Grow Sweet Potatoes and Irish Potatoes from Kitchen Scraps (2024)
Have a bit of fun and grow kitchen scraps into new plants.
Take a look in the pantry for a bit of inspiration and free resources. Those baking potatoes and sweet potatoes starting to sprout are a good place to start.
The irishpotatoesare tubers and the sprouts, or eyes, are the beginning of new plants. Cut the potato into several pieces with one or two eyes per section. Plant them in a well-drained potting mix.
Sweet potatoesare tuberous roots with the new growth coming from the buds (eyes) at the top of the fleshy root. Plant the whole tuberous root or just the top few inches with the growing point intact.
Keep the potting mix moist for both. Once rooted, grow in a sunny window and water thoroughly and often enough to keep the soil slightly moist. Then wait for the leaves to appear. Once your sweet potato starts to grow, you can take cuttings and start new plants.
A bit more information:Here’s how to root your sweet potato cutting. Start with 3- to 4-inch pieces of the leafy stem. Remove the lowest leaf and stick the cut end in a well-drained potting mix. Place cuttings in a warm bright location and keep the potting mix moist. Once rooted, move to a sunny window and water thoroughly and often enough to keep the soil slightly moist.
Plant the whole tuberous root or just the top few inches with the growing point intact. Keep the potting mix moist for both. Once rooted, grow in a sunny window and water thoroughly and often enough to keep the soil slightly moist. Then wait for the leaves to appear.
Place toothpicks into both sides of the potato piece, and then place it on top of a glass of water. The toothpicks will hold some of the potato above water, but the eyes should be submerged. The roots will grow into the water, and the leaves will grow toward the top.
You can order slips from a mail order or Internet catalog or you can start slips from a sweet potato you bought at the store or one from your garden. If you buy a potato from the store, be sure to find out if you're getting a bush type or a vining type.
Absolutely. Look up "sweet potato slips" online for details, but the short and sweet version is to suspend the potato half in water pointy end down. It'll start to sprout and let them go for a few days. Then pull off the sprouts and plant them.
Chop up the potato (ensuring that each piece has at least two eyes) and allow it to callus overnight.Then you can plant it in a deep pot. Be sure to water regularly to keep the soil nice and moist. If you have a compost heap, you can actually regrow potatoes simply by burying it amidst the compost!
Hobby: Reading, Ice skating, Foraging, BASE jumping, Hiking, Skateboarding, Kayaking
Introduction: My name is Cheryll Lueilwitz, I am a sparkling, clean, super, lucky, joyous, outstanding, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
