Porto Rico Sweet Potato
ipomoea batatas

days to maturity: 110 days
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot
sunlight requirement: 8 - 14 hours
look out for: whitefly
harvest notes: harvest whole vines for leaves, pull whole plant for tubers
season: summer

In Japanese, “Murasaki” means purple, and on the outside, Murasaki Sweet Potatoes are dark purple. Inside, they’re creamy white like a traditional russet. And yet, they’re undeniably sweet, with a subtle hint of chestnut flavor. The purple beauty’s soft white flesh is loaded with vitamin C and dietary fiber. Best of all, Murasaki is resistant to both southern root-knot nematode and Fusarium root rot!!

Did you know that all sweet potato leaves are edible when cooked? In large parts of Asia and Africa sweet potato leaves are a staple green used in stews and stir fries and is just as common as spinach is here. It’s good to know that sweet potatoes prefer bone meal and wood ash as soil amendments (for potassi- um and potash); but avoid nitrogen fertilizers like manure. A high nitrogen fertilizer will give you lots of leaves, but smaller roots. If youre looking for maximum root production, you should also be pruning the plant so it focuses its energy on root production.