GROWING Sweet Potato Slips | Step 1 

We started slips from an organic purple sweet potato last year. Bought the smallest one at the store and it made way more slips than we needed. We had it under grow lights in a mason jar of water and pulled off slips about once a week. We got a years worth of sweet potatoes from one small grocery store sweet potato.

You are going to love growing your own slips. It is amazing how many slips you will get. Keep the water level up and the water clean. That's it.

I started my sweet potatoes 4 weeks ago and today my potatoes are starting to produce slips, yay, Snoopy happy dance😊

You can grow sweet potatoes anywhere with sunlight, with or without water or soil. My favorite method is snuggling them halfway in moist potting soil and setting them in my greenhouse. They pump out slips like nobody’s business! The easiest way ever to do it, is to just leave a few in your garden soil to where the tops are just showing. They’ll pop up slips when it starts to warm, so that’ll be a later planting but they’ll catch up to a fall harvest. So easy to grow! Love it!

Gary Pilarchik posted a video April 2020 on sweet potato slips, dirt versus water. You may find that helpful.

I did the sweet potatoes in jars. Took a very long time for one to get ready but out of it we got, by summer's end, 20 sweet potatoes from a single pot. Not very big but this year, its on!

Thank you

I haven't grown sweet potatoes before. I'm in the PNW and I'm going to try it I have a sweet potato in my pantry starting to grow- whoops. Sarah at Living traditions homestead said if the slips get really long before you can plant them out, you can cut them in half and reroot the top half in water.

LUCK!!!!!!!!!!! I have mine started because I need EVERY grow day possible. I have mine in a shallow tray of potting soil sideways and its working. I tried the jar water method and they rotted on me because they were forgotten 😆

I live in SW MI and I have always started them between Thanksgiving and Christmas. They will take like 4 weeks before you see roots. Some times you won’t have anything but roots for a month. IT TAKES forever but they will show up. I like to use the wide mouth solo cups because it gives space between the container and potato. Keep the water level below your tooth pick holes because that can cause them to turn rotted. Good luck on your slips and keep us posted.

I started some last week

I used a heat mat under my jars on the window sill last year, rooted a lot faster than without the heat!

I grew them last year they were awesome

I have no south facing windows at all, so I put mine in a big east side window with grow lights where I have my other seed trays. I put mine in a plastic shoe box in water and they’re looking good so far! Good luck!

I have never had any luck putting sweet potatoes in water to make slips. I put mine is a shallow pot of soil and water them a lot. I had major success that way.

I saw the same video by Gary Pilarchik and I believe he favored the method of placing in soil.

Deep South Homestead has the best way to start sweet potato starts

It works!! Did it last year.. you will be so happy you did it. Have a Blessed day..

I've got 2 sweet potatoes that think they need to grow, so I'll let them. Thanks for sharing your technique for growing slips.

Just a nifty trick. Anywhere you see an eye on the sweet potato. Cut that potato in quarters where the eyes are. Take toothpicks and poke on 4 sides to where the quartered piece can sit directly in the water. You'll be amazed at how fast you'll see roots pop up. Works for white potatoes as well.

This will work Rachel. I've seen it done before. You will be pleased.

Me too! Gary front he trusted garden just set them in dirt. I haven't decided which method I want to use.

Glad you decided to try it. I had great success the last 2 years getting my sweet potato slips to grow. Just water,jar,toothpicks & sweet potatoes 🍠 ones they start growing. It speeds up the production. Cut them off when roots starts & placed them in there own filtered water. Good luck 👍🏻 I had my slips start in the water. Not above. But not sure if it’s because of my type of sweet potatoes. The slips started there own roots. Not the bottom of the potato with slip/sprouts on top. So, maybe put 1 potato in the water father. Michigan zone 6

Thanks for the reminder to start my sweet potato slips! You should get so many more than five per potato! I've pulled starts off of potatoes and put them in jars of water to root, and the potato keeps sending out sprouts for slips. Another way to begin them is to set the potatoes in some dirt, leaving most of the potato above the dirt, keep the soil moist, and you'll have potato slips to pull off the potato in a few weeks. I only have east and west windows. I use my east window to start plants, and use grow lights on pepper and tomato plants. Also, I have seedling heat mats to use under the peppers and tomatoes. They like heat. Too early for them to start, but just saying! Have fun! Blessings!

