How to harvest sweet potatoes?

[Ridgerunner]

I boiled some up, the really big ones that are too difficult for my wife to cut, and stored serving sized portions in zip lock bags in the freezer. Those serving sized portions are real hany when all you need for a meal is to thaw and heat up some mashed sweet potatoes. A slight variation of Lockedhearts' method.

I really like them with honey, salt, and pepper mixed in.

 

[Royd]

It looks like you've got a fairly contained patch. Here, they take off and run 30', so you never know where to look for them. Some grow straight down and others, horizontal. Some can be market quality and others, 2' long and 2" in diameter.

I usually start by slowly lifting the vines and when I meet resistance, if I can't pull up the root by hand, I dig gently, with a potato fork.

You do have to let them cure for a while.....The only problem is, chickens love them, so cover them with screen or something.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Back to your original question. Most should be right under where the main mass of roots come out of the ground. But if you start there, you will see some roots maybe 1/4" to 1/2" diameter leading away from that center, maybe running two feet or more. If you follow those large orangy colored roots, you will probably find a potato at the end. Sometimes they can be pretty good sized. And the vines will set roots at various places where they touch the ground. Occasionally you can find a potato there. Usually these are not real big, but I have found some nice ones there too.

I still think the best way for you the first few hills is to kind of dig with your hands if it is soft enough to get a better idea of what we are talking about. Gently use a potato fork or spade of some kind if the ground is too hard to dig by hand. Don't worry too much if you cut or scratch one. Most of them will heal over as they cure. Those are the ones I eat first though.

The way I dig them is to pull the vines and observe as Royd said so I can adjust as necessary. I start digging back far enough from the first one so that I am pretty sure of not cutting a potato and dig deeper than I expect them to be. Kind of staying below where I think they might be, I dig along the row and lift up as I go. This should loosen and expose them without doing too much damage. I try to not get in too big a hurry and cut a pretty wide swath.

 

[StupidBird]

Don't send my DS to dig them. One third will be missed, and the one third that are the biggest, nicest ones will be skewered by the spading fork. The other third were eaten by rodents already.

 

[darkmatter]

Sorry woodmort, I didn't see your question earlier, I harvest mine at the first frost when the leaves start to turn black or when the vine doesn't look vigorous anymore. The longer you wait while the plants are growing, the more and bigger the sweet potatoes are.

P.S. I use to start my own slips from store bought. Can't do that now cause they are treated in some way to prevent sprouting. So, if you don't save any of your own tubers for slip starting, you will have to buy slips/plants.