Sweet Potato in Water?

[Deborah]

If I toothpick a sweet potato in a jar of water, will I get a houseplant, and would it make sweet potatoes?

[Doug9345]

Yes, and Yes. I put one in water, after it grew sprouts I pulled them off and potted the sprouts up. I've had one growing in a pot for two years now. I planted a few last year. I couldn't keep ahead of the drought, but I did get a couple of small sweet potatoes.

[Stvrob]

Yes. If you want you can bury a sweet potato in some clean sand and just pluck off the sprouts and plant them

[Deborah]

I mean would it get potatoes while in the jar? Like a vine with vegetables on it?

[Stvrob]

I don't think it would live long enough in a jar and it would be too wet. Plant one in the garden, they are great to grow.

[Doug9345]

I don't think so because the potato part develops under the ground. The will keep producing shoots until they use up the stored energy. If the shoots aren't planted they aaren't going to grow sweet potatoes. This leads to the though. Are sweet potatoes ever raised hydroponically?

[Deborah]

Rats.

[emcd124]

Well for what it is worth, I think it probably depends on the soil, the size of the pot, and maybe some luck.

I did sweet potatoes when I lived in the south. I bought some slips from the farm supply and planted most in the garden, but I had one left over that I didnt have garden room for, so I put it in a pot. I'd estimate the pot was about 2-3 gallons. it grew leaves, but not terribly well and no where near as well as its brothers in the ground (who went on to produce epic pounds of football sized sweetpotatoes). I wasnt particularly skilled at container culture, and didnt go to any great lengths to supply the perfect soil, and I'm quite sure that watering was irregular. In the end when I dug up the contents of the container, instead of chunky fat oblong potatoes, I wound up with a long skinny twisting silly straw of a sweet potato.