About Sweet Potatoes

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Once the earth has warmed up (usually three to four weeks after the last frost), use a hoe handle to poke holes about six inches deep and 12 inches apart. Bury the slips up to the last leaves, tamp down the dirt gently but well, and water thoroughly. Some two weeks later, mulch heavily with hay or grass clippings to eliminate the need for weeding and watering and to keep the soil soft for root development. Soon the thick, sprawling vines will smother most invading weeds. You might want to occasionally lift the longer vines to prevent them from rooting at the joints, and if rain is scarce, try to provide an inch of water a week until two weeks before harvesting. Use caution, though, as this vegetable survives dry spells—and even droughts—quite well, and over watering encourages rot. Otherwise, once the plants are established, you can usually forget about them until harvest time, because, despite all the pests and diseases that can attack this crop, it's usually remarkably trouble-free.

While white-potatofoliage is toxic, that of the sweet potato can be stir-fried.

What to Watch For

Gardeners in the South, where the sweet potato is such a popular crop, are likelier than those in more northern areas to encounter problems in their sweet potato patches. Handling the plants as little as possible when transplanting and cultivating prevents wounds that might be invaded by disease spores.

Common ailments include black rot, scurf, dry rot, stem rot (or wilt) and soft rot. The first four are caused by fungi. Black rot causes pale yellowish foliage, and its circular dark depressions on the outside of tubers may appear in the field or in storage. Discard potatoes with these marks, and take special care in curing those from the same harvest.

Don't confuse black rot with less serious scurf. The latter makes small, round, dark spots on the surface of the potato, which, though unsightly, don't affect its edibility.

Dry rot, which causes tubers to mummify while in storage, can usually be avoided if the harvest is kept in a cool area (55° to 60°F).

Plants infected with stem rot or wilt may deteriorate throughout the season. Even if they aren't killed off by this disease, the harvest will be poor. This fungus enters the plant through injuries caused by insects, careless cultivation and wind.

Soft rot, another storage disease, causes a watery decay and whiskery growth but isn't usually a problem when the tubers are cured and stored properly.

Fusarium wilt stunts plants, and leaves turn yellowish or brown, wilt and drop off. To prevent it, plant resistant varieties such as Allgold, Coppergold, Dooley or Gem.

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