How to Know When It is Time to Harvest Sweet Potatoes
- 1). Loosen the soil around one sweet potato plant two to three weeks before the first expected fall frost. Use the tip of a trowel or a garden fork to loosen the soil without piercing any tubers.
- 2). Lift the tubers from the ground. The plants are ready to harvest if 30 percent of the tubers on the plants are 3 ½ inches in diameter or larger.
- 3). Cut back the sweet potato vines on the remaining plants with shears. Loosen the soil around each plant with your trowel.
- 4). Lift the sweet potatoes from the soil. Stack them in a gathering box or basket to bring indoors.
- 5). Cure the sweet potatoes in a single layer in an 85 degree Fahrenheit location for 14 days. Store the cured sweet potatoes in a 55 degree Fahrenheit location for two to three months.
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