sweet potato vine as houseplant?

17 years ago

Has anyone tried rooting sweet potato vine and growing indoors as a houseplant? I live in CT and they won't survive the winter up here. I thought if they would grow indoors I could root some next spring and save a bundle? They may grow too aggressively, I don't know. Anyone ever try it? vignewood

Featured Answer

ga_karen

13 years ago

When I was a kid we raised our own sweet potato slips for planting in the garden. My Grandma also always had a least one vine growing in the house for as long as she could keep it alive (several years). All she ever did was put toothpicks into a "tater" (3 around the sides near middle) and suspend the "tater" in a glass of water sitting in a window. It would grow huge amounts of vine & try to take over the area. We would just cut some vine back & it would keep going. But she never put one in soil that was going to be an inside plant...she didn't want it to try to form any little "taters" in a pot.
If you do this, watch the water level. They tend to suck up a lot of water. And the root end went down in the glass, the stem end was what stuck up out of the glass.

Comments (6)

alison
17 years ago
I think it depends on how much light you have. I've heard of people who grow wonderful vines up one side of the window, across the top, and trail down the other side.

But I've never had any luck with them. We've got some wonderful ornamental sweet potato vine I'm going to try and winter-over in the big window at work.
mogardener
17 years ago
Lay a sweet potato on its side in a pot of potting mix and cover it to about half its thickness. Water it and place it where it will get bright indirect light in summer or indoors in a west or south facing window. The slips will form along the sides and occasionally the top. When you are ready to plant the slips, harden the vine and remove the potato from the pot. Gently remove both the slip and its roots. Slips without roots can be potted for a short time to give them a boost before planting out. Treat as any other sweet potato vine at that point. I have always had better yields planting them in raised beds without sides. Mine have done well as houseplants as far as growing well at first but I had a problem with spider mites that eventually killed the last one I had. The one I started this spring is now a glorious plant and since other things kept me from planting the slips in the open garden in time, I'm going to try to keep it over the winter for planting next year. I will also try to root lengths of the vine itself by putting cuttings in water or potting mix at the leaf junctions.

Good luck. Hope this helps.
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playdirt
17 years ago
I have had the bright green one for three years as a houseplant. I have the varigated one this year and want to keep it. I am in MN. cathy
sdrawkcab
17 years ago
you can dig the "potatos" that form and overwinter them in cool dry sand in a basement or closet and re-plant next year. you wont have foliage to look at all winter but you wont have to buy new plants in the spring either.
dcampbe970_gmail_com
13 years ago
I had never seen a sweet potato vine until my daughters wedding last june. Her colors included red black blue tuurquoise& gold& my sister did 2 pots of flowers for either side if the altar. She found a sweet potato vine whose leaves were so deep a purple thathey truly looked black. She also put ivy, salvia,petinias, pansies and a plant whose name I can't remember whose flowers were a true turquoise the swp vine grew like a champ& even bloomed several times including once after I brought it inside. Now, however it is just twigs& tiny leaves I thot it was too cold and so I moved it to a warmer spot. Since it has tried to make leaves. The ivy& the salvia are growing well. The other plants died asi expected they would but the swp vine is the one I was trying to save. I live in n wyoming, in sheridan& want to figure out how to keep this going for as long as I can. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!