Overwintering Sweet Potato vine or tubers

au0rey starts with ...
Does anyone know how I can overwinter sweet potato? I have lots of tubers in the ground and the vines are so far still ok with the cold but not sure about winter.

Has anyone overwinter sweet potato vines successfully before? Or overwinter the tubers somewhere and resprout in spring?

thanks!

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2

au0rey says...
Hi Jantina, thanks! I cannot click onto the click. Tried cut and paste but error on loading..could you give me the link again?

Brad says...
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/guides/carver_sweetpotatoes.html

au0rey says...
Yes Mary, those were from one vine and I have a another 5 vines' not dug up yet. I planted them beginning of December/Summer.

Thanks Brad and Jantina!

Violet_Cactus says...
I tried growing sweet potatoes this year for the first time. Here in Melbourne the climate obliged by being unseasonably WARM for AGES. It's only just started getting cold now, and it's nearly the end of April.

The SPs have been purring along thinking they are in Qld. I have some growing in terracotta pots because the terracotta absorbs the heat of the sun during the day. The pots are sitting on concrete for the same reason. I also have some stored in a cold room nestled in a complicated cocktail of stuff. My storage medium recipe of vermiculite/sulphur/de-humidifiers is based on the following assorted snippets of information:

STORAGE
Sweet potatoes are stored in temperature- and humidity- controlled warehouses that extend the sweet potatoes' shelf life for the entire year.

Garden sweet potatoes will keep for several months after they have been harvested from you garden, if you provide the sweet potatoes with the right environment.
Handle the sweet potatoes carefully and as little as possible to avoid bruising them (a bruised sweet potato is more likely to rot).

Place the sweet potatoes in a single layer in dark, dry location where the temperature will be close to 80 degrees. (26 Celsius) Leave the sweet potatoes there for 10 days. Then the temperature needs to be cooled down to 70 (21 Celsius )degrees for the next 20 days for the sweet potatoes to dry and cure for proper long term storage.

If you have a basement furnace, that is the ideal place to cure your garden sweet potatoes. After the 30 day curing process, store your sweet potatoes in a dry area that will remain below 60 (15 Celsius) degrees but above freezing. Check your sweet potatoes weekly and remove any that begin to rot.

Sweet potatoes spoil rapidly. To keep them fresh, store them in a dry, cool (55-60°) place such a cellar, pantry, or garage. Do not store them in the refrigerator, where they will develop a hard core and an "off" taste. If stored properly, sweet potatoes will keep for a month or longer. At normal room temperature, they should be used within a week of purchase. You may brush off any excess dirt before storing, but do not wash them until you are ready to cook them. It is the moisture from washing that will increase their spoilage.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/sweetpotatoes.html
Dig Those Sweet Potatoes
Released 10-4-01
by B. Rosie Lerner, Extension Consumer Horticulture Specialist

Although some folks may be sad to see fall coming a bit early this year, many gardeners are looking forward to harvesting their sweet potato treasures.
Sweet potatoes are warm-season plants that are very sensitive to cold temperatures. The tuberous roots should be harvested by the time frost kills the vines or soon thereafter. Sweet potato roots continue to grow until frost kills the vines. Roots can be left in the ground for a short while; however, an extremely hard frost can cause damage to roots near the surface. Chilling injury also results to roots when soil temperatures drop to 50°F or lower, and this can result in internal decay in storage. The greatest danger from delayed digging is the risk of cold, wet soil encouraging decay of the roots.

Depending on how early you were able to plant, you may find an assortment of "baby baker" or smaller roots, as well as full-size potatoes. Although you can cook newly dug sweet potatoes right away, their flavor and storage quality is greatly improved by curing at warm temperatures first. It is during the curing process that starch is converted to sugar.

Care should be taken during digging and handling to avoid skinning and bruising the roots. Even a small wound can easily become infected with decay organisms. Line containers with rags or other soft material, if possible, to avoid scratching the roots. Do not store badly injured or diseased roots.

Although large amounts of soil clinging to roots during storage is not desirable, sweet potatoes are easily damaged during the washing process when freshly dug. Allow roots to dry and cure before removing excess soil.
Cure sweet potatoes by holding them for about 10 days at 80-85°F and high relative humidity (85-90 percent). In the absence of better facilities, they can be cured near a furnace to provide warmth. If the temperature near your furnace is between 65-75°F, the curing period should last 2-3 weeks. To maintain the required high humidity (85-90 percent relative humidity), stack storage crates or boxes and cover them with paper or heavy cloth. Packing in perforated plastic bags will also keep humidity high, yet the perforations will allow excess moisture to escape.

Once the sweet potatoes are cured, move them to a dark location where a temperature of about 55-60°F can be maintained during storage. Sweet potatoes are subject to chilling injury, so keep them out of the refrigerator. Outdoor pits are not recommended for storage because the dampness encourages decay. Good results can be obtained by wrapping cured sweet potatoes in newspaper and storing them in a cool closet.

