How to Grow Sweet Potatoes in Florida

When the summer heat shuts down most vegetables, sweet potatoes thrive. They are one of the easiest, most productive crops for a Florida summer.

Sweet potatoes love heat, humidity and sandy soil, which makes them a near-perfect Florida summer crop. Plant rooted cuttings (slips) in spring and dig the roots in fall.

When to plant in Florida

Region	Plant slips	Harvest
North Florida	Apr-Jun	~90-120 days later
Central Florida	Mar-Jun	Fall
South Florida	Most of the warm season	~4 months later

See the sweet potato page for your region.

Varieties for Florida

'Beauregard' — the productive orange standard across the South.
'Centennial' — reliable, good flavor.
'Vardaman' — bush habit for smaller gardens.

How to grow them

Slips: plant rooted slips into warm, loose soil, burying the lower nodes; they root fast in the heat.
Soil: sandy, well-drained beds are ideal; too much nitrogen grows vines, not roots.
Water: water to establish, then they are quite drought-tolerant; ease off late in the season.
Space: give the vines room to run, or train them; they make good edible ground cover.

Pests and problems

Sweet potato weevil is the main Florida pest, so use clean slips, rotate beds and harvest on time rather than leaving roots in the ground. Nematodes can also affect roots in infested soil.

Harvest, cure and store

Dig before the first frost (the vines blacken with cold). Cure the roots at warm, humid temperatures for about 10-14 days to heal the skins and sweeten them, then store cool and dry. The young leaves are also edible, cooked like spinach.

Source: UF/IFAS Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide (SP 103); UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions.

When to plant in your region

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