Gardening Fail: Root a Sweet Potato in Water

I see a lot of gardening “hacks” about easy things to try at home. One that I saw was that you can take a sweet potato from the store, put it in a jar of water, and it will grow slips (the parts that new sweet potatoes grow from) and you can then plant those slips. Plus, it’s a garden thing to do when I run out of winter sowing ideas!

I went to the store and picked up an organic sweet potato. A lot of the produce in a supermarket is sprayed with stuff so that it stays shiny and doesn’t sprout new plants. It’s possible the potato I picked was sprayed with this stuff but that’s why I picked an organic one. In any case, I took it home, cleaned it, and put it in a jar of water. Then I waited…

…and waited.

A few weeks on and nothing has happened. It hasn’t rotted but it also hasn’t rooted. A nice slime developed on the bottom, though. I sprayed off with hydrogen peroxide but it came back, though. So I guess I succeeded in propagating slime? Meanwhile, the organic red potatoes I bought on the same day started sprouting. Maybe I should try sticking them in the ground to see what happens.

What did I learn from this experiment?

• Internet “hacks” do not always work (shocking).
• Supermarket produce is probably not the best to start a plant from.
• Research ways to start a plant first. For instant, my weekly inspiration Brie the Plant Lady said she had slips developing from her sweet potatoes that had been hanging out on her fridge.
• Look into which is the rooting end and which is the sprout end? This guy grew slips from both ends so I’m not sure it’s super crucial but maybe I didn’t put it in the water correctly?