How to Grow Your Own Natural Sweet Potato Plants in the House

Sweet potatoes are tropical plants closely related to morning glories and hail from South and Central America. These sensitive summertime plants require long, warm seasons and fail in frost. Gardeners in cold areas -- and those with limited outdoor space -- grow their sweet potatoes inside, in pots and planting beds. Start your own natural sweet potatoes in a glass of water for rooting, then move them to pots for long-term growing.

Glass
Toothpicks
Pots or containers
Organic compost
Garden loam
Knife

Instructions

- 1
  Start sweet potato pieces in glasses of water. Stick long toothpicks into the sweet potato at its midpoint and submerge the pointed half of the potato in the water. Rest the toothpicks on the rim of the glass to support the potato.
- 2
  Put the glass in a bright, sunny location with temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees F. Renew the water as necessary and leave the sweet potato for 2 to 3 weeks to sprout.
- 3
  Prepare 5- to 7-gallon pots with drainage holes for the plants. Choose larger pots and containers for multiple plantings. Mix garden loam and organic compost in equal parts as your potting soil and fill each pot or container 3/4 full. This foundation gives the plants rich nutrition, moisture and room for growth.
- 4
  Transplant the sweet potato vines, or slips, to pots. Cut each vine from the sweet potato with a section of potato flesh as its rooting base. Plant the section of potato under the soil with the vine exposed. Give each slip its own 5-gallon pot or 12 to 18 inches of space in multiple plantings.
- 5
  Put the pots back on a sunny windowsill to give the plants 6 to 8 hours of full sun every day. Water the plants with 2 inches of water every 4 to 5 days to maintain consistent soil moisture.

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