How to Grow Sweet Potatoes in Florida

Sweet potatoes are one of the easiest crops you can grow in Florida. They love heat, tolerate poor soil, and produce both edible roots and edible leaves.

If you have never grown them before, this guide covers everything from sourcing slips to harvest day, with a few Florida-specific tips most beginner guides leave out.

Step 1: Get Your Sweet Potato Slips

Sweet potatoes grow from slips, not seeds. A slip is a small rooted shoot that sprouts from a mature sweet potato. Do not plant grocery store sweet potatoes directly in the ground. Most are treated to prevent sprouting.

Buy certified slips from a local garden center or nursery. You can also start your own by suspending a sweet potato in water until sprouts form, then twisting those sprouts off and rooting them in water or soil.

Step 2: Pick the Right Time to Plant

In Florida, the sweet spot for planting is March through June in North Florida, and February through July in Central and South Florida. Sweet potatoes need 90 to 120 days of warm growing weather to produce roots worth harvesting.

If you miss the spring window, wait for late summer. Do not plant when cold is coming in the next three months.

Step 3: Prepare Your Soil

Sandy Florida soil drains fast. That is good for sweet potatoes. Roots will rot in waterlogged soil, so avoid heavy clay or poorly drained spots.

Work in compost before planting to add some organic matter. If your soil is very compacted, loosen it to about 12 inches deep so the roots have room to expand. For everything you need to know about improving Florida soil, read how to improve sandy Florida soil.

Step 4: Plant the Slips

Dig a shallow hole about 4 inches deep and set the slip in so the roots are covered and the leaves sit just above the soil. Space slips about 12 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart.

Water them in well after planting. The first two weeks are the hardest. Keep the soil moist but not soggy while they establish roots. After that, sweet potatoes are pretty much on their own.

Step 5: Let Them Spread and Grow

Sweet potato vines sprawl fast. One plant can cover several square feet. Let them run. The vines shade the soil, which keeps moisture in and weeds down.

You can also harvest the young leaves as greens while the roots grow. See the best leafy greens for Florida heat for how to use them in the kitchen.

Step 6: Feed Lightly

Go easy on nitrogen fertilizer. Too much nitrogen produces lush vines and small roots. If you amended with compost at planting, you may not need to fertilize at all.

If leaves look pale and growth seems slow, use a balanced fertilizer low in nitrogen once around the 30-day mark.

Step 7: Harvest at the Right Time

Sweet potatoes are typically ready 90 to 120 days after planting. Start checking at 90 days by digging up one plant carefully and seeing the root size. If they look small, give them two more weeks and check again.

Once the leaves start yellowing on their own, that is also a signal they are done. Dig carefully with a garden fork to avoid cutting the roots.

Step 8: Cure Before Eating

Fresh-dug sweet potatoes need curing to develop their sweet flavor and tough skin. Cure them for 10 to 14 days at around 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit in a warm, humid spot like a covered porch or garage.

After curing, store in a cool, dark place. They keep for months. Do not refrigerate them before curing.

Watch my Florida sweet potato videos on YouTube to see the whole process from slip to harvest.

Key Takeaways

• Use certified slips, not grocery store sweet potatoes.
• Plant in late winter to early summer for the best root development.
• Go low on nitrogen fertilizer or you will grow vines, not roots.
• Always cure your harvest before storing or eating.

---

Want a step-by-step Florida planting calendar and a grower community that actually knows zone 10a? Start your free 7-day trial of the Southern Grower's Hub today. No card required.