You're welcome! The Sweet Potato is part of the Morning Glory family. Aug 30, 2013 - What the tubers of your ornamental sweet potato vine look like when you're storing them for winter. Then you can just leave the tubers in the pots, or you can dig them up and store them in boxes. If so, do I plant them in the spring like a regular potato? Winter: store the tubers in a cool location or take cuttings and overwinter the plants indoors. Store them in a cool pantry or closet at 55° to 60°. Sweet potato vines are an attractive ornamental plant. Tubers rot if frozen and are hard to store, so consume sweet potatoes promptly. The danger is not from frost itself, but from cold temperatures. However, depending on your growing zone, it can be planted at other times of year. The ornamental varieties are simply cultivars of the species plant. paulgrow Allen Park, MI(Zone 6a) Sep 19, 2002. Step 4: Cook them! Store your box of potatoes in a cool, dry place over winter. Place the containers in a moderately warm basement or garage. The potato foliage usually begins dying back in August sending the last of the plants energy beneath the ground to the tubers. Unlike ground planted potatoes that immediately multiply, sweet potatoes need to grow brand new plants. Explore. Don't allow it to freeze though, or it could damage the tuber. If you are not interested in the vine during the winter months, but want it again next spring, then before frost kills the plant, dig out the roots. The tuber grows larger underground to store food for the plant. If the seeds and seed pods are evocative of morning glories that's because they're both related. To save your vine, harvest the sweet potato by digging the actual potato from the ground and remove all the 'vine' from the potato. When to Plant Sweet Potato Vine. Will they produce eyes like seed potatos? Do not allow it to ice up though, or it might damage the tuber. In areas that don’t receive winter rainfall, sweet potatoes can be left in the ground and forked out as needed. Plants can also be brought indoors and treated as houseplants. Cure the sweet potatoes for 1 to 2 weeks. I have a bunch of sweet potato vine tubers. I have grown sweet potato successfully for about 12 years or more. Strive for a temperature range of 55 – 60 degrees F, and definitely do not store sweet potatoes in your refrigerator, as they are susceptible to cold injury. In spring, after the danger of frost has disappeared, replant your potatoes wherever you'd like to have your ornamental vine … When the soil warms up in the spring, the tuber will use the starches to sprout and produce slips for reproduction (more on this later). 1. Potatoes are tubers, which means that they grow as the food supply for the leafy green part of their plant. According to the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, if the storage space is too cold (below 55 degrees), the centers of the potatoes will develop hard, white spots. Store dormant tubers in a cool, dry place and replant in spring. Q. I recently pulled out a decorative sweet potato vine as I was cleaning out my planters for the season and found HUGE tubers under the soil. Crops can be quite large if you get things right. Q: Are the tubers from the ornamental sweet potato vine edible? Will sweet potato vine survive winter? I just dug six of our sixty sweet potato plants to check for maturity and they were ready.ours are a cut leaf variety that makes three to five pounds per plant.sometimes a single four to six pounder and are around 140 days from planting to harvest.all non stringy and edible right off.they only get better with curing. How to Store Sweet Potatoes for Winter. Garden Care. Over the winter and early spring months, they'll establish into strong plants and will be providing you with tubers in no time! If it's too warm (about 60 degrees), the potatoes may soften and shrivel and start to sprout. Sweet potato vines can be overwintered indoors from tubers or cuttings. Sweet potato vines are winter hardy as far north as zone 8. Follow these steps to planting and growing your own sweet potato vine indoors. Is there a way to winter it over? The easiest way is to start your plant off in a jar of water and grow slips, otherwise known as tubers. Frost will instantly kill sweet potato vines that are left in the ground for the winter, as will a few days at temperatures hovering near 40 degrees Fahrenheit. It's nearly time to lift the sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas). However, you can overwinter the plant indoors. Last year, my biggest tuber was about 8 inches long and 5 inches thick and others were small red potato size. 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