Howdy! Have you ever wondered how to keep some of your harvested sweet potatoes for planting the following year? Let me share some tips we use here to hang onto sweet potatoes for next year’s planting stock.
So, today while cleaning out the Veggie-Bed, we found some sweet potatoes hiding in the soil. We’re going to save these sweet potatoes to use as seed potatoes for the next season.
First, we’ll need to let them dry in a warm, humid place (around 85°F) for 1-2 weeks to allow their skin to harden and any cuts to heal. During the winter, we’ll store the cured sweet potatoes in a cool, dark, and well-ventilated area (about 55-60°F) – our garage works well for this purpose. We’ll make sure to check them regularly to ensure they’re not sprouting or rotting during storage.
When spring rolls around, we’ll use the saved healthy sweet potatoes to create slips. Slips are small shoots that grow from the sweet potato. These slips will be our planting stock for that season.
As a home gardener, preserving sweet potatoes for the next year’s planting stock is a rewarding and sustainable practice. By following the steps of drying, curing, and storing sweet potatoes, you can ensure a healthy supply of planting stock for the next growing season. With your care and attention, you can look forward to a bountiful harvest year after year.
At Urban Gardening 4u2day, we are passionate about promoting eco-friendly and sustainable vegetable gardening practices. Our mission is to encourage individuals and communities to grow their own produce in environmentally conscious ways.
Photo by: Tom Myrick
Written by: Tom Myrick
About the Writer/Photographer: Tom Myrick
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