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Want to know how to grow a sweet potato plant in the comfort of your own home? Follow my step-by-step guide to quickly get you started on growing a sweet potato plant of your own!
Growing a sweet potato plant indoors is A LOT easier than you think! I promise that you don’t need any prior experience with plants or gardening to be able to grow a healthy sweet potato plant at home.
You are going to learn about the (very few) supplies you’ll need, a step-by-step how to with tips that I swear by, and photos of exactly what you can expect on your own sweet potato plant journey.
This post is all about growing a sweet potato plant at home!
If I’m being honest, I stumbled upon growing a sweet potato plant by accident. We had sweet potatoes sitting around for a few weeks. I went to grab them to make dinner and was shocked to find that they had grown sprouts. Not just any sprouts, but beautiful and vibrant purple sprouts. Some sprouts even had leaves growing! I never saw anything like it and I was really excited!
Typically, I would have just removed the sprouts and baked the sweet potato. Ultimately, I decided against it.
At first, I thought that to plant a sweet potato, I would need a garden. I watched some youtube videos, and it being lockdown and all, I thought it couldn’t hurt to give it a try at home.
Fast forward to now: I’m a (self crowned) successful plant mama to several sweet potato plants (and even growing two baby sweet potatoes). I’m excited to share that it’s not only extremely easy, but also very gratifying!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Sprouting sweet potato
- A jar (or glass)
- A pot (with drainage holes)
- Potting soil
- Water
- Sunlight
How To Plant a Sweet Potato:
1. Put a sweet potato (or several depending on how many you want to plant) in a low lit/ dark location in your kitchen. I keep my sweet potatoes where I store my potatoes, onions, and garlic.
2. Leave them there for several weeks (or even longer) so they can have some time to sprout. Patience is key!
3. After your sweet potato has sprouted, cut off the bit with the sprouts and place in a jar with cold/ room temperature water. I use tap water for this.
4. Change out the water every few days and keep your sweet potato in a sunny location.
5. You’ll soon see the sweet potato start growing leaves!
6. Once you have strong roots, pot the sweet potato (with the actual sweet potato piece) in soil. I use indoor potting soil and it works perfectly! Also, make sure the pot has drainage holes to avoid root rot. Here are a few really cute plant pot options: ceramic pots with an amazing wooden feel, a really cute porcelain pot set, and this super affordable and simple pot set!
7. Lastly, water your sweet potato plant every few day and keep it in a location that gets direct sunlight. I keep mine on my windowsill.
FYI:
The roots grow crazy fast. Once you see the roots appearing out of the bottom of the pot’s drainage holes, repot the plant into a larger pot.
Finally, if you notice any leaves start wilting, first water your plant a bit. If within a day or so the leaf in question is still wilted and sad, gently remove it. The sweet potato plant continues to grow new leaves very quickly so it’s better to remove any dying leaves.
Voila! You’ve got yourself a happy and healthy sweet potato plant at home!
After some time passes (this took around 2 months for me), you may have a baby sweet potato of your own!
I was shocked when I found this baby while I was repotting one of my sweet potato plants. I’m not kidding when I tell you that it was the highlight of my month! Most of the leaves had wilted, so I put the roots and baby sweet potato back into water and after a few weeks, it had brand new and healthy leaves.
Here is my pinterest how-to video that you can save if you want to pin it for later!
Let me know if you have any questions or tried it out and want to share!