What an INSANE(ly small) Sweet Potato Harvest!

This harvest is definitely not what I expected! How did your sweet potato harvest turn out this year? Comment below! We would love to hear about it!
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[@bobbethillhomestead]

Hi Luke. I am in zone 5 upstate NY, so close to your weather patterns. We got wonderful sweet potatoes this year, planted the slips Memorial Day, harvested in late September. Couple of suggestions---no no NO on the nitrogen! As another commenter mentioned, too much nitrogen will give you lovely greens and NO TUBERS. Prep the soil when planting the slips with bone meal, mycorrhizal and langbeinite. Prep the soil with lots of peat humus, organic matter like grass clippings and anything that will loosen the soil down at least 15" deep. We grew in both raised beds and grow bags and got really good production from both. Good luck next year with your sweet potatoes! I love your vids!

[@vancouvervixen4253]

I’m in WNY, great tips, I’ll be trying to grow them next year! Nice to know when you started yours!

[@agnesrock8212]

Sweet potato leaves are edible too.

[@coyoteroams]

My first thought was nitrogen, too

[@lauramccament1381]

Love, love, love your attitude of continuous learning and enthusiasm!!! Immediately thinking what the heck happened. You are such a great example of sharing every part or your gardening experience and knowledge.

[@kimp2678]

Hi Luke, We are in Miami, Florida (Zone 10B). We put our grocery store sweet potatoes in water to sprout slips in June. We planted the rooted slips in 10 gallon cloth pots. We continually buried long vines along the top surface until the rest spilled over the pots. We harvested about 5 to 7 lbs per cloth pot this week by dumping them out on a tarp. Then we replanted the vines again in the same pots. No animal activity inside the pots, thankfully. Only a bit of leaf sucking insects.

[@itslowtide4690]

Thank you for posting this video. We all want to post the big wins, but it’s important to be aware of the failures we all will continue to experience.

[@oldbear6813]

I'm in zone 6b and those vine roots have never produced a usable sized sweet potato in fact I was told by a sweet potato farmer in the tropics to pull up those vine roots so that the plants energy is focused on the sweet potatoes at the base of the plant. He said don't cut those vines but pull them up as the season progresses. I did that this past season and it worked great, I had much larger sweet potatoes, I'll be trying it again next season.

[@tazpah8837]

Zone 6a. I planted three slips in each of two twenty gallon grow bags with potting soil and vermiculite, one bag with purple, and one with orange, both from grocery store. The slips were created with the same tuber-in-soil method shown in the MIGardener video from last spring, but just the rooted slips, no tuber pieces. The vines were grown vertically. I lightly fertilized once in mid-summer with bone meal. I found that I definitely needed to water them more as the soil was completely dry down below, but harvested six pounds of orange, and two and a half pounds of small-ish purple (which all grew at the bottom).

[@zaretnavarro]

I just saw The millennial Gardener and he said that sweet potatoes like soil that are very poor. He said that the more fertile the soil, the less sweet potatoe tubers form. He showed sweet potatoes grown in his raised bed where he had organic matter and also some grown in grow bags. He had way more success with the grow bags where there was potting mix than his raised bed.

[@ramz1455]

Look up One Yard Revolution in his Sweet potatoe harvest: he had one fire ring with sweet potatoes which yielded pretty nice (numerous SPs but kinda thin) and he had a 10 gallon smart pot with yielded big SPs.

[@MynewTennesseeHome]

Luke, sweet potatoes make bigger tubers in mediocre soil... if your soil is too fertile they'll grow beautiful tops and spindly roots. Also as you learned, their roots regularly grow down to 16-18". Also a potato fork will help you to get them up without so much damage. Also, don't over water them, they need 1/2 the water of most garden veggies (I rarely if ever water mine)... and rabbits and deer eat my tops too... you have to fence them out. Also, you can and should dig the 100-120 days from planting. I have grown them in IN and TN and these are the things I've learned.

[@bornagainbuddhist1969]

Great information, thanks for sharing

[@MIgardener]

I will certainly try not fertilizing as heavily next year! Thank you so much for your help and your tips.

[@micheletemplin5041]

Great info! Thanks I’ve been growing 2 sweet potatoes in a recycling bin for a few years. Just enough for my hubby & I to enjoy. This year I got 1 huge potato and 4 med ones. I usually get more but my garden got stunted with the Canada fires and we got frost in early-mid October so that was it for me. Lol but I always add new soil- I’ll leave it alone for next year and not water as much- kinda like lavender! 😊

[@zoeshorthouse7913]

That may be why they went so deep. They did better in the clay.

[@barefootgardens22]

I heard that sweet potatoes grow best in a sandy soil with not a lot of nutrients and hate compost! So maybe try that next year. I had a decent harvest. Hopefully next year is better!

[@deborahschooley5933]

We grow them on mounds covered with black plastic in zone 4. Harvest has been about a pound per plant. the past few years. The hill system and the plastic helps them get the heat they need to develop good size tubers.