I'm going to start some today too!!!

nice video

I have just started mine yesterday as well but I only did 2 sweet potatoes. Last year I had three potatoes and got at least 20 slips from each. I didn't plant them early enough to allow plenty of growing time. This year I'm trying to get as early a start as I can. I'm planning or doing secession planting so next week I plan on making more starters.

Thanks for sharing 👍 😊

I have never heard of this method, ill give it a go this weekend. Thanks for the heads up on it.

If you take a tin foil pan and poke holes in the bottom and set it in a bigger pan with a few inches of water add half of pan with potting soil and lay the sweet potatoes on top of potting soil about a inch apart then cover them with potting soil about a half inch above potatoes that faster to get slips then in a jar of water . just thought I share that with you

I really enjoy your videos. They give a lot of information in a small amount of time. Thank you for sharing your knowledge 🙏

I start mine in moist dirt in a pan (rectangular, kind of like a cake pan) and keep in a warm spot (on my stove). The Georgia Jet is the earliest. (Drainage holes in the pan). Once you have success in growing them and keep some overwinter, they are much easier to sprout.

I can't believe as much as you love sweet potatoes that you've never done this! To be honest I've only done it once. But its so easy! With mine, they kinda got off to a slow start it seemed but once they got going, WOW! Just water, no fertilizer. By the time I pulled the plug I estimated i had gotten more then 75 slips off of 2 potatoes. I was giving them to friends, I was planting them on public land ( my gardens tiny and I was worried about the zombie apocalypse). There was just a ton. You'll see.

I hope you try the half buried potatoes in a shallow dish , I did it a couple years ago and nothing from the ones in water but the ones in bread pans put on slips and was awesome !

I wish you great success. I did the same and produced some great slips, sadly I did it too late and my slips are ready to plant now and our summer is too far gone here in Aus. I used the exact same method as you. You may find that the large tubers that are only just touching the water will need the water level to be checked more often than fort nightly Xx

You should check out the video from Growing in the Garden on growing sweet potato slips using a baking pan and soil. I did a side by side comparison and using the soil pan is WAY faster than using only water.

I am very much interested in this!

We had great success with getting a ton of slips (over 30 off of one sweet potato last year) i had best success setting the jar in a larger terra cotta pot and had them near heat source and they just kept pumping out slips. I just never seem to get good tubers off of the slips with our length of growing season. Trying them in large containers this year i think so i can bring them in once cooler weather hits.... unpredictable Michigan 🤷‍♀️

Ty 😘👍🏻

Good luck, I tried last year, here in south of UK, but did it far too late. I did have success in getting slips, (yay), I put them in a big tub. So brought some more from our organic farm shop, where we have our allotment. But no success, it shrivelled??!!... so will try again this week end. Thanks for sharing 👍😎

This year I will try the toothpick method too. Good luck to us all. There may be slips plentyful and there may be none 🤔...but I'll not leave it to chance.

I hope it works!!! Good Luck

I just planted sweet potatoes just like you do white potatoes. I got some tiny sweet potatoes but I don't think they had enough time to grow. I am going to do it again this year like I did last plus try doing the slips.

OK I have grown my own slips for 6yrs. You could have used your vine runners- cutting them & placing in water will produce roots & you just keep topping your water up until ready to plant (really fast method). The method you are doing will also grow slips & I am actually doing this at the moment , only because I want to start some new " Mother " plants. Cheers Denise- Australia

I actually put my potato’s in a planter and I now have many slips that I have rooted in water!

Tried your sweet potato taco and it was AWESOME!

Good luck. Hope it works.

I have no south facing windows! 😂😂 Plus, we replaced our windows a couple of years ago, so I have none that allow any UV for helping with plants. Well....now I have to use grow lights until it warms up and again inside starting fall stuff when it's hot UGH. I grew slips just from my potatoes laying in a box! 😂😂

Good luck!

I was thinking of starting my sweet potatoes soon too. But I've had really bad luck with the water methods they tend to rot. I then saw a video where they just put the whole potatoes in soil. But only half way up. Like lay the potatoes horizontal and put soil only halfway up. It sprouts so much faster and I haven't had one rot yet. Also I only had one potato last year and I ended up with over 30 slips - 30! They did very well for me. Most times I'd pull the slip off and it even had a few roots because of the soil. I do not fertilize until the slips are rooted and in their own soil. I'd worry that the roots would burn and since they are attached to the root/potato they have plenty of food. I have one tiny plant that I made a cutting from the garden in Oct. Its doing okay as a house plant nut would have been bigger if I hadn't ended up with aphids on it. Took a good week of washing it and checking and squishing to get rid of them. Oh and I took cutting from cuttings last spring. Some of my cuttings/slips got really long and tried to run up the plant light chains so, I cut them and popped them right into the soil. Most rooted. You won't be unhappy with growing your own slips. I want to try the purple skinned Japanese sweet potatoes this year but ive been waiting for my store to get them back in stock. Apparently they are super yummy and sell out quick when meijer gets them in. And while trader Joe's has them pretty much year round, I'm not up to standing in 45minute line outside to go shopping there. I don't mind waiting but the cold right now. Oof! Even our dog doesn't want to go out for a tinkle. We ended up with over 10 inches this time round but its because of the lake michigan snow machine. We got in a snow belt coming off the lake Friday and Saturday. Stay warm! And keep playing in the dirt! 🥰

Gary of Rusted Gardener did a video on his RU-vid channel about growing them in dirt. It’s amazing how well they do and it’s way quicker! I think he has a few videos on it

Mrs Lori at whippoorwill hollar did a video of slips last year if you wanna reference back to that

I have no south facing window so I sat mine in my indoor greenhouse on the edge of the heat mat. Within 3 days already had roots and sprouts starting. So exciting. My first time doing this too!🌱

Ha! Rachel, change jars with the potatoes and they should fit better.

I am attempting to grow sweet potatoes for the first time this year. Going to try to grow my own slips...some in water the way you showed, and some in dirt like someone else showed. Not sure how successful I will be growing these in NE Ohio, but going to at least try.

How interesting Following💕❤️

Good luck

I'm not sure if you have a 'Green Grocer' near you anywhere; but, if you ask them, they'll often have some old sweet potatoes that have already started to give off sprouts. They'll usually give them to you free. Saves an incredible amount of time.

You don't have to worry about getting enough slips. When you pull off the slips from the potato more will grow. I did this for the first time last year and I had more than I could use.

Momma always has a sweet potato in a jar on the window sill when we were kids. She never planted sweet potatoes, I guess she liked the way the greens grew in. 🤷🏻‍♀️

New veggie grower here. I’ve seen and read a lot about HOW to grow slips, but I’ve not seen a good explanation for WHY. If you stick a sweet potato in the ground like other potatoes, it will grow vines and baby potatoes from those vines. I harvested ~20lbs of potatoes from one sweet potato I tossed in the dirt last season “to see what happen.” Thoughts?

I have never bought slips.... i just make them how you are showing. But i dont use toothpicks.... i run a chop stick through the potato. It holds them fine and never fails. Seems we always collect chopsticks from Chinese take out? right? I just let the yam keep on making slips for as long as it wants to and keep replanting the new slips in 5 gallon buckets when they are rooted. Sweet Potatoes are really a pretty plant, they fair well in extreme heat, and trellis up or cascade down.

This is how I VERY successfully grow my own slips every year. So easy. Sending Blessings!!

Good luck🤞 These are some of our families favorite so we're trying to grow them this yr too. We're upstate NY so hopefully it works!

I'm about to start mine this week , going to try for a Japanese variety this year 😁we live in Northern Alberta 🤪

I love seeing the slips grow. You can also plant in the ground and you get more slips. The only issue is that you and I live in cold climates and it is not possible right now. If you have a warm spot in the house, you can plant the sweet potato in a little plastic storage box with soil. You can even put it under a grow light.

I'm going to try mine in a baking pan with dirt... The lady I watched had better luck with that process vs the jar and water method. I'll try to find it

I'm trying this year as well and my wife says "why grow something that is so cheap" I just say why not

I am also doing this for the first time. I tried this method in water but the potatoes just rotted. Now I am trying it by putting the potatoes in dirt. we'll see if that works. 🙋‍♀️

Wishing you luck! I tried that same thing 2 years in a row with organic sweet potatoes and absolutely nothing happened except I got skunky sweet potatoes ...and they would tip over now and again....making a huge mess.....I bought organic sweet potatoes too...just like they said to....but my guess is they really were not organic....I mean how could you tell by looking at them....so this year I ordered sweet potato slips. BUT I am excited to watch your process! I hope it works!

you will get a whole bunch of slips and the round bottom does go in the jar

good luck..👍

OMG I just did my sweet potato slips starters this morning. Great minds think alike!!!

