Hello,

I bought an ornamental sweet potato on June 26th of this year, and it was flowering. The flowers lasted for less than a day, and by the next day afternoon, they were shriveled up, Although I saw more buds developing in the leaf axils, they, too, shriveled up and died.

The plant itself is doing great! It is putting out a lot of new leaf growth, and looks very attractive. Less than a week ago, I pruned the old leaves on the bottom for the plant to look better.

I still miss the flowers though. They were amazing. Is there anything I can do to make the plant flower again?

I am in zone 9b, Phoenix, AZ. I bought the plant from my local Home Depot.

Current plant:

Flowers are not the norm for this plant. It's mainly sold for the pretty leaves. I don't know if it bloomed before due to stress, or to really lush growing conditions..

Depends on the variety. A few bloom profusely. others very rarely. In general booms occurs most frequently on older plants in late summer. I don't grow any ornamental varieties so I can't get more specific as to their propensity to bloom.

I've grown the ornamental ones for years and never have seen any bloom. I don't know how they handled the one you bought!

Thanks everyone! Unfortunately I guess you all are right, they don't bloom much. Thanks anyway though. I guess I could get a morning glory instead.

Oops, wrong.

NMoasis said:Oops, wrong.

@NMoasis What do you mean?

Sorry!! Somehow I posted a response to a different thread here, then deleted it. There is no way to delete the whole box.

NMoasis said:Sorry!! Somehow I posted a response to a different thread here, then deleted it. There is no way to delete the whole box.

Ahh!! Never even saw it!

Good! You would have been even more confused!

Sweet potatoes are a species of Ipomoea (batatas). Morning glories are other species of Ipomoea. When they do bloom, each bloom lasts only a few hours. AFAIK, this is a characteristic throughout the Ipomoea genus.

purpleinopp said:Sweet potatoes are a species of Ipomoea (batatas). Morning glories are other species of Ipomoea. When they do bloom, each bloom lasts only a few hours. AFAIK, this is a characteristic throughout the Ipomoea genus.

@purpleinopp That's true! The blooms opened up at 10:00 AM and were gone by 3:00 PM.

Some of them bloom a lot, especially the grocery store ones that make plain green leaves. I had 'Margarita' for a few yrs & those were some of the most tasty SP's I've ever had. 'Blackie' also makes delicious tubers.

It may be necessary to go into the season by starting with a big tuber vs. a just-bought plant or slips/cuttings to get the blooms. That's when I have usually seen them.

purpleinopp said:Some of them bloom a lot, especially the grocery store ones that make plain green leaves. I had 'Margarita' for a few yrs & those were some of the most tasty SP's I've ever had. 'Blackie' also makes delicious tubers.

It may be necessary to go into the season by starting with a big tuber vs. a just-bought plant or slips/cuttings to get the blooms. That's when I have usually seen them.

Yeah, I've actually started my own white-fleshed edible sweet potato slips! Can't wait!