White Yam, Sweet Potato Slips

White Yam Sweet Potatoes Slips

Pure white flesh delivers sweet old-fashioned yam flavor
One of America's oldest sweet potato varieties
Pale roots create a distinctive alternative to orange flesh
Heritage character appeals to traditional vegetable gardeners

See product details

Key Attributes

Botanical Name

Ipomoea batatas

Days to maturity

90 Days

Sun

Full Sun

About White Yam, Sweet Potatoes Slips

White Yam is one of America's oldest sweet potato varieties, prized for pure white flesh and a sweet, old-fashioned yam flavor. This variety is supplied as slips for transplanting once warm growing conditions arrive. The pale roots provide a distinctive alternative to orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and bring heritage character to vegetable gardens. Use the versatile flesh for baking, roasting, mashing, and traditional sweet potato recipes.

Growing details

Planting

Days to Germination

7–21 days

Plant profile

Maturity

Fall

Life Cycle

Annual

Plant Height

12 inches

Growth Habits

Vining, Trailing

Seed & variety

Color

White

Seed Type

Slips

Growing Season

Warm-Season Crop

Before Planting

Sweet potatoes demand a long frost-free season, abundant sun, and soil warm enough for rapid rooting. Shape loose soil into raised ridges to improve warming, drainage, and harvest. Choose certified disease-free slips and avoid ground recently used for sweet potatoes.

Planting

Wait until frost danger is over and soil reaches about 65°F. Insert each slip 4–5 inches deep with several nodes belowground, firming soil around the stem while leaving the growing tip exposed. Space plants roughly 9–15 inches apart and water immediately.

Watering

New slips may wilt until roots form, so prevent the ridge from drying during establishment. After vines spread, water deeply during prolonged dry weather and root enlargement. Reduce irrigation near harvest to limit cracking and storage rots.

Fertilizer

Too much nitrogen creates vines instead of storage roots. Use compost and a balanced fertilizer low enough in nitrogen for the soil, with adequate potassium. Avoid fresh manure, which can cause misshapen roots and excessive foliage.

Harvesting

Dig before soil temperatures fall or frost damages the roots. Loosen the ridge widely, lift carefully to avoid skinning, and cure sound sweet potatoes in warm humid conditions before moving them to cooler storage.

Tips

Keep the first weeks weed-free, then let the vines shade the ridge. Do not prune healthy runners merely to contain them; leaves fuel root enlargement. Handle slips and harvested roots gently because bruises invite decay.

Pests & Diseases

Fusarium wilt, scurf, black rot, viruses, and soft rots can spread through sweet potato slips. Buy certified clean plants, reject stunted or mottled slips, and rotate fields. Cut propagation slips above the soil line, sanitize tools and bins, cure roots promptly, and store only sound roots.

Wireworms, flea beetles, sweet potato weevils, white grubs, voles, and root rots may cause losses. Rotate planting areas, use clean slips, control weeds, and remove cull roots rather than leaving them to harbor pests.