[@tonjapembrook1132]

I’m in zone 7. I planted my sweet potatoes in my compost mound. Some grew more than 4’ deep into the clay ground below. Next year I’ll try planting sweet potatoes in containers. My favorite way to eat sweet potato leaves is sautéed in sesame oil with some minced garlic, in case you decide to try them next year.

[@dawnbielawski9212]

Thx for sharing, no matter the outcome. In SE MI, I planted slips I'd started in a 2 ft deep barrel. I had to dump it out to find them, they were mostly at the bottom. They're pretty small but better than nothing. The best harvest I've had in MI was when I planted directly in ground and they went down to the clay soil. They were huge that year!

[@rozsmith6850]

In south NJ, I pulled my purple sweet potatoes about 10 days ago. I had 4 slips, and yielded just over 6 lb. This was my first harvest. My potatoes are curing, and I plan to actually save the smallest ones to use as starters for next season. I also left a few vines resting in and on the soil, and hope some will grow and fruit next year.

[@christinekennedy3020]

I'm in Belleville Michigan and grow slips, not the mother potato, in 18 inch deep planter boxes (18 deep x 16 wide by 66 long total) on my patio where it is sunny and HOT all day. I used organic potting mix to start the boxes years ago and amend with coco coir and my own fresh compost every year to make sure it stays fluffy. This also allows me to easily dig down deep with my hands when harvesting. I use trellises to allow the vines to grow up, which makes a beautiful privacy wall. With this method my harvest is huge with the largest potatoes growing along the warmest side of the containers. The potatoes grow all the way from top to bottom of the containers (18 inches down). Each year there are a lot that are the size of my forearm and last year I had a 9 pounder! This year I got just over 60 pounds total. The first time I ever planted them I put them in my raised bed out in the yard, which is much cooler out there and I only got smaller potatoes, approximately 22 pounds. The next year I planted in black fabric pots out next to the raised garden. These were also very small and the total harvest was 20 pounds. Looks like the patio boxes will be the permanent growing location for me!

[@joshuahoyer1279]

This is what I noticed with our Okinawan sweets! They were WAAAYYY deeper than the other sweet potatoes, but had better size and shape overall.

[@Happy2Run4Me]

From what I’m learning living here in the south now, sweet potatoes love poor soil lol. It’s perfect to grow here because my soil is nearly 100% white beach sand. There’s some loam to it but the sweet potatoes love unamended soil the best. I grow mine in grow bags to help avoid the bunnies (they completely ate two batches of 14 slips I put direct in the soil here this last May and my deer and rabbit fencing is not completed yet) so I had to replant after getting new slips from my mother potatoes. I didn’t get them planted until July! Pretty late for here but I should not have a frost until late November or early December. I have to wait a bit longer to harvest mine. Mine are also storebought Beauregards. I’ve harvested one little potato so far because I wanted to see how they were doing. They also seem to like drier soil I’ve noticed too. I don’t water them as much as I do my Yukon gold potatoes (also in grow bags). I used a lot of sand in my sweet potato grow bags because they seem to like it. It makes the bags very heavy though. Also I’ve been grabbing some of the leaves here and there as a spinach replacement in smoothies and stir fries. So tasty! Also so beautiful in the garden. ☺️

[@MrRileybobiley]

I had an amazing sweet potato harvest this year! I live in Zone 9 and had never grown them before - so exciting! I planted 3 slips and got over 10 pounds of potatoes! I was blown away!

[@vickiwicker5765]

We don’t plant “mother potatoes”. We put a couple of potatoes in water and then when the sprouts get six inches or so, pull. Those of the potatoe and then put that in water so it will form roots. We start that process around Christmas or no later than New Year. Sweet potatoes need a very long growing season and hot weather. We wait until our vines are totally dead before digging. Also dig with a fork instead of a shovel willl causes less cutting. In cooler climates it might help to put a plastic cover over at the beginning and end of the season.

[@vickiwicker5765]

Also, that seemed like apretty big bed for just five plants. I plant my slips about a foot apart.

[@ivahihopeful]

Yes! Also, I believe his soil is too rich. That’s why the things went down so far looking for clay. I’m in South Mississippi, and invariably my potatoes in areas that are not as heavily amended do better. The ones brown where I grow squash and tomatoes do not perform as well.

[@beverlycharles6534]

So you plant sweet potato's in the cold weather they go dormant and then the vines grow in spring and when they die then you pull them up? I never heard of this B4... sounds almost like same process for onions. Please elaborate if you get a chance....I want to try it.

