Sweet corn

Zea mays

Poaceae

Sweet potato

Ipomoea batatas

Convolvulaceae

Can you plant corn and sweet potatoes together?

Yes. Corn and sweet potatoes grow well together. A shared bed gave about 40% more harvest than separate beds in one field trial. That rests on two studies, so treat it as a lead, not a rule.

Why corn and sweet potatoes work together

More harvest from the same bed. In one field trial, a bed with both crops gave about 40% more harvest than the same space split into a sweet corn bed and a sweet potato bed.
Hybrid maize and sweet potato intercropping: a technology to increase productivity and profitability for poor hill farmers in Bangladesh (Islam · 2014)

What to plant with corn and sweet potatoes

No plant in our data is a good neighbour of both corn and sweet potatoes yet.

What to keep away from corn and sweet potatoes

CeleryWith corn: Garden charts advise against it, not tested

The evidence in detail

For readers who want to dig in: every chart entry, study and yield trial behind the answer above, with the numbers.

Tradition, research and yield trials

Tradition

No chart mentions this pair.

Research

Good

avoidgood

1 paper found: 1 positive, 0 negative.

yield / land use

auto-classified not reviewed by a person

Yield trial

Good

0.98

0.64

Sweet corn gains more. Partial LER is each crop's share of the yield it would give alone.

1 field trial. Published LERs lean high.

Good neighbours

What happens above and below ground

Each animation illustrates a mechanism a study reported for this pair. Pick a card to focus on it.

Everything at once.

What is going on (2)

Pick a card to spotlight its animation in the scene.

Sweet corn Sweet potatoGrown together, Sweet corn and Sweet potato gave more food from the same ground than apart.

Researchfield trial x1

Integrating Intercropping, Nitrogen Fertilizer and Azospirillum spp. to Enhance Growth, Yield, and Quality of Sweet Corn-Sweet potato Systems in A Sandy Land (Abdalla RM · 2026 · Research Square)

Sweet corn Sweet potatoMedian land equivalent ratio 1.40 over 1 trial: growing them together gave 1.40 times the harvest of two separate plots of the same size.

Partial LERs (medians): Sweet corn 0.98 + Sweet potato 0.64. Range across treatments 1.15 to 2.13. Medians are taken separately, so the parts need not add up to the median LER. LER above 1 is biased upward by publication bias.

Yield trialfield trial x1

Hybrid maize and sweet potato intercropping: a technology to increase productivity and profitability for poor hill farmers in Bangladesh (Islam · 2014)

Companion plants for both corn and sweet potatoes

Plants that are good neighbours of each. Biggest harvest gain first; each cell links to the evidence for that pair.

No plant is a good neighbour of both corn and sweet potatoes in our data yet.