Categories: Gardening

How to Grow Okinawan Sweet Potatoes

If you want to grow Okinawan sweet potatoes, here is how I did it. Note that I live in a tropical climate (Hawaii) so growing Okinawan sweet potatoes here may be easier than other places with more varied climates.

First, I prepared the ground where I would grow the Okinawan sweet potatoes. For this, I cleared out planting beds along slopes on the side and back of my home in Kaneohe. I didn’t test the soil for PH levels and such but I did mix in some mulch (obtained for free from a nearby botanical garden) and watered the ground before planting.

Next, I obtained “slips” of sweet Okinawan sweet potato vines. One source I used was from Okinawan sweet potatoes I bought at the supermarket. I bought three Okinawan sweet potatoes (at $2.99 a lb, the three I bought amounted to a pound). I then placed the two of the potatoes in a plastic bowl filled with water to about 2/3rds of the way to covering the Okinawan sweet potatoes. I placed the bowl by a window that is exposed to sunlight. After a couple of weeks, shoots formed. These shoots then grew into vines. When the vines grew to about 12 inches, I clipped them at the base. These were slips.

Another way I obtained Okinawan sweet potato slips was from a local community garden. Here on Oahu (Hawaii) where I live, my wife and I visited the Oahu Urban Garden in Pearl City. This is a community garden and by inquiring with people who garden there, we were able to get a dozen 12-inch Okinawan sweet potato slips growing in a plot in the garden. Note, do not just go and cut slips from this garden or some other community garden. Ask for permission before doing so.

Once you have slips of Okinawan sweet potatoes, put them in a bucket of water so that the bottom six inches of the slips are submersed. After a couple days, roots will appear in each slip. When you see those roots, it is time for the next step-planting.

I planted the Okinawan sweet potato slips in the plots I had prepared. I dug a hole 4 to 5 inches deep, inserted the slip into the hole, and filled the hole with a combination of dirt and mulch. I formed mounds around each slip, using mulch. Then I watered liberally. Repeat for each slip.

For the first couple weeks, I watered the newly planted slips every day, either in the morning or in the late afternoon. After that, I watered as needed, based on the rainfall patterns here. From my experience, once the Okinawan sweet potato slip gets established, very little maintenance is required. After a month or so, you can clip slips from your garden for new plantings. It’s pretty easy.

At this point, I haven’t had my first harvest of Okinawan sweet potatoes. From what I have read, it takes six months to get potatoes after planting. So for me, that’ll be Christmas time since I planted in late May.