[@ivahihopeful]

@@beverlycharles6534 he’s talking about making slips. You can also do this by halfway burying the sweet potato in soil and keeping it moist and warm. The potato will sprout, like regular potatoes. You will get many, many individual sprouts. You break the sprouts off once they get a little size to them and put these in water like they way you propagate new tomato plants from suckers. Once the slips get roots, they are ready to plant. This is typically started in Spring so the slips are ready to plant early summer. They need a fairly long growing season, so if yours is short, you may want to use the potting soil method over a heat mat to get the slips going (sprouting from the potato. I’m going to look through my saved videos and find the guy who demonstrated this. (Edit- Next Level Gardening.) But I would not think this would be started in the winter unless things warm up very quickly where you live.

[@pear92]

@@ivahihopefulSweet potatoes like clay? * looks at my high-clay native soil* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

[@imafan26]

Sweet potatoes grow wild in the ground and they are hard to dig up because they do like to go deep. That is why I plant sweet potatoes in containers. Even in containers, most of the sweet potatoes are in the bottom of the container.

[@patricacompton9603]

If your soil is too rich in nutrients the sweet potato tubers will not form. I planted 1 tuber in a 15 gallon pot used potting soil only and got a bumper crop. Try it.

[@MIgardener]

I am wondering if my soil was too rich, thank you for the feedback and I will definitely try it again next year.

[@sarahkirk8019]

I planted 30 slips in a new spot this year, heavy clay soil but I'm pulling in a huge harvest! Only half way on digging them but have about 80lbs so far. We feed the vine to our pigs and they go crazy for it!

[@sheilaimhof7915]

I planted in heavy clay soil last year, no amendments and got a bigger harvest than this year. Interesting how each year can be different. I added chicken compost this year. Probably too much nitrogen. I got a decent harvest just not like last years.

[@be6715]

Zone 5, IL. Planted sweet potatoes only in tallish, plastic totes this year. Mixed potting mix, and topsoil in totes (totes have holes drilled in bottom and sides), and added some slow release by top dressing. I got tired of putting the garden fork in the middle of the s. potatoes, because I didn't know where they were (other than at the base of the original slips). Not a huge harvest this year. Not enough to can, but enough to share. I still have some that I helped to can last year. Way better to use a garden fork to dig - also let the soil dry before digging. You're more like to break them in wet soils. While you might have had issues with rabbits on the tops, I found other critters helped themselves to the tubers, so you might have lost some yield there also. Also don't knock that you planted late - in MI, like IL, you're better to let those soil temps warm up. You mentioned I think, that sweet potatoes are from Asia - they are actually from Central to South America. Yams are from Asia and Africa. Either way, they like it warm - one of the reasons why they grow so well in the southern USA, that and they like sandy soils. Your (our?) clay soils don't make them quite as happy as they are in the south. It's good to experiment though!

[@redbeard7094]

Thank you for posting this. It goes to show people, especially new gardeners, that not everything goes as planned. Sometimes we have a bumper crop, sometimes we get nothing. The heat wave we had this year in the SW completely killed off my beans and took a toll my onions. On the plus side, we got some great watermelons.

[@craighalle7892]

I always plant my slips in my old wheel barrow so the roots stay in about a foot of soil. Last season, I harvested about 10 pounds of mostly large and some your size sweet potatoes. They were absolutely delicious and sweet. I did not know the aging process, so I just put them in a large bowl on a low storage shelf in my kitchen. There are still a few left in great shape. I never thought they would last this long and be so good. The bunnies could have had an impact, but I have noticed the plants don't like fertilizer to grow the sweet potatoes and deeper soil makes them grow deeper. One of the other gardeners used large grow bags and a raised bed and got much better results from the growbags. Glad you made this video, although somewhat unsuccessful. We have to learn to garden and garden to learn. Something always grows better than something else. May the Lord keep blessing you and yours. Keep on growing better and better.

[@rogerrobin2774]

This makes me feel better about my paltry harvest.

[@janeburns8789]

I use my sweet potato greens in every one of my salads.

[@gardeningunraveled]

Hey Luke, try growing sweet potatoes in grow bags next year. I grow all of my sweet potatoes in 7-10 gallon grow bags. It's so much easier to harvest them. I grow regular potatoes in grow bags also.

[@ivahihopeful]

It’s the soil. They do not prefer rich, loose soil. Sweet potatoes prefer higher heat and humidity and less fertile soil. That’s why they do well naturally here in South Mississippi. You may want to put them somewhere without all that good soil. Also, maybe a hoop house or some type cover to hold in the heat more. I believe they were going deeper looking for the poorer soil- clay. They like that better than the good stuff.

[@tommyreece4865]

I Agree 👍

[@rekster11]

Great tips! First year growing 🍠 in Cen TX. Hoping my early start and all the humidity this year gives me a decent harvest.

[@rachellel6464]

Hi Luke! We're in Manitoba(zone 4) and we had a big success with sweet potatoes this year. We planted about 16 slips and just harvested over 60 pounds of sweet potatoes! Some were tiny, most were a good size and even larger than the store potatoes we grew the slips from. Not sure what to attribute the success to but it was super exciting!!

