Growing Sweet Potatoes

Growing Sweet Potatoes

From Beyond the Garden Basics by Farmer Fred

April 24, 2026 · 16 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the specific needs for growing sweet potatoes, including temperature requirements and planting tips.

Sweet potatoes are one of the most under-appreciated crops you can grow. But it will reward those gardeners who give sweet potatoes what they really need: heat. As you will hear in the podcast with Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour, sweet potatoes have some very particular needs. A San Joaquin County (CA) listener wrote in asking how to alleviate the frustration of trying to sprout sweet potato slips from organic potatoes in a cold house in January. That’s the core problem right there — sweet potatoes are tropical plants, closer kin to morning glory than to the white potato, and they simply won’t cooperate without warmth. They’ll sit, sulk, and rot before they ever sprout. The good news is that our region of California is genuinely excellent sweet potato territory. Twenty percent of all commercially grown sweet potatoes in the U.S. come out of Merced County here in California, so conditions here are about as favorable as it gets. Timing is everything. Don’t rush them into the ground — mid-May is about right, once the soil has had a chance to warm up. Plant slips, not seeds — always buy certified disease-free slips from a reputable nursery or mail-order source…

People in this episode

Host: Farmer Fred

Guest: Gail Pothour

Topics covered

  • sweet potatoes
  • gardening
  • planting tips
  • vegetable growing
  • tropical plants

Keywords

  • sweet potatoes
  • growing tips
  • planting slips
  • gardening advice
  • vegetable gardening

Mentioned in this episode

Places: San Joaquin County, California, Merced County, Santa Clara

More episodes of Beyond the Garden Basics

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Beyond the Garden Basics podcast page.