How to Grow

From seed

Get kūmara and bury in a box of moist sand put in a warm place.

When tubers create shoots, divide them up for planting.

Choose a sunny spot, or part shade spot with well-drained soil.

Enrich with fertilizer.

Start plants from either cuttings or from sweet potato tubers.

For cuttings: bury soft tip cuttings directly into prepared soil: 40-50cm apart, 5-7cm deep with 100cm between rots.

Tubers: Bury the tubers in a box of moist sand in a warm spot, and when tubers shoot, place them in water to develop roots before planting

From seedling

Prepare soil as for potatoes, apply a pre-planting fertiliser in a band of 30cm width where plants are to grow.

18-24 plants should be sufficient to get a decent harvest.

Follow the row space and seedling sow depth instructions.

Water in your seedlings well.

In a pot

Prepare soil as for potatoes, apply a pre-planting fertiliser in a band of 30cm width where plants are to grow.

18-24 plants should be sufficient to get a decent harvest.

Choose a pot at least 30cm wide and deep, and position in full sun or part shade.

Follow directions for seed-> seedling -> harvest guide.

From Plant

Lift plants occasionally when growing to prevent nodes from rooting along the growing stems.

Do not give additional fertiliser, especially not nitrogen which promotes top growth and not tuber growth.

Ready to harvest

Harvest when the leaves die back and turn yellow.

Harvest tubers by digging up the tubers carefully in early winter.

After digging, leave tubers in the sun.

Discard diseased or damaged ones and store remainders in sacks in airy, dry, cool place.

Collect seed

To propagate a cutting, cut a mature kūmara root in half and place cut side down in a saucer of water.

Within a week or two, green shoots will appear.

Once these are 10-15cm long, they can be removed from the kūmara and placed in water to root.

Insert most of the cutting into the ground, bending the bottom where the roots are into a 'J' shape - this encourages the roots to travel horizontally along the soil and not bury themselves too deep.

Plant out cuttings as soon as the threat of frosts have passed.