[@zombiebychoice]

i live in illinois and in about 5 times the space you had we got 70 pound. i cover mine with wire cages until they get established because yeah they really need that early season to take off and rabbits eating them will ruin them. it feels like sweet potatoes just get big when they get big and if they havent reached the growth to get there yet i.e. rabbits eat them or the season wasnt long enough and they just dont do anything at all. ive had years where the rabbits got them like that and ended up with no crop as well. p.s. i just grew the covington variety this year and i would recommend they are very standard and delicious and good for shorter seasons

[@stanleydoctor7947]

Oh no, I think your mentioning of the "mother" means you planted the original potato that grew the slip into the ground instead of just the slip. My aunt taught me that sweet potatoes will not produce a lot of new tubers if they already have one, so never ever plant a sweet potato in the ground unless you want to only harvest the greens. The plant has to sense that it must grow tubers in order to survive winter. If it has that (the mother tuber you planted with the slip), it works on sprawling vines to conquer more area.

[@MIgardener]

I will definitely do that again as well next year! That makes a whole lot of sense.

[@stanleydoctor7947]

@@MIgardener I do also second what others said about too much nitrogen. Like carrots, I have heard they will grow lots of green and not much root. We planted in poor, heavy clay soil and didnt amend since the year before (we use compost and animal bedding when we amend). We had some huge potatoes (1lb 9oz!) and a good number of them for being planted in late June and in such a long draught with very little additional watering by us. (NW Ohio.) Love your videos and humility when things dont go as hoped! -Emily

[@loricrane5315]

Just pulled mine. Never had such small sweet potatoes

[@tammybyrd1054]

Thanks for sharing! I had to laugh. My first time growing sweet potatoes, I planted the slips all around the edge of the garden. They sprawled and were beautiful vines. I basically forgot about them. After the first frost I went out to pull things out of the garden to clean up and yanked on the vines and all these sweet potatoes came out! I was shocked. NONE were in the good garden soil, they were growing all along the edge under the grass!!! \o/ Who knew?! Best ones I've had yet! lol and they were in clay too! lol

[@joannecrowley2388]

I've never planted them, but last year put a couple of Sweet Potato vines in my "WINDOW BOX" & was so surprised that we had 3 or 4 sweet potatoes, about the size of the palm of my hand to the size of my hand that grew in them ! I was shocked !

[@jimschmitz6192]

That’s why you use a potato fork! Instead of a raised bed I always make a ridge. They will still go pretty deep but on a ridge it makes it easier to dig. Also a ridge drains better, sweet potatoes like dryer soil, that forces them to send more energy into making larger tubers. You also shouldn’t wash them before curing.

[@LindseyRae_91]

This makes me not feel too bad about my harvest. Haha, I'm in 7A, VA. I planted 12 slips. I got an okay harvest for my first time growing sweet potatoes, but nothing to write home about. Some were a decent size, but most were kind of small. I also noticed how deep some of my potatoes went. I wasn't strong enough to dig quite that deep. I also had a lot of deer eating the foliage since I planted them in April or May. I didn't let the leaves sprawl out. Maybe I should have done that so they could have more roots. I'll try again next year. Thanks again for this video. Makes you seem more human and less social media perfect. 😊

[@mariemoffett7642]

Grew my slips in containers this year. The hard sided containers had roots/ tubers along the bottom of pot.They were small. In fabric pots the tubers grew Iarge on the middle of pot.

[@michellehedgcock8924]

I'm in Attica, MI (just northwest of Imlay City), zone 6, and my sweet potato harvest did great! I grew a variety that does well in a more northern climate. We used a broadfork to harvest them. We didn't have one damaged tuber.

[@dawn19maria]

We had a great harvest of sweet potatoes in SE MI as well. We always grow Beauregard sweet potatoes since they do better than the mystery store bought ones. I think that some types of sweet potatoes won’t grow well in Michigan because their “days to maturity” is too long for our season. Fortunately, you only have to buy the right type of slips one time. We save our homegrown sweet potatoes each year to make slips for next year.

[@alamo2211]

I am in zone 9A in South Texas. This year I had volunteer slips that I pinched off of a large sweet potato from last year’s harvest - ended up with about 20 after rooting. I planted mine in tubs, which I have found works well when harvest time comes. Keep them nice and well watered, fertilize a couple of times, and they grew wildly in our Hot Hot summer! I harvested about 30 lbs. of sweet potatoes.

[@mantis7419]

In zone 6b I grow them in straw bales. Harvest is a breeze, no cut or missed potatoes and they love it, too

[@sandrab6468]

I tried one plant for the first time this year and got a huge harvest! I grew it in a pot on my deck (away from the bunnies). I saw another KZbinr do video in which he planted in grow bags and his raised bed. The bags produced a much bigger harvest. He stated that this is because sweet potatoes do not like to be grown in very fertile soil with a lot of organic matter. This is probably true because I had no organic matter in my pot and actually had very low expectations...

