Re: [SG] Sweet Potato Vine

><< does it really climb or is it more of a
> hanging plant, and is it possible to take cuttings from this plant to
> propagate it? Thanks.

Sweet potato vines are rampant scramblers, not climbers, unless you tie
them up.  Most people use them in baskets, but they get much too large
here.  Judicious pruning keeps them small.  'Blackie', the purple-leafed
one, and the golden green 'Marguerite' are now seen everywhere.  'Tricolor'
with green, white and pink leaves is less vigorous and less used.

They start very easily from cuttings, but roots form only at a node (where
a leaf comes off) so be sure that one of these is buried in the pot, or
under water if you are rooting in water.  I took some cuttings 3 days ago
and put them in water, hoping to get them in pots over the weekend, but it
didn't happen.  Already 1/2" roots are springing forth!

I have trouble keeping plants going over the winter to take cuttings from
in the spring.  They stop growing and get kind of distorted.  But if the
plants survive, they perk up again when it gets hot.  So it might have to
do with exposure to cool or cold temperatures, which sweet potatoes do not
like.  Since the horticultural varieties form tubers like the culinary
ones, maybe this would be the way to get them through.  Just store the
tubers, then stand them in a jar of water to start them spouting and take
cuttings--same way we propagate them for the vegetable garden.

Interestingly, these plants are in the same genus as the morning
glory--Ipomaea.  However, I have never seen any blooms on the horticultural
varieties.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
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