Growing Sweet Potatoes in Containers

Sweet Potatoes grow fairly well in containers, though the best harvests seem to come from growing sweet potatoes in the ground or in mounds or raised beds. I believe the sweet  potato plant senses the limits of the container and limits its own production.

Nevertheless, not everyone has space to grow a large garden and must grow in containers. The larger the container, the larger the potatoes will be. The container can be made of any material that will hold up without decomposing during the long growing season. Large pots, fabric bags, buckets, trash cans, and self-watering containers all make good containers for growing sweet potatoes.

A couple of tips:

• If you are using fertilizer, use a low-nitrogen fertilizer. Too much nitrogen will result in excessive leaf growth at the expense of the potatoes.
• Use the largest container you can.
• Use a soft, sandy, well-drained soil. Sweet Potatoes need plenty of moisture, but they don't like to stay wet and soggy.
• If insects are a problem, mix diatomaceous earth into the soil. You can get it at most garden stores or big box stores.
• Sweet potatoes love plenty of sun and lots of hot weather.

I planted some sweet potatoes in a self-watering container and had pretty good results. This would work well on a patio or sunny balcony. You can see my harvest in the video below: