Harvesting and Storing Sweet Potatoes

Harvest sweet potatoes as soon as they are large enough to consume—maximum steadily when the ends of the vines begin to turn yellow.

Harvest sweet potatoes previous to the vines are touched by the use of frost. Frost can damage the tubers underneath.

Table of Contents

When to Harvest Sweet Potatoes

Most sweet potato varieties are in a position to harvest 95 to 120 days after transplanting. Then again smaller tubers—referred to as “baby bakers”—can also be lifted quicker if they are large enough to consume.
Lift a few tubers to make sure they are the proper size previous to you dig up all of the patch.
Sweet potatoes are tropical. Lift your crop previous to the principle frost. Sweet potato roots will continue to grow until frost kills the vines.
Lift the crop if a hard frost is expected and previous to the soil temperature drops to 50°F (10°C). A hard frost may motive damage to roots with reference to the outdoor. If you are able to’t harvest your crop previous to frost, mulch the patch intently with straw or fallen leaves.

Sweet potatoes generally tend to broaden with reference to the outdoor. Dig moderately to keep away from bruising the tubers; bruising can result in rot. To look out the crown of the plant, chances are high that you can wish to trim once more the vines.
Reduce or trim the vines two or 3 days prior to reap; this will likely most probably help give a boost to the skins and help reduce skinning the roots at harvest. Minor nicks or cuts may motive tubers to decay.
To spice up sweet potatoes, find the crown of the plant and then use a hand or garden fork to loosen the soil in an 18-inch (46 cm) huge circle around the plant.
Lift the crown and use your hands to unearth the tubers.
Sweet potatoes should be handled as little as possible to prevent bruising and skinning. Use cotton gloves to scale back skinning in every single place harvest.
Sweet potatoes are not very sweet when first dug. To sweeten, they would like a period to take a seat down and remedy.

To remedy a sweet potato, shake off the soil then lay the tuber in a warmth (80°F to 90°F/26-32°C), well-ventilated place for kind of 10 days, longer if the air temperature is cooler.
Sweet potatoes should be cured with high relative humidity (85-90 percent); curing tubers in perforated plastic baggage will keep the humidity high. As roots remedy starch will also be reworked to sugar and the tubers will develop into sweeter.
Uncured sweet potatoes do not bake properly.

Store sweet potatoes after curing in a groovy, dark place at about 60°F (16°C). Do not refrigerate or store sweet potatoes underneath 50°F (10°C).
Store most straightforward sound, whole roots which will also be free from sickness and insect damage. Use decrease pieces and damaged roots as soon as possible; do not store damaged roots.
Store sweet potatoes in a single layer; wrap the tubers individually in newspaper.
The tubers should keep for 4 to 6 months in a spot that is 55° to 65°F.

Moreover of pastime:

Methods to Increase Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potato: Kitchen Basics