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Edible gardens · Beginner friendly · 6 min

Grow sweet potato slips for your neighbors

Make new plants from shoots, then give them space to grow outdoors.

Reference photograph: Llez · CC BY-SA 3.0. Display may be cropped. Not the offered plant or packet.

By Growhood · Updated

Watch the technique

Follow this article's GCC timing and care advice alongside the demonstration.

  • Producing sweet potato slipsBy OklahomaGardening on YouTube
    Video notes

    Langston University horticulture extension educator Micah Anderson demonstrates slip production. Follow Growhood’s local warmth and heat-protection guidance, not Oklahoma planting dates.

    Links only, with no embedded player or autoplay. Video link checked .

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Growing instructions

  1. 01

    Start with the right plant

    Use Ipomoea batatas from a healthy, known edible planting source. It is not the common potato, Solanum tuberosum. A vigorous vine from a local grower is a useful starting point. Shop-bought tubers may sprout poorly or carry disease, so do not assume every kitchen leftover makes good planting material.

  2. 02

    Raise shoots if starting from a tuber

    Set a sound planting tuber in lightly moist clean sand or potting mix in a warm, bright sheltered place. Keep it from rotting and allow leafy shoots to develop. This stage can take several weeks and is separate from rooting a slip. Discard mouldy, soft or foul-smelling material.

  3. 03

    Take a slip with stem nodes

    When tuber shoots are about 5 to 8 cm long, cut them cleanly at their base. Alternatively take a short healthy vine tip with several nodes from a growing plant. Remove lower leaves while keeping a leafy tip. Never take all the shoots from a small parent.

  4. 04

    Root and pot the slips

    Insert lower nodes into moist potting mix in a small drainage pot. Alternatively stand the bare lower stem in clean water, keeping leaves above it, then pot once roots develop. Keep warm and bright, out of hot direct sun. Refresh cloudy water promptly and keep soil moist without making it soggy.

  5. 05

    Establish outside and pass on the surplus

    Once rooted and growing, acclimate gradually to outdoor light. Plant into a large container or bed with space for long vines. Choose a warm growing period without frost, allowing several months for a possible crop. Give neighbors rooted slips with the variety if known; rooting successfully does not guarantee a tuber harvest.