How to do the right thing

Propagate sweet potato by shoots

Use the shoots to obtain cuttings and propagate your sweet potato in this way.

1. cut off a 10 cm long shoot from the mother plant
2. put it in a water bath or in a wooden box with damp earth
3. The first shoots form after just a few days
4. if frost is no longer to be expected outside, you can plant the young shoot outdoors

Note: The shoots must not remain in the water bath for too long. Otherwise growth will stagnate.

Support for the shoots

Sweet potato shoots can grow up to 3 meters long, believe it or not. Therefore, the batata is ideally suited to top a house wall. It also looks great when wrapped around a garden fence or railing. A climbing aid is always an advantage for this. Use a metal or bamboo pole for this.

Do the shoots need to be cut?

The sweet potato does not need to be cut. It is actually the long shoots that give the plant its charm. If you still find this annoying, you can cut it off without hesitation. Wilted shoots, on the other hand, have to be removed.

Remove shoots before consumption

When stored for a long time, the sweet potato tubers sprout again. Even so, they are still edible. However, you should definitely remove the shoots beforehand. They also remove nutrients and water from the vegetables, so you should consume the tubers as quickly as possible as soon as they sprout.
An apple that you put with the stored sweet potatoes protects against the formation of new shoots.