Throughout the South, sweet potatoes are often called yams, especially the moist, orange-fleshed types. In Africa, a common food was a tuberous root belonging to the genus Dioscorea to which they applied this name. Sweet potato was an ideal food for plantation owners because the roots, provided they were stored correctly, could be kept for six to eight months. Sweet potatoes can be grown in the home garden with slips planted only after the soil has thoroughly warmed in the spring. Slips are vegetative shoots that are harvested from stored roots that are forced into growth in the spring as temperatures begin rising.
Sandy soils produce the highest quality sweet potatoes.
A 10-foot row of plants, with plants spaced about a foot apart, will yield up to 15 pounds of roots. Depending on the cultivar planted, plants mature in 90 to 110 days from planting. The ornamental sweet potato vines we see in gardens produce an edible taproot that is often softball size or larger. Unfortunately, the root is white fleshed so it would make an anemic sweet potato casserole. The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status, and is an Equal Opportunity Employer.