All About Growing Sweet Potatoes

Wondering how to cure sweet potatoes after digging them up? Which varieties hold up best in storage? Read on to learn all about growing sweet potatoes at home.

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by AdobeStock/Serjik Ahkhundov

Wondering how to cure sweet potatoes after digging them up? Which varieties hold up best in storage? Read on to learn all about growing sweet potatoes at home.

Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are productive, delicious and super-nutritious. Few staple crops keep as well as these flavorful tubers, which can be stored for months in a cool, dry place. This crop is a staple in climates with hot, muggy summers, but growing sweet potatoes is also possible in cooler climates if you adjust to meet the plants’ requirement for warm temperatures.

Types of Sweet Potatoes to Try

Sweet potato varieties differ in skin and flesh color and texture, as well as in leaf shape and vine length. The flavor and nutritional qualities of sweet potatoes vary with flesh color: Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are rich sources of fiber and vitamins A and C. White-fleshed varieties contain less vitamin A, but are a good source of minerals and B vitamins. Purple sweet potatoes contain a little vitamin A, but are loaded with antioxidants.

Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are popular and nutritious, have moist flesh, and the available varieties suit a range of climates. Tried-and-true ‘Beauregard’ (90 to 100 days) is productive and disease-resistant. Some short-vined varieties, such as ‘Georgia Jet,’ (90 to 95 days) make good crops in areas where summers are brief. In warmer areas, grow slower-maturing heirlooms famous for flavor, such as ‘Nancy Hall’ (120 days.)

  • Updated on Nov 6, 2022
  • Originally Published on Nov 5, 2013
Tagged with: food gardening, sweet potatoes
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