[@sprigssprouts6786]

Hi Luke. I live across the border in Canada, an hour away. From my experience with sweet potatoes, too much nitrogen makes them produce greens but not the roots which is what the sweet potato is. Also if you let the vines vine out and root, it tries to make more sweet potatoes but they will all be small. Bette4 to grow vertically so they can’t root anywhere else. I have also found growing in pots out performs my raised beds.

[@julianokleby1448]

I grew mine in 25-gallon grow bags this year for the first time. I wanted to make sure there was enough room for the roots but not so much they don't go into our clay. The leaves are delicious in salads, and better for you than beet greens, more iron than spinach. I harvested one bag a few weeks ago because I saw a few tops sticking out of the soil, and got curious. We got ours from the grocery store too! So far, they've been good. That one bag filled up a grocery store bag about half way. I planted 8 grow bags of sweet potatoes and 8 of potatoes this year. We thought we got all of the potatoes but then several started growing again, so now we will have 2 harvests! Yummy~!~!

[@JoliAnnToth]

What type of soil did you use in your bags?

[@julianokleby1448]

@@JoliAnnToth We used super soil, which is a 50/50 mix of topsoil and compost.

[@JonesBeJackin]

This made me feel a little better about my small harvest. Ended up with about 5lbs from 4x 10gal grow bags. Pretty bad harvest for GA.

[@lindas9806]

I didn’t get any out of my bed like yours, they also went deep and hit the clay and didn’t produce. I did get some in my 100 gallon felt pot. I used straw and soil layered in the pot. Groundhogs ate my greenery twice. Netting will help next time.

[@sarah_farm]

She 's a good chef and great sister , she care for everyone in her family , Hao's friends are lucky to try her food the first time :)

[@Gkrissy]

I will try the sweet potatoe leaves next summer. The deer in my area enjoyed it as well. My harvest was decent in the ground and in raised beds-clay soil amended with compost. My containers gave me the size of your harvest. I planted the purple varieties. I fertilized with bone meal in June or July.

[@kjspe971]

Hang in there, Luke!! Live and learn. To avoid cutting, shovel straight down from edge of bed....you jabbed in 8 inches or so from the edge.....start wide and work inward. Silver lining - leaves are edible AND a fair amount of biomass for composting. Keep 'em coming!!! Grow BIG!!!!

[@mikel646]

I have to agree with those who grow sweet potatoes in containers. I planted two slips from store bought potatoes in a 15 gallon pot. Normal potting soil. And they really only got sun between 10am and 2pm. It was just an experiment. They got half strength water soluble fertilizer every week. Just harvested 5 very nice sized tubers, and a bunch of smaller ones that will probably sprout next year's slips for me.

[@LindasBeginnerGardeninga-yw2jm]

I’m in zone 9. I harvested my sweet potatoes two weeks ago. I started them from slips of a store bought sweet potato that made about 20 slips. I’m a new gardener and a container gardener at that. I put way too many slips in two 20 gallon grow bags. I had way too many potatoes in the bag therefore making them unable to grow large. They were thin and packed in tight but beautiful. It was discouraging but I will definitely do it again! Love your channel 💕

[@Paula-Kealoha]

Hi may I ask how many slips did you put in your 20 gallon container? I just started mine and I put 6 slips in a 27 gallon container.

[@Paula-Kealoha]

And I keep thinking that it might he too much

[@LindasBeginnerGardeninga-yw2jm]

@@Paula-Kealoha I put at least 10 in each 20 gallon grow bag. Way too many slips for that bag.

[@LindasBeginnerGardeninga-yw2jm]

@@Paula-Kealoha I’m not a pro but I believe 6 slips in that bag should be sufficient. You should get a nice yield from them. Good luck!

[@edwinaustin3834]

Hi, Luke. I really enjoy your gardening videos and find them quite informative. I am in south central Illinois, and this year has been a very dry year. I had to water my sweet potatoes a few times just to keep them alive. But, all in all, they did pretty well. I got about a half bushel of sweet potatoes from 6 plants. Keep up the good work!

[@sharonparker2262]

I never wash sweet potatoes until after curing. Just set on a screen, after dry, brush dirt off. A complete wash can be done before cooking. Mine were very deep this year too, down into the clay.

[@samuraioodon]

I'm a first time gardener and tried sweet potatoes for fun. Im in Texas so i thought it would die in summer but these are great for hot summers. Great ground cover. Also you should harvest when soil is dry. I think it's easier.

[@juliehoward1979]

We (in Michigan) will have rain almost every day until the ground freezes this time of year. There will probably not be a dry ground day until next year.

[@samuraioodon]

@@juliehoward1979 oh ok, we are getting 80s next week in Texas, hopefully we dry up a little! But I harvest my first batch and pretty happy 😊

[@bornagainbuddhist1969]

I grew sweet potatoes for the first time this year, I didn't have a great harvest but I sure did learn a lot for next year's planting....

[@MIgardener]

But I wasn’t the only one, we will definitely be trying next year!

