Friday, November 16, 2007

Rooting Sweet Potato Vine Cuttings

Rooting Sweet Potato Vine CuttingsThis spring I bought some Ipomoea batatas 'blackie' plants for my container garden and have decided to store the tubers and take some cuttings to try to root the cuttings indoors for next spring. Ipomoea batatas is better known as sweet potato vine or ornamental sweet potato and are related to morning glories and the sweet potato vine flower (see photo at link) has a remarkable resemblance to the morning glories you may have in your garden.

Sweet potato vines are common annuals and are easily purchased for your garden every spring and summer at the garden center but storing the tuber and rooting your own can save you a few dollars a year. Not only is this frugal gardening but you get to practice some plant propagation with a plant that is easy to root.

Rooting sweet potato vine cuttings is very easy and can be done in soil or water without the need for rooting hormones. In this example I'll be rooting sweet potato vine cuttings in water in a glass vase I already own. I removed the lower leafs and simply cut the vine right below a leaf node at a 45 degree angle. A leaf node is the spot where a leaf will or has grown out of the vine or stem of a plant- on the sweet potato vine it is easy to find because it is a small bump or lump in the vine. At this spot is where I expect the roots to form first on the sweet potato vine.

Your sweet potato vine should root within a few days to a week in a warm spot. Make sure to change the water daily or frequently to reduce the chances of bacteria or algae forming in the water especially if it is in direct light. When taking cuttings you should make sure that you're using a clean pair of scissors or a knife.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, I like these 'garden hacks'! Oh, and happy birthday either belated or soon!

MrBrownThumb said...

Hi Layane,

Hey thanks for the H Bday wish.

Unknown said...

Great advice--and they are easy. I have left my SPV cuttings in water all through a winter. (Simply out of laziness, I admit.)

They were leggy as all get-out by spring, and so I took more cuttings and treated those "the right way" by potting them up once their roots were about half an inch long.

Danielles Garden said...

thanks so much for reminding me I could do this with SPV! I lost the plant during our recent freeze here in S Florida, but have enough live plant still do take cuttings from.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE it! I'm really getting into plant prorogation and I'll be checking this blog often! Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Buenos dias,

Thank you for posting this advice. I grew my very first sweet potato plant this year. I've taken leaf cuttings to root. My "crop" was one honking great tuber that looked like grocery store produce and five little tubers. These I will place in a paper bag and put in the crisper drawer. There are truly no cool rooms in my desert home!

Looking forward to starting my new garden in the Spring and to reading your other posts and blogs.

Con regard,

Athena

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the ginormous tuber that I pulled out of my window box is actually edible like a real sweet potato. Does anyone know???

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