I've been growing sweet potatoes for a couple of years. I went in the back room to get one for supper and I've got two that have started sprouting already--earlier than usual. They both have little tiny leaves at one end. Can I cut those ends off and put them in some sand and potting soil indoors? I think I'm going to try this anyway. I usually don't fool with starts because I have a long growing season. I just put four sweet potatoes in the ground early April. And by mid June I have plenty of vines for me and my two gardening friends.
Not following Pricklypear,,are you trying for the potatoes or the tops ? Which are an excellent greens I am told.
Thanks to both of you. If this experiment works, I'll go ahead and put them outside when the weather is warm enough. (around May 1'st. After a few months there should be sweet potatoes. I've never had any luck with starting sweet potato suspended in a jar of water. Usually, I just put a whole sweet potato in the ground and cover it with about three inches of soil. I do this in early April. By the end of April I have shoots coming up, in June there are vines and I harvest a nice crop of sweet potatoes in October (wellbefore the first frost). You need a long season to do this. And you need fairly loose soil. I plant this way because it's easy. I've never had my sweet potatoes in storage start sprouting this early. I'm not sure why it's happening now. Maybe that room is warmer than in previous years? I just don't know.
Instead of cutting the tuber now, I'd set it in a pot of soil with the sprouts up. Let them grow to a few inches long and just pull them off, don't cut. Root them in their own pot or if it's warm enough plant them outside in the row.