[@juliehoward1979]

My sweet potatoes did horrible as well. My whole garden was a bit stunted this year though. I attribute it to the Canadian fires. The things I normally fight the sun with, like the peppers, did exceptionally well. I always have to watch them for sunburn. Not this year. Melons, cucumbers, squash all underperformed. Tomatoes didn't want to ripen. We went from the smoky skies to cold weather in a hurry. I'm in Michigan zone 4b / 3, about 3 hours north of you. Not sure how the smoke was down there, but I really think it affected my garden this year.

[@teresasmith2857]

Hi Luke, I am zone 5 Chicago suburbs. My Beauregard and purple sweet potatoes had a great harvest, but mice or voles ate holes or the tops off them. Have had this happen before and tried planting some garlic around but it didn't work. Curing what I could save. Open to ideas that might work for next year. Gardening is truly an adventure.

[@tennesseenana4838]

I plant my sweet potatoes in food safe 18-gallon storage totes from Walmart. Have drainage holes both on the sides and the bottom and placed them in full sun on some bricks I used as legs. Those critters can't dig through the plastic. This year I got double the harvest I had last year. Good luck with yours next year!

[@nickgichenko2183]

Ha! we had the same experiment here. Store bought and grew slips put some in a raised bed some directly into the soil. They had such a lovely leaf cover and vined in/out all over. Then, deer. We dug the raised bed tonight and had over 2 dozen little tubers. We haven't dug the deep in the soil yet but there was nothing - now we are going back to dig a little deeper! Thanks

[@MIgardener]

Dig until you think you can’t do any deeper and generally that is where they were this year!

[@judyseaton7243]

You’ve got to watch “the garden family” growing sweet potatoes in straw bales. I just watched and what a great idea! I live in Fl and will definitely try next year as mine didn’t do well this year either. And think of all the compost received after the harvest!

[@aprilpotter3054]

I don't know what made mine did so well but I have very clay soil, mine tend to go deep into the clay. Also, mine will go sideways from the mother slip. We have been piling wood chips and mulch on top of the ground as well as poly culture diakon radishes with them. Some years do better than others. Every year I have a bumper crop of something different. Also, I take 1 potato from a plant that has done well and keep it to make slips for the next year. It seems to help. Also, you can cure broken sweet potato. The greens can be eaten raw in salad. Mild, sweet flavor. Not nitrogen, you'll get less potatoes and thin, little roots. Add calcium, and acid. Also, chop and drop the vine as it grows. The greens will add that calcium as they quickly break down into the soil

[@ginac7235]

The greens can be eaten?!! Oh I wished I saved them. That’s so good to know. I wonder if that’s the same for murasaki greens. I’m gonna look that up. Thanks for mentioning that 💚🌱

[@aprilpotter3054]

@@ginac7235 I've never heard of Murasaki. Also, grow a slip in the house, eat the greens off of that, them plant the plant outside in June.

[@ginac7235]

@@aprilpotter3054 That’s such a good idea!

[@shannonessig5959]

I'm in the Central San Joaquin Valley in CA. There are commercial sweet potato (or yam?) growers in our area, so they like it here. I grow slips from grocery store organic sweet potatoes and plant them in big grow bags. Ironically, because I didn't think they would grow well in my clay soil. I think heat is a huge factor. Our summers are long and unbearably hot. 5 months over 90, with 3-4 months consistently well over 100. And we were in a drought. So they don't get very wet, but they get a lot of heat. And when I turn out the bags to harvest, I'm amazed that there are so many large tubers in such a small amount of soil. I am grateful for you sharing this video, because now I know that, if push comes to shove, I'll try growing sweets in my clay soil. I would never have considered it!

[@originalwoolydragon8387]

I'm in TN. Last year, I had a great harvest. This year was disappointing. After an above average rainfall in August, we had a very dry September & October. I also had a couple of visits by deer that munched on the leaves.

[@karenlombardi8242]

Same here - in lower mid TN - I even used slips from last years huge harvest. I have baby carrot sized “tubers”. So disappointing.

[@WelcometomyCapeCodlife]

Lessons learned. Great video that has me considering trying to grow sweet potatoes next year. Thanks Like!

[@MIgardener]

Glad it was helpful!

[@SH-gd9uq]

You planted in to fertile of soil. That raised bed was too fertile from the year before and possible pre planting fertilizing. It happened to me in my first sweet potato patch I have another one in a raised bed that I’m going to let the frost hit and then I’ll harvest the potatoes .I got a late start this year on my second batch. I live in Rio Rancho NM in zone 7b. Great video sir. 👍

[@SH-gd9uq]

By the way rabbits love sweet potatoes. I grow them for the rabbits and for us.

[@keithcarey6016]

So interesting you just published this. Our sweet potatoes (first time growers) languished from May until until early September when they took off! But given that we might leave many of them in under a thick mulch bed overwinter (zone 6a - St. Louis, MO).

