Have Sweet Potatoes Been Sprayed with Bud Nip?

The thought of our food being sprayed with chemicals never sits well with anyone. So the YouTube video of a little girl talking about conventional sweet potatoes being sprayed with a chemical called Bud Nip caught everyone’s attention a decade ago.

Now taken down, the video titled “My Potato Project” went viral in 2011. A girl compared the sprouting experiment of 3 sweet potatoes: conventional, organic from a conventional grocery store, and organic from an organic-only store. Needlessly to say, the conventional sweet potato didn’t sprout, while the organic one sprouted normally. The video implied (and suggested) that conventional potatoes are sprayed with chemical Bud Nip.

My Search for the Truth

I love sweet potatoes! And it is shocking to think my beloved root is allegedly sprayed. But I wanted to find out more. I couldn’t just take a YouTube video as the truth without searching for some answers myself. So back in 2011, I called Sue Johnson-Langdon, the Executive Director of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission. “I’ve been in the sweet potato business for 30+ years; I’ve never heard that sweet potatoes are sprayed with Bud Nip,” said Johnson-Langdon. Indeed, Bud Nip is registered to be use in potatoes only, not sweet potatoes; we haven’t found any documentation to show that Bud Nip is registered to be used in sweet potatoes!

A conversation with organic potato farmer Rob Jones confirmed that conventional potato farmers may use Bud Nip, or other products such as DMN. Bud Nip, which may also be known as Sprout Nip, contains an active ingredient called chlorpropham. Chlorpropham is a sprout inhibitor, usually applied one month after harvesting. These chemicals certainly are not allowed in organic farming. So what’s Jones’s first line of defense for preventing sprouting in his organic potatoes? Inventory control. “We try to sell our less dormant crops early and keep the more dormant ones ’til late,” said Jones, owner of Jones Farm Organics in Colorado.

So why did the three sweet potatoes sprout differently in the YouTube video? “Sprouting outcomes depend on many factors, notably temperature and humidity,” said Johnson-Langdon. “Any changes in the environment can affect the sprouting outcomes.”

Sweet Potatoes Are NOT Sprayed with Bud Nip

Don’t get scared away from sweet potatoes. As seen in our food of the month feature, sweet potato is an excellent source of beta-carotene and a very good source of Vitamin C. The darker the yellow or orange color, the higher it is in beta-carotene. Purple-fleshed sweet potatoes are actually a good source of anthocyanins, a type of potent antioxidant. As a fulfilling starchy root vegetable, sweet potato is also high in fiber but not too high in glycemic index, making it a great option for people who have diabetes.

As for potatoes, choose organic varieties if you worry about Bud Nip.