Over wintering Sweet potatoes to grow in the polytunnel.

 A few years ago Wendy gave me a couple of sweet potatoe plants. There were 2 varieties, the white variety did poorly for me but this pink one has been good so I have kept it going.

It grows in the big tunnel in a sunny position.

Last year I dug it up on November 9th.

The sweet potatoe needs sun and heat to do well. I only grow a couple of plants as I find they take up a lot of room for the return they give. They would be an ideal plant for someone with more poly tunnel space than they knew what to do with, as they do provide good groundcover.

I took one of the tubers to make next years plants by submerging it partly in water.

After a few weeks it had lots of shoots.

I broke some off ...

...... to plant up in pots....

They will also root in water on a sunny windowsill.....

..... 2 weeks later there is good root growth.

The tuber continues enthusiastically to sprout more shoots.

4 more shoots rooted in water ready to be potted up.

The tubers could be cut to make more plants or just potted up the way they are.

This was the sweet potatoe in the poly tunnel last year on October 15th.

The over wintered plants have been potted on. I will keep them in the house and plant them out  in the tunnel in April.

I have spare plants if you live nearby and would like a couple (and have the space!), contact me by e-mail or leave a comment.