[@queensgarden55]

I planted mine in grow bags not a lot think probably need stay longer. Next time more bone meal. Thanks for video, now I do not feel bad about my harvest.

[@lizabeas]

Zone 9a- my harvest was amazing. Grew in raised beds. They are huge and plenty. Very pleased.

[@debpax432]

Saute or dehydrate those leaves. Tastes great either way.. like sweet potatoes. I powder the dehydrated leaves for my green shakes. Awesome. Also, u could use a pitch fork.

[@kaz1388]

Better luck next year Luke 😉

[@McSnicker55]

Takeaway 1a , the tubers were helping to break up and break down that clay layer which is a very useful thing to know for the next time you grow them. Saves the gardener from some of the extra work shoveling or forking to break that clay layer down.

[@gainingstrength7859]

We grew our sweet potatoes in grow bags this year, in southeast Michigan, just as we did last year. Last year we got ~13 pounds of modicum size tubers (100-200 g each) from 6 plants I purchased from Lowes.. This year we got about the same weight harvest, but only about half as medium size tubers, the other half consisted of small roots no larger than 1" in diamete, many barely and some not really edible (skin to flesh ratio too high)r. Last year we started with slips I purchased at Lowes, this year I used whole tubers, some I got at Home Depot and one was a sweet potato we got from a grocery that had sprouted slips on us. I think I got them started perhaps a month later than last year, and harvested them too soon. Next year I won't use whole tubers, only rooted slips.

[@julie-annepineau4022]

I made a DIY polytunnel this year and filled half of it (14x4) with sweet potatoes. I think they really benefited from the higher heat and more controlled water. We had a very grey wet summer. I harvested 4 of the plants and got about 10 lbs. Did a light fertilizer at planting and grass clipping mulch a few times thru the season. Will plant again, maybe some inside, some outside to see the difference in our short season.

[@laurieyagmur3690]

I had a few slips and planted them in containers and oh my gosh I had so many sweet potatoes

[@79PoisonBreaker]

I believe your sweet potatoes had too rich of soil. If plants are too happy they just grow and don't store their energy this is true of a few different plants and I've heard sweet potatoes are one of the plants you put in your worst fertile spots for best production.

[@vickiwicker5765]

I think that’s true. Sweet potatoes are a low fertilizer plant. I think like carrots, with really rich soil you’ll get a lot of tops and not tubers.

[@MIgardener]

Thanks for the tips!

[@redbeard7094]

I have noticed this too. First year I planted a few sweet potatoes it was in horrible soil and got a ton of huge sweet potatoes. The first time I planted in my regular garden bed I got next to nothing.

[@honestly27]

My sweet potato harvest was ONE potato this year. LOL. Next year will be a better year:)

[@alexsantiago9485]

Over in Muskegon Michigan, I had a small yet successful sweet potato crop.

[@Carol32547]

Yup...thats my experience with sweet potato and white potato harvests...i get 1 potato per plant/vine.

[@ElizabethofTexas]

I'm in North Texas zone 8a. Sweet potatoes are over of the few things that will grow through our super hot summer. They want very little water and high temps. I also missed some tubers and have some more sweet potatoes coming up now.

[@ginac7235]

Re Nitrogen: I experimented with murasaki sweet potatoes this year as a semi-beginner gardener and used a broken piece of potato from an Asian market. I grew slips from it last fall. One managed to survive, so I planted that. OH MAN! did the vines grow! I learned that lush vines may mean **too much nitrogen** and the energy went there instead of the potatoes. But in spite of that, I yielded 6 large potatoes. Edit add: I’m zone 6b/7a border in Utah

[@MIgardener]

Great tip!

[@galamonkey]

An expert grower in my area who farms his property for a living, has noted that his sweet potato yields have gone down, year-by-year as his soil has increased in fertility. He does the deep mulch method here in Florida, and while his other crops continuously, improve in yields as his soil becomes darker and higher in nutrients, he says that he sees lower yields with sweet potatoes each summer. He said that a couple years ago it was not uncommon to see about 4000 pounds out of his plot each summer, but it has steadily been shrinking. In his videos, he talks about how whenever he first targets a new area, and expands his garden, the first year is always the best when he is growing in the unimproved sandy soil. Each year there after, he notices the same thing as he continues to improve those areas. I think all of the nitrogen just gives you ridiculous, vine growth, and not much else.

[@Rich22C]

I just harvested my sweet potato crop here in SW Florida. We did manage to get between 1 to 2 five gallon buckets full but many were tiny. I only fertilized once with bone meal in May & probably put in to many plants for the area. Many of my larger ones near the surface were chewed flat by the rabbits. I did have a fence but they still managed to get in. I definitely need something to loosen my soil before I plant again this year.

[@juliewhite6887]

I’ve only grown sweet potatoes once, but they did o.k. I plan to grow them again this next year.

