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Organic

I've got no trouble sprouting organic sweet potatoes. Just place them in a cup of water and put them in front of a window sill. Nearly every variety of sweet potato is available as organic for a little extra price.

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Conventional

However, I have trouble growing conventional sweet potatoes not labeled as organic. In particular, I have never been able to sprout the Okinawan purple sweet potato, because the only place that sells it in California is 99 Ranch and they don't carry an organic version. I have been told that the conventional sweet potatoes are laced with growth inhibitors to increase shelf life. I have washed the outside of this potato before and it still does not sprout. Is there anything else I can do?

I am aware Whole Foods sells an organic Purple Stokes sweet potato. I have indeed sprouted this one easily, but I don't want this variety. I want to the Okinawan variety which is much sweeter and smoother.

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JoJo
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  • I don't know anything about sweet potato growing in the US, but in the UK and Europe "non organic" root vegetables like ordinary potatoes are often treated with growth inhibitor to increase their storage life by preventing sprouting. – alephzero Feb 20 '21 at 17:53
  • ... some of these inhibitors are applied to the plant leaves before harvesting, and are transported through the whole tubers while the crop is still growing, so they can not be removed by surface washing. The tubers may have been washed anyway before storage, to remove excess soil, so a "wash-off" growth inhibitor would be useless.. – alephzero Feb 20 '21 at 18:00

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