Sweet! Willard woman pulls up tremendous tuber

WILLARD, NC (WWAY) — 20 pounds of potato. That’s what a Willard woman discovered when she pulled up her ornamental sweet potato to protect it from the cold.

June Wood said she originally bought the plant from a nursery in Wallace. She planted it in 2018, harvested it in the fall, and replanted it this summer. When she replanted it, she estimated it weighed only around 5 pounds.

What she pulled up definitely weighs more than 5 pounds.

Wood plans to keep the sweet potato indoors and replant it next year.

Ornamental sweet potatoes produce brightly colored vines that are often used as landscaping groundcover.

You can eat them, but according to NC Cooperative Extension, since these plants have been bred for ornamental use and not edible use, these tend to have a bland and mealy taste.