Sweet potatoes are usually ready to harvest just as the ends of the vines begin to turn yellow, or just before frost in the North. To avoid injuring tubers, find the primary crown of the plant you want to dig, and then use a digging fork to loosen an 18-inch wide circle around the plant.
How long can sweet potatoes stay in the ground?
Freezing temperatures won't damage them unless they're near the surface of the soil. If a frost hits and you dig them up quickly, they'll store as well as if you had dug them before the frost. The Old Farmer's Almanac reports that most sweet potato varieties are ready for harvest about 100 days after planting.
Can you eat sweet potatoes as soon as you harvest them?
Sweet potatoes are delicious eaten right after harvest, but their true flavors deepen as they cure. During the curing process, the starches in the tuber turn into sugar, intensifying the buttery sweet flavor and texture of the potato.
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