Sweet potatoes can be grown in the ground or in containers. Containers can be limiting, and in some areas the ground may be too hard, too dry, or too wet. Growing sweet potatoes in wood chips may be a viable alternative. It sure is a lot easier to harvest from wood chips than from the ground.
In this Nat Geo video, Tony, an Appalachian agriculturalist, shows us how he grows sweet potatoes in wood chips on his property:
As an example of harvesting a bounty of sweet potatoes 90 days after planting in wood chips, this couple in Virginia published this video from their one acre garden:
At 0:30 in the video they question the green coloration on one of the exposed sweet potatoes and wonder if it is poisonous like green-skinned regular potatoes. The short answer is no.
Regular potatoes are in the nightshade family and produce something called solanine, which can be toxic if you eat enough. Potatoes grown under the wrong conditions or stored improperly can produce toxic levels of solanine.
Sweet Potatoes are in the morning glory family and do not produce solanine.
Mother Earth News has a great article about potatoes and solanine.
The LA Times asks an expert about green-skinned sweet potatoes.
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