We’ve done this the last two years. It’s slow at first and then they just start taking off. I’ve always just pulled off the slip and stuck it in dirt though. I do freshen the water when it gets cloudy but you’ll also have to watch for evaporation.

Looking forward to your results!

Do you garden by the Old Farmers Almanac? I did one year (years ago) and it about killed me. Everything I started, planted et al yielded super harvests. I really could not keep up with it, and that was way before I started canning/dehydrating/etc. But I really believe in gardening by that book. I use it even now but for only my flowers as I do not garden anymore. Stay healthy, be safe and many blessings.

Good Luck 👍❤🙏

Hi. Rachel. This was an interesting video. It is good you are perplanting in water. That is how roots grow. When you are ready, you can transplant them in the spring. I loved the video. God Bless you Rachel. Be safe. Maria. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

I started my slips a few weeks ago (here in SE MI also). This is my first time trying it. I bought a bag of organic Sweet potatoes and put 3 in jars with water and 3 in soil as an experiment to see what works. So far nothing is happening lol. However, I did have one conventional sweet potato that was forgotten from thanksgiving and it had a few eyes on it. I stuck that one in some water also and it has roots so....I don’t know. I’ve never tried to grow sweet potatoes at all so who knows how this will go.

I’m starting slips today too!! For fun, you should try some in a container with soil too for a comparison. They don’t even need light until they sprout. So I’m putting mine in dish pans of moist potting soil on top of my fridge (since I keep the house cooler right now....propane heat is getting pricey!).

Sweet potatoes make beautiful indoor potted plants also. I had one where the vines hung six feet over the pot. I've also started slips by putting the whole sweet potato in a pie pan and putting about an inch of water in it and just making sure it didn't dry out.

I have done my own sweet potato slips for quite a few years. It is spotty finding them in the local greenhouses. I am getting ready to get them going. I have some sweet potatoes from 2019 held over in my root cellar, and they are starting to sprout, time to get them out!

Im wondering why you didnt put the fat potato in the second jar... Good luck though! My mom always did this with us when we were little kids. Mine have been in the window for about a week and a half and it only took 24 hours for the roots to start

I'm excited to see how this goes for you, Rachel. We got approximately four bushels of sweet potatoes from two twenty-five foot rows last year. They were planted in May and harvested in Sept-Oct.They've been a welcome side dish to my meal plan. Good luck!

Never hurts to try!

I have mine sitting in water and they're growing slowly. My window might not get enough sun but it's the best window I have.

I started mine, first time 2 days ago. Best wishes for success.

🤞 Good Luck! 🤞

🤞🏻 best of luck!

I’ll have to try this. Please keep us posted on the progress.

I started this 2 weeks ago and I got tons of roots. I change the water out every few days.

I change the water every few days. Just ensure that the sweet potatoes don’t freeze on that windowsill at night time. When the slips grow roots in water, you can always plant in growing medium in a solo cup if it is too early to go outdoors in the garden. It’s a very easy process, just takes time. Good luck!

Good luck!!! Can't wait to see you harvest them.

I just root my sweet potato and plant the whole thing .

Thank you so much for posting this! My friend and I were just talking about this the other day and I'm wanting to do the same thing so I can plant some this year. Please keep us updated on the process and how it is going. I just bought a few sweet potatoes so I will get one started as well.

Good luck! You've got this.

Goood luck!!!!!

Great idea, Rachel! I think I will try the dirt method, but what do you do with them until May when it’s safe to plant them out? I tried to grow them once and didn’t have good luck, then I read a story about a family who grew and sold fields of sweet potatoes here (in SW Idaho) back in the 1930s and 40s. I guess I should be able to grow them, it seems like we’re pretty far north for it, but I guess not. We do have really hot summers.

I recently started mine as well. First time, I see roots on a few. Fingers are crossed! Good luck to both of us ❤🌻❤

Okay Rachel you have inspired me but not sure my growing season is long enough.....we shall give it a GO!!