few years back with some sweet potatoes that I planted for my mother at her place. When I harvested in the fall, the voles had had an absolute field day. I probably lost 60% of that crop. Living in a city, I don't have any pests to worry about. No deer, no rabbits. The squirrels leave my garden alone. I haven't noticed birds eating away at the berries. The trade off is that I've only got a few hundred square feet to garden in.

As far as planting, I poke a hole, stick the slip in deep and push the earth around them.

I planted an hour before sunset today. It was cloudy and in the upper 60s. Watered them in, but half an inch of rain is expected tonight. Tomorrow, partly sunny and lower 70s...more showers in the PM.

Last week we had three days in the 90s. Although the forecast is cooler than they probably prefer, it will be on the cloudy and sometimes damp (not drenching) side the next few days (highs in the 70s, lows in the mid 50s to 60), with my soil temps in the 70s...which should be good for getting them established.

My soil is loamy and friable. I added a bit of compost (didn't have much left after the corn, beans, tomatoes, and peppers), but there is some. The only real downsides are low Phosphorus and acidity (pH 5.3). I limed three months ago, and can add whatever I need to for P.

I used black plastic on all my sweetpotatoes this year because of scurf.. Raise sweetpotatoes long enough on rich soil with organic matter and you likely will know what scurf is. Too much water makes scurf more likely. Scurf does not affect the growth but it affects the surface...less attractive, need to skin the peeling off, and they don't keep as long.

A Nancy hall. The growth sprouting from the nodes looks good. Today is our first sunny day since I planted them.

Purple Passion

Vardaman

They're still just holding still. Not dead, not growing. However, I think the soil has cooled off a bit, these are the highs/lows (for BWI airport) since I planted them:

Wed 65/56

Thu 74/56

Fri 75/56

Sat 74/55

Isn't that a bit cool for sweets? Soil is moist - it rained two of those days. About an inch Friday.

Sweet potatoes like it hot, mine usually don't take off till it gets much warmer. Hopefully they're working at developing a good root system.

I don't plant mine till mid June

Some new growth if you look closely. Top is Vardaman, that tiny growth tip is purple, not brown (typical of that variety).

This forecast! These things are just gonna creep along with lows in the 50s.

My slips can't wait any longer to be set out, so they go out tonight under covers to keep them warm and protect them from our resident doe. Milk carton cloches might be a good idea.

Mine are slowly growing, so I know they're alive and rooting in. Hopefully the warm sun even with modest temps in the 70s will at least keep the ground toasty enough. The cool, wet spell has cooled off my soil to the upper 60s.

I do my own slips but since I need to hold them until the weather is right I put them in germinating mix in deep six packs which I plant out later. I bottom water in trays and they do well.

@Happy Hill, I just keep mine in mason jars of water and they root out. I start my own too. I recently had to add a 1/4 strength liquid fert 6-4-4 to the mix cus they needed the nitrogen.

Nancy Halls are slowly looking like real plants.

The Purple Passions look amazing! So far these are far more vigorous than the Nancy Hall or Vardaman.

My Beauregard Sweet Potatoes planted 4/30 from slips purchased from Bonnie. I am growing them in a bed raised above the ground about 1 foot because roots from the old oak tree are starting to invade my garden. So as each bed starts to decompose, I am replacing them with beds raised off the ground.

I wanted to try trellising, but ran out of trellising materials.

Question:

Am I better off letting the vines root in other spots on the ground for more sweet potatoes, or keeping them from doing so so the main roots grow larger?

Unless you live in the south, I wouldn't let them root along the vine. You might get a bunch of fingerling sized sweet potatoes. Which for me is undesirable.

I live in the north and my vines root, but I get some huge sweet potatoes.

It might depend on the variety. An early variety may fare better.

I know none of the three I'm growing are known for big, fat bakers. More long, thin roots.

Wayne?5 zone 6a Central Indiana. You mention that one year you trapped hundreds of Japanese Beetles. How was that possible!___ Please tell me i am they are killing all my hard garden work.

Question:

Am I better off letting the vines root in other spots on the ground for more sweet potatoes, or keeping them from doing so so the main roots grow larger?

Hairmetal, for the past 2 seasons I've planted my SPs in long rows leaving room 3-4' away for a re-rooted 2nd row. As the vines reach the empty row I'll purposely cover the vine with soil along that 2ndary row. When it comes time to harvest I'll dig the original row for SPs while severing the vines leaving the 2nd row intact to still grow for a few more weeks. Then I'll dig up the 2nd row for more SPs which increases the yield by ~50%, and I know exactly where to dig them up rather than willy-nilly guessing where they are located. It's getting close now to repeat this 2nd row set up.

Another "experiment" I'm trying this season is to plant SPs and trim their vines to contain them to a limited area (9 sq ft / plant). This will prevent the willy-nilly rerooting of the vines and keep the main crop isolated in one spot under the original slips. I started a thread on this a while back and will update the results during harvest time around Labor Day.