It is where the sweet potatoes are placed in a hot environment that the temperature hangs somewhere between 80-85°F. Do Deer Like to Eat Jerusalem Artichokes? Harvesting Your Sweet Potatoes . If you have enough warning, though, try draping a heavy-weight garden fabric over your sweet potato bed before the rain starts, and remove it once the downpour has let up. Then sift through with your hand to retrieve all your potatoes. How to harvest. This gives us a growing season of roughly three to four months, or 90 to 120 days. Sweet potatoes form a lush mat of vining growth, and their tubers form underground, so it can be hard to know when to harvest sweet potatoes. Most gardeners in warmer climates, like USDA Zones 8 and 9, usually try to time the harvest for September or October. Most sweet potato varieties are ready to harvest 95 to 120 days after transplanting. Sweet potatoes are always a favorite on the holiday dinner table. Watch the weather report and harvest your sweet potatoes when the night time temperatures start to dip into the 40s to 30s to ensure that none of your crop is lost to frost. Temperatures of both the air and soil should also factor into when to dig. We love to DIY. You love to DIY. Now that we know that curing is what makes sweet potatoes sweet, you may be wondering what curing actually is. Some growers have mixes specifically for northern gardens. When to Harvest Sweet Potatoes… Sweet potatoes need a long growing season. Usually, sweet potatoes are ready to harvest when the leaves and ends of the vines have started turning yellow, but you can leave them in the ground up until the fall frost. When receiving your slips, it is important to read the packing. Or you can wait until just before your first frost and harvest them then. This allows some of the starch in the roots to convert to sugar. Here, in Virginia, it’s best to harvest sweet potatoes just before the first frost. Much below 55 degrees and sweet potatoes (similar to winter squash) will suffer chilling injury. Harvest sweet potatoes the morning after a frost if you have waited too long. Learn the basics about growing sweet potatoes and their origin. That’s perfect for most sweets. Examine the ground for bulges about 90 to 100 days after planting sweet potatoes. Let's get together. If your sweet potatoes were grown in a container, simply dump your container into awheel barrow, cardboard on the ground or garbage bag this makes for easy cleanup. When you first harvest them sweet potatoes are not really sweet and the texture is not ideal. Store your sweet potatoes in a dry and cool environment (such as a garage or basement). Sweet potatoes can last six months or more in storage, if held properly. There are several different varieties to try. You'll be happy to know sweet potatoes can be grown in containers. Typically, sweet potatoes are grown from purchased slips, but it’s possible to root a store-bought sweet potato, as well. This gives them time to harvest before the first frost, so the potatoes are in storage as the weather turns cool. If you have a shorter growing season, your potatoes may be smaller in size, but will still have the same wonderful taste as larger spuds. The longer you are able to keep the plants in the ground, the larger and more numerousyour harvest will be. Even dropping the potatoes into a harvest bucket will injure the skin. Short on garden space? Gently dig up with a garden fork and allow drying and curing for 10 days, ideally in an area with a temperature of 80-85 F. (27-29 C.) (possibly near … Be careful to do this in a gentle manner, so that the potatoes do not become damaged by bruising or piercing the skin. Lewis holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. © 2021 Discovery or its subsidiaries and affiliates. To help increase their sweetness, place harvested sweet potatoes in a dark, warm room for at least two weeks before eating. It offers high-yield and disease-resistance. She has also written for various online publications. Potatoes are tubers and you want your plant to store as much of that flavorful starch as possible. However, it is important to harvest your sweet potatoes prior to any frost or freeze. Try to reserve some of your sweet potatoes for creating slips in your future garden. I let them be and not harvest until the end of October. Sweet potatoes crop best at temperatures between 21-26°C (70-80°F). Well, it is a process that takes anywhere from 4-14 days. It will be nearly four months before your sweet potatoes are ready to harvest. For winter storage, it’s best to let the plant and the weather tell you when to harvest potatoes. Ideal conditions are the same as for winter squash—just slightly cool (55 to 60 degrees) and with a moderate relative humidity (60 to 75 percent). A good rule of thumb is to watch for the first signs of yellowing leaves. Using a shovel or a pitchfork, gently lift the soil. If you’re further north, you’ll want to do the same thing; harvest your sweet potatoes as late as possible. Slips or Store Bought Potatoes. It’s easy to tell when tomatoes and peppers are ripe, but those hidden wonders developing under the ground don’t scream "harvest time" like other vegetables do. Most varieties of sweet potato take around 100 days to go from planting to harvest. By producing your own you save money and of course they taste better! A good rule of thumb is to watch for the first signs of yellowing leaves. The best of a new harvest will usually come along in November, 3 or 4 months after planting. If the growing season has been good with adequate water and sunshine, harvesting sweet potatoes should begin about 100-110 days after planting depending on the variety. When to harvest sweet potatoes depends largely on the seasonal growing. When the ground bulges, they are almost ready to harvest. Overwinter plants in a frost-free greenhouse or windowsill. Since it has taken 120 days to harvest, it is important that you reap the entire yield. Don't be in a rush to harvest sweet potatoes, the longer they are in frost free ground the larger the tubers will grow. This is a good time for harvest. They do not fare well in the sun. Wait until the tops of the vines have died before you begin harvesting. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Harvest sweet potatoes the morning after a frost if you have waited too long. A close relative of morning glory, these nutritious veggies originate in the tropics. Take care not to bruise the roots with a hoe, shovel, or other harvesting tool. Brush off loose dirt and leave them in the sun for a few hours, then move to a table or shed that is warm and has good air circulation. National Gardening Association: Harvesting Sweet Potatoes, Harvest to Table: How to Grow Sweet Potatoes. Sweet potatoes are easy to grow but they do need a few things to grow really well. This way, you will not have to keep purchasing slips year after year, but save seed from your garden to grow for future harvest. When to Harvest Sweet Potatoes When to harvest sweet potatoes depends largely on the seasonal growing. Then the area is kept at about 90% humidity. When to Harvest Sweet Potatoes. Typically, most varieties will take about three to four months to mature – about 90 to 120 days, but there are some newer varieties that take less time and bred specifically for northern climates (such as Georgia Jet, Vardaman, Centennial). The first is well dug, compost rich soil, and they need drainage. Sweet potatoes will continue to grow and produce until frost or freeze stops them. Harvest sweet potatoes on a cloudy day. Purple sweet potatoes are fun to grow and cook with. Sweet potatoes are versatile tubers that have fewer calories than traditional potatoes and are a perfect stand in for that starchy vegetable. Sweet potatoes are fully mature at this point and you should harvest them before the first frost. Most gardeners wait until the foliage starts to turn yellow or after … Keeping in mind that the longer you keep them in the ground the … Get video instructions about kitchens, bathrooms, remodeling, flooring, painting and more. When to harvest sweet potatoes will depend on the cultivar that you purchased. The most common tool for digging sweet potatoes out of the ground is a spade fork, although a shovel will work, and the ambitious harvester can even adapt a broad fork to dig more plants at one time. Because they have thin skins sweet potatoes are easily damaged during harvest so extra care should be taken.