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[Doc Lisenby <longdistshtr@shtc.net>]

I got tired of problems encountered in field growing sweet potatoes so I 
planted some slips in cheap Wally World potting soil and put them in the 
full sun close to the house where I could keep an eye on them.  Flea beetles 
required a dose of Surround but other than that I got a good yield of the 
small red Japanese sweet potatoes.  The leaves are good for greens so I 
avoided other insecticides.  A cheap plastic trellis would keep the vines 
off the ground if I had desired to do so.  Some sweet potatoes can't be 
grown successfully here because of their susceptibility to a local disease. 
It is soil-borne so maybe I could avoid it with the use of the potting soil. 
You have to remove sweet potatoes from the ground as soon as the leaves die 
and "cure" them with heat.  Most commercial producers do a poor job of 
curing and they produce starchy rather than sugary sweet potatoes. Mine were 
almost as sweet as yams.
Doc Lisenby Zone 7/8