[@lidip8700]

I live in Indiana, zone 6, we planted our slips May 10th, we're waiting out this super warm week (Oct 25th), and plan to harvest next week. I can see a few potatoes that were pushed to the top, so we're hoping for a great harvest. We have cut back the vines 2 weeks ago. Wish us luck! Good luck next year Luke! P.S., I remember last year's harvesting with Cindy & Geneva. It was sooo cute!! And your harvest was awesome!!

[@ediehughes2919]

I’ve found that if you don’t “contain “ them they will go deep!! I grow in very large containers 😊

[@rusty4134]

Mine produced less this year too. what we got made one crockpot stew so it wasn't a waste but definitely smaller harvest this year compared to past years.

[@noelgaspar9715]

I have planted sweet potatoes 6 months ago.I have purple,white,yellow and orange potatoes.Thanks for sharing your experience buddy.Sweet potatoes needs organic rich fertilizers to get higher yield.

[@kbjerke]

LOL! I tried for *MONTHS* back in the spring, to get slips to grow from a sweet potato. Total failure! But wait - I then discovered a forgotten potato in the laundry room that had sprouted all by itself, unnoticed by anyone! It was July, however, and I had no great hopes, but I just stuck the three nice slips into my VegePod raised bed. They grew remarkably well! Sadly there wasn't enough time for them to mature into full potatoes, I found only a few little stringy things about the size of a small string bean. NEXT year, I hope I'm better prepared - and *check that laundry room!!!* Thanks for the video, Luke!

[@tommyreece4865]

Mine sprouted in July to in the pantry. NATURE knows best. It's Amazing

[@tazpah8837]

My potatoes took a long time to start growing slips, and there were only a few for a couple of weeks, then they went berserk in late spring.

[@kbjerke]

@@tazpah8837 I hope for better results next season. At least I know now, what to watch for! LOL And I *JUST* planted my garlic, two days ago, right after a good, hard frost. Best wishes to you!

[@tazpah8837]

@@kbjerke Thanks. Just to be clear, we started trying to get them to grow in late January. Nothing until May, then in early June they took off and produced many slips.

[@kbjerke]

@@tazpah8837 Thanks! I found that immersing a sacrificial potato in water was totally unnecessary! And a waste of much time. They will sprout all by themselves in an undisturbed and relatively dark environment. I have high hopes for next season, and wish you a successful one as well!

[@tinab7791]

My harvest was okay, I just did it today. Better than last year but still nothing to write home about. I've always grown them in containers, and watching you struggle to find all of those reminds me of why I choose the containers lol.

[@user-ql7xf4mt6z]

Loved this video! Your insane optimism is refreshing 😊

[@claudinepotvin-giordano1154]

Wow amazing work. Important lesson. I also have clay soil.

[@debbiesorganicgarden]

I am hearing from all over the eastern states that this simply was not a good sweet potato year. I got a decent yield but not near as much as I was hoping for. Thanks for all your info.

[@debbiesorganicgarden]

I forgot...my yield was 60 pounds. I will be posting a video about it within a couple of days.

[@IAMGiftbearer]

Sorry to hear you got a small harvest. I had the same experience with store bought russet potatoes. They were still delicious though and 10 little ones made a good side dish for one meal.

[@ireneney5657]

First year trying to grow sweet potatoes on SE Michigan. Small harvest of small tubers, but for first time I consider it a success. Think my soil was to high in N

[@jeannamcgregor9967]

Don't use a shovel, Luke! Get a fork with rounded tines made for potato harvesting.

[@717Alfred]

This was super helpful-my potato harvests were dismal in general. I’ll make sure to follow your suggestions.

[@candacefitzgerald2794]

Good morning, I'm in zone 7 in Virginia. I grew mine in grow bags. I struggled to keep them watered because we had an extremely hot summer. I was pleasantly surprised but I had a great harvest. Maybe the heat was the key. Some were huge, 1 pounders plus! Can't wait to try again.

[@Taoss123KeyholeJourney]

I consider my sweet potato harvest a flop this year. Lots of tiny ones with long roots like Luke shows. I tried growing slips from one of the beauties from last year and it never sprouted. I then tried store-bought organic sweet potatoes which did sprout but late in the season. Sounds like I probably made the same mistakes. You just never know from year to year.

[@brittanymcguff]

This actually makes me feel better because my sweet potatoe harvest was sad to. Maybe it just wasn’t the year 🤷‍♀️

[@Gardeningchristine]

I’ve had luck in 20 gallon plastic laundry tubs with holes in the bottoms up tomato cages. Usually rabbits won’t jump up into them.

[@Gardeningchristine]

Deer will eat them though.

[@dangalimidi5609]

Started sweet potato slips from store bought. Just harvested them. Most were long and thin. I suspect this is due to the soil not being loose enough. 6.5lbs from 7 plants. Allowing them to cure now. I don't keep my house at 75F though...

[@GrandmasFoodGarden]

Last year I made the mistake of planting sweet potatoes in a 30" tall raised bed. Some made it to the bottom, even with just thin roots down to lower level.