Gardening first time gardener-sweet potatoes

[fo-in-10a]

I planted sweet potato slips that I purchased back in March. They have flourished. I happened to peek under the sprawling vine and I see sweet potatoes bulging out of the soil in my raised bed. Should I harvest before pests set in? I don't want to pull them too early. The leaves are all still green and growing. HELP!
Thanks.

 

[JP 1983]

Sweet potato stems are also edible, they one of my wife's favourites. Have to peel off the outer fibrous part, then blanch them. They have a pleasant, fragrant taste most unlike their tubers.

Sadly I cannot comment on harvest timings of the tubers.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I haven't ever grown any - though I definitely am interested in them. I do believe that once the leaves start to turn yellow they are ready for harvest. But if you are worried about pests I don't think there's much harm in harvesting a couple. And by harvesting just some you can see what might've happened if you left them in - without risking the whole crop.
But I do think JP made a good point; the stems are edible too!

 

[Grandmother Goose]

I think it's a bit of doesn't really matter either way. You can harvest them early with no problems, you'll just find there will be a bit less of them or they'll be a bit smaller than you'd harvest later. But that's not such a bad thing because very large older ones can get a bit woody. The leaves are going to nod out of there when it's time for harvesting anyway so what does it matter if some pests eat them? Unless you want to eat the leaves and stems as well. If you're going to leave them there, I'd recommend covering the ones poking out of the ground with a bit of mulch or compost until you're ready to pull them out of the ground. You can also harvest them a bit at a time, leaving them in the ground and just pulling out what you want when you want.

 

[Berkeloid]

I grew some on a balcony garden and because there wasn't enough sunlight, it took 2-3 years for them to grow to a decent size. So if you do start seeing pests nibbling on the tubers then fair enough you will want to harvest them, but otherwise it doesn't hurt leaving them in the ground for years at a time. If the leaves die off, the tubers in the ground will reshoot next season and continue growing - assuming nothing eats them in the meantime of course.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Second thread here;

when to harvest my first ever sweet potatoes

Help! I'm not sure when to harvest my first ever sweet potatoes. They have been in the ground for nearly four months (sub tropical 10a Florida USA) and are showing above the soil. I want to get a good harvest, but I don't want pests to get them where I can't see them. Advice?? Thank you in advance.

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