Sweet potato
Ipomoea batatas
Grown from slips; the vines are edible greens too.
Hardiness: zones 5 to 11
Light: full sun
Size: about 1 ft tall, 6 ft wide
Harvest: September to October
From: Tropical America
Drought-hardy once established
Here: Hardy in the Lake Erie shore climate (zone 6b to 7a), so it can live outdoors in the ground.
Good for: food.
Native to: Tropical South America, Hawaiʻi & Pacific Islands, Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean. Hardy in zones 5 to 11.
The story
Sweet potatoes were domesticated in Central America and had reached Polynesia before Columbus, almost certainly carried by voyagers who reached the Americas; in Hawaiʻi it was ʻuala, in Aotearoa kūmara. Enslaved cooks and Indigenous farmers made it the South's staple root.
Planting
Full sun, loose sandy soil, and heat; plant rooted slips after the soil warms, a foot apart, in ridges. Start slips from a tuber in water in spring.
Growing
Water modestly; too much makes vines, not roots. No nitrogen. Vines sprawl 10 feet and smother weeds.
Harvest and use
Dig before frost, 100 to 120 days, gently; cure a week in a warm humid place to sweeten, then store warm, never in the fridge. Leaves are a cooked green.
What to watch for
Sweet potato weevil in the South, voles, and cold.
See if Sweet potato fits your yard
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More annual vegetables, herbs and grains
General guidance, not professional advice. Conditions vary by yard and year; for local specifics ask your county extension office. Never eat a wild plant you cannot identify with certainty. Traditional uses are shared as history, not medical advice. © 2026 Sean Priest · Irie Orchard. Terms & credits · Privacy · Home