Sweet potatoes are long, vining plants with delicious tubers that are eaten. Sweet potato plants grow while trailing on the ground, making them easier to plant with another plant. They can be planted together to benefit from each other. This article illustrates the best companion plants for sweet potatoes.
The following are eight companion plants for the sweet potato:
1. Legumes
Nitrogen-fixing plants like pole beans, green beans, and bush beans are great companion plants for sweet potatoes. This is because the plants can benefit from each other since beans provide nitrogen for growth and vines keep the soil cool for the beans when growing.
Also, planting sweet potatoes with beans will make them repel sweet potato pests away from the plants.
2. Spinach
Spinach is a cover plant that helps prevent weeds in the garden. Therefore, spinach is a companion plant for sweet potatoes since the bushy habit of spinach helps to shade the garden of sweet potatoes, keeping the soil cool and moist and enhancing growth.
3. Root Vegetables
Root vegetables like radishes, carrots, potatoes, and beets are companions for sweet potatoes since they do not affect them negatively when grown with sweet potato plants.
Also, plants like radishes can trap pests like fleas and beetles, thus protecting the vines.
4. Alliums
These plants, including garlic, onions, and chives, can be companion plants with sweet potato plants since they take up little space and do not negatively impact the growth of sweet potatoes due to their small roots.
Also, they help in repelling sweet potato pests and improving the health of sweet potato plants.
5. Nasturtium
This plant is a companion plant for sweet potatoes because it produces flowers that add beauty to the garden and help attract beneficial insects like bees.
6. Marigold
The bright colour of the marigold flowers makes them a good companion for sweet potato plants since they attract beneficial insects that help in pollination, thus increasing yields in the garden.
Also, marigold’s substantial scent helps to control common garden pests, such as the notorious squash bug, and attract trapping insects like spider mites and slugs that keep pests away.
7. Alyssum
It is sweet smelling companion plant that attracts beneficial insects like bees and parasitic wasps that help in pollination, and it doesn’t interfere with the growth of sweet potato tubers, making it a companion plant for sweet potatoes
8. Herbs
This includes thyme, basil, dill, and summer savoury as examples of companion plants for sweet potatoes. For example, basil, when planted with a sweet potato plant, improves the sweetness of the tubers, and it has a bushy habit that shades the ground, prevents evaporation of moisture, and also controls weeds.
Aromatic herbs like dill, when planted near sweet potato plantations, will repel the destructive sweet potato weevil and attract pollinators like bees.
What Not to Plant Near Sweet Potatoes
Some plants should not be planted near sweet potatoes, and they include the following:
1 . Squash
Squash and other plants like pumpkins, melons, and gourds cannot be planted near sweet potato plants because they compete for space, sunlight, and nutrients with sweet potatoes.
This competition will influence the growth of both plants negatively since they compete for space and nutrients.
2. Tomatoes
It is one of the bad companion plants for sweet potatoes. Planting tomatoes near sweet potatoes can increase the chances of both plants contracting harmful diseases like potato blight. This can easily affect potato vines hindering their growth
Also, since both plants share many pests, such as spider mites and aphids, pest infestations can take over when planted near each other, which may destroy the plants.
3. Sunflower
It is not good when planted near sweet potatoes since sunflowers increase the risk of potato blight, a harmful disease.
They also give off toxins from the roots, leaves, stems, flowers, and even seeds, which inhibit the growth of sweet potatoes.
4. Strawberry
Strawberry is a plant that produces bright red fruits, and this plant cannot be grown with sweet potatoes. This is because sweet potato plants can spread fungal diseases to strawberry plants.
5. Okra
Okra plants can not be planted with sweet potatoes since the crop nematode population in the soil causes wilt on roots, thus diminishing the yield.
6. Pepper
Pepper is a plant that cannot be planted with sweet potato plants. This is because pepper plants can increase the risk of your plant contracting diseases that affect its growth.
5 Bad Companion Plants for Sweet Potatoes
The following are five bad companion plants for sweet potato plants:
1. Squash
2. Tomatoes
3. Sunflower
4. Strawberry
5. Okra
Best Plants to Be Planted Immediately After Sweet Potatoes
The best plants to plant immediately after sweet potatoes are green manure crops and also annual vegetables that are not prone to root rot nematodes, such as lettuce, spinach and cabbage.
1. Garlic
Garlic and sweet potatoes are great companion plants. This is because garlic acts as a pest repellent due to its intense aroma from the leaves, and the growing habit of sweet potatoes does not affect their growth.
Additionally, garlic protects sweet potatoes from getting destroyed, thus making it best planted after sweet potatoes.
2. Broccoli
Broccoli is an edible green plant in the cabbage family, planted together with sweet potatoes. The two have different nutritional needs; sweet potatoes require a lot of magnesium and phosphate nutrients, while broccoli loves calcium and nitrogen. This makes the two plants grow together.
3. Onions
Onions can be planted next to sweet potato plants since they can repel insects due to the intense aroma produced by their leaves.
4. Carrots
You can plant carrots with sweet potatoes since both plants, when growing, are not negatively affected and enjoy the same growing area. This makes it excellent for being grown with sweet potato vines.
Can Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes Be Planted Together?
Yes, potatoes and sweet potatoes can be planted together since they grow without interfering with each other and enjoy the same growing environment.
Can One Plant Sweet Potatoes Under Fruit Trees
Yes, you can plant sweet potatoes under fruit trees. Due to a lot of mulch from the trees, you will be able to produce delicious tubers.