ABOUT MOULD ON TUBERS:
Take the fuzzy tubers, rinse them off and drop them in 10% bleach/water solution, I usually let mine soak for 10 minutes or so. If any have started to go bad, you can cut that part off, tho you can't cut off where the eyes are. Let them dry, dip/roll in powdered sulphur and re-wrap-individually- in plastic wrap.

If you can get some vermiculite put a handful in each bag or store them in boxes or crates covered with it- it has been the best way we've ever found to store tubers- right now there's over 10,000 of them tucked up in the cold room under their blanket of vermiculite- no plastic involved at all.
You could put one of those Dry-Z-Air thingies in the root cellar.

Paul W says...
I have grown sweet potato successfully for about 12 years or more. Crops can be quite large if you get things right. I typically get enough to fill a plastic shopping bag from one plant! One thing for sure though is you can not leave them in the ground over winter as they just rot and go to slush. You can harvest the tubers anytime around when you expect the first winter frost. To keep them going i always take about 20 or so cuttings and place them in a glass of water. Within a couple of days, they will start sprouting roots. ONce they have some roots, i pot them up and leave them somewhere warm (i have a hot house attached to the side of my home, so i leave them there over winter). Then i plant them out at about the same time as tomatoes and most other things. This year i tried keeping a tuber in the pantry and it kept just fine, so i put it in some soil and within a few weeks it sent out new shoots, so you could try this too and propagate from the shoots. The person i got them from said he tried several varieties that didnt produce all that well until he came across the one i have, which is a purple skinned/white flesh variety. This is the only one i have tried so cant comment on others, but the purple one does produce very well indeed.

au0rey says...
Hi Paul, thanks for your info! I was thinking of leaving some tubers in the ground and heavily mulch them so that they may reshoot next season...looks like i will have to dig all of them up soon from what u shared.

I have used pots of potting mix and buried part of the vine (with shoots attached) in the mix to encourage rooting..thereafter I will cut the vine to separate it from my independently growing shoots...much like propagating strawberry runners. I dont have a hot house so they may not make it in winter. I am trying to get a portable greenhouse.

When u talk about keeping a tuber in the pantry, how long did it take to shoot? If too fast, how are we going to contain it over the winter months? Do u need to bring it out to have some sun daily?

My sweet potatoes are also orange fleshed. When i bought the vines from bunnings, I didnt even know what colour they will turn out. Purple ones look very attractive. :)

Violet_Cactus says...
Here's another interesting recipe:

Candied Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients:
6 pcs medium size sweet potatoes
1/2 cup syrup
water for boiling
2 tbsps water
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar

How to make Candied Sweet Potatoes
• Wash sweet potatoes.
• Cook partially in boiling water 15 minutes.
• Drain and peel. Set aside.
• Mix butter, syrup, water and brown sugar in heavy skillet.
• Put sweet potatoes on top.
• Cook slowly until sweet potatoes are tender and well glazed.

au0rey says...
Thanks Paul. Will try it out. Probably use some kind of protective cloth to cover over them thru evening till morning.

au0rey says...
My vine started really small (with just a few leaves) but now they are grown extensively and one vine covers about 2SQm. I think the vine has to grow to around this stage before they have any tubers, so I am not sure if you would have any tuber. No harm digging a bit. With QLD's tropical warm weather, it is very easy to grow sweet potatoes.

Mairs says...
So they normally grow this big!!??

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

au0rey says...
Wow Mairs that's huge! Yes like Charles says if the tubers get too huge and old, they may taste too fibrous.

M Nash says...
The "Sweetest" sweet potatoe Ive ever had is the white variety. Karen & Paul, I dont know why they only grow the bland (IMO) orange ones up here on the Tweed?
I think Jap Pumkin is sweeter. The white ones are sugar sweet and bake well if cooked low and slow.
Mind you, I still eat the orange ones as they are local and cheap.

snottiegobble says...
I have my first orange sweet potato patch & wonder when they should be harvested?
There is a mention of curing the tubers at warm temperature, but is this nec.
I bought a purple skin variety vine from Bunnings 2 weeks a go at a very reasonable price I thought at under $9.

hawkypork says...
I just bought a bag of smallish orange sweet potatoes and planted them. You dont need to buy them from a nursery do you?

The vines have done very well over summer and I plan to have a bandicoot around on the weekend to see if I have gotten any good tubers.

Very interested to hear that the purple skin/white flesh variety are highly rated. I will give them a go next spring.

thanks Haakon

Brad says...
they take as cuttings (rooted or not) really easily. so not a plant you should need to buy. you can overwinter some in pots under cover and plant out again when it warms up.

Brad says...
Sure. I just stuck mine in pots on a veranda.