Please note: for older kids/those kids who are truly interested in gardening/botany….this might be a bit much for younger ones Starting sweet potato slips is fun and easier than one might think! We partially submerge a sweet potato in soil and water it as needed til sprouts come. One them gently pinches or sips them off and put them in water. Plain non-chlorinated water is fine, we put a bit of fish and seaweed/humic acid in ours. It helps give the baby plant a boost!!! We keep making sure the jars have water til roots form then we plant. The soil needs to be soft and loose enough so they can grow. Sweet potatoes require a certain number of heat units for them to grow to their full potential.


Early varieties of sweet potatoes require approximately 1,200 heat units (Growing Degree Days) to reach a usable crop size.

Later varieties generally need between 3,000 and more heat units and take 95 to 130 days to mature depending on the specific type.

So begins the rinsing/draining phase of sprouting seeds. There is a slight bit of action starting but it’ll still be a couple days or so before the real action starts.