Want to grow BIG, healthy sweet potatoes from start to harvest? In this video, I’ll show you exactly how to do it—step by step. If you’ve struggled with small harvests or poor growth, this will fix it.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Sweet Potato Experiment (Start to Harvest)
00:17 What You’ll Learn in This Video
00:50 When to Start Sweet Potatoes
01:15 Using Store-Bought Sweet Potatoes
01:47 What Are Sweet Potato Slips?
02:05 Preventing Rot (Vitamin C Method)
03:10 Testing 3 Slip Growing Methods
03:17 Water Method (Toothpick Method)
03:46 Perlite Method
04:34 Potting Soil Method
05:30 30-Day Results (Which Looks Best?)
06:26 Why the Water Method Fails
06:51 60-Day Results (Clear Winner)
08:07 Best Method: Potting Soil Wins
09:02 When & How to Remove Slips
09:41 Rooting Slips in Water
10:16 Slips Already Rooted (Bonus Tip)
11:00 When Slips Are Ready to Plant
11:12 Planting, Spacing & Setup
11:30 Fertilizing with Neptune’s Harvest
11:43 Growth Stage (What to Expect)
12:12 When to Harvest Sweet Potatoes
12:27 Harvest Results (Big Yield!)
13:09 Curing for Better Flavor
13:25 Final Tips for Success
🎯 Why these work
Front-loaded with “experiment” + “start to harvest”
Breaks at natural curiosity points
Helps retention (people jump to methods/results)
Strong for search + rewatch value
If you want next:
👉 I can tighten these to a more aggressive retention version (fewer chapters, bigger curiosity gaps) or keep this “search optimized” version 👍
20 Comments
wish i would of watched this back in december when i started mine in water and have been lloking ata jar of roots for a couple months now, giving up just planted them hoping for best!
Sweet potato and yam vines grow vertical, and use a (Amish) potato stacking bin. Wire cage 2 feet diameter x 4 feet tall. Layer in sweet potatoes and yams with compost and hay straw. Tie up and allow to grow vertically, Stacking in this <4 sq feet grows tons of sweet potatoes and yams, … and the same for potatoes (and leave the potato foliage to grow on their own accord). Never again grow flatlander wasteful gardening ever again !
11:31 – I've heard that you don't want a lot of nitrogen in the fertilizer and actually want a higher quantity of phosphorous/phosphate (for roots). Otherwise, you get more leaves and vines and less tubers.
What is your take on this?
This is the first year I’m trying. Perfect timing.
My store bought sweet potatoes grow lots of slips sitting in my vegetable bin when I don't use them quick enough. I have yet to try to plant them as I'm not quite ready to start a vegetable garden – need infrastructure.
I remember when your sister was there for your huge harvest.
Great that you include you son in this!
The potting soil method works very well, and once it starts producing, it will produce dozens upon dozens of slips.
What I also find is that growing the vines up a trellis work very well, and takes up much less space. Putting them in grow bags means that you don't have to dig to harvest – just dump them out.
Man It seems like yesterday when Noah was that age and your hair was so dark! I have to grow sweet potatoes again Last time I grew them I didn’t cure them and they weren’t very sweet. The leaves are much lower in oxalates than spinach so I’d have to give them a try.
Should you use a heat mat
I dipped mine in rooting hormone and it's been a week for some and I'm not seeing any roots.
Aww, baby Noah💚 That soil was so loose, I gotta work on that. I harvest in cool October, so a bin with a heat pad is how I cure mine.
Mmmmm, sweet taters! 😋
I'm in zone 8a, Germany. Heavy clay soil that remains soggy until end of March. I use sweetpotatoes from the year before last for getting slips. This year the ones from 2024. In early winter they start sprouting without me doing anything. I keep them at a low room temperature. In early March I remove the shoots from the potatoes and plant them into pots. They root very fast and start growing. Until mid May I than leave them in the greenhouse. Somtimes I have to bring them indoors over night when the night temperature is to low.
A few weeks ago you mentioned that you were investing in raised beds. You mentioned that you would share with your subscribers your choice. Is this subject going to be in an upcoming video? Thanks
Here's my 2025 sweet potato growing season story. I went to Whole Foods and bought 4 "Asian" sweet potatoes – no variety labeling. I live in Zone 9b in NE FL so I started trying to grow slips in December in my cold dark garage in potting soil. It took a long time, like 60 days to see slips coming out but once they started, they went crazy, probably due to the warmer weather. Like you, some of the slips were well rooted so skipped the water jar on those. I planted about 25 plants in grow bags and pots but only harvested 29 pounds of potatoes. Some of the vines escaped and got into the soil under the pots where they produced the biggest potatoes, like my size 13 feet. One of the mystery Whole Foods varieties was red with purple flesh. They tasted very starchy. But the light-colored ones, smaller in size, were very good. I also purchased some Tainung #64 slips from Cody Farms here in FL. They did OK but upon harvesting we discovered that one drip line had been chewed off so they didn’t get near the water they needed. Many of these had big cracks which meant poor watering. I left all of these in the ground for 6 months. I gave them almost no nitrogen and only organic but did give them bone meal and crab meal for the root knot nematodes. In March 2026 I put 2 of the Tainung’s in a bucket with potting soil. The slips are growing like crazy. I also ordered some Covington slips because they came highly recommended. I’m putting 50% in ground and the rest in grow bags this year as a side-by-side experiment. Sweet potatoes are great for starter gardeners. They are easy to grow and yield like crazy. It is a great way to get the bug to grow your own food. Love your videos.
I tried about 5 times this winter. Not a single slip. Just rotted sweet potato. Tried oranic on the theory that the inorganic taters have been sprayed to prevent sprouting. Tried soaking in water overnight as someone else suggested. NADA. All nova.
What if I started slips in Nov last year and they have taken over my entire indoor growing shelf unit?
I really love this video 😁. It's a little late to do this now ( New Jersey ) but towards the middle or end of next February year 2027 it's on my to do list. 😊. Thanks Brian.
Given that the slips that formed under soil already have roots, it seems like maybe the potato should be buried a little deeper in the soil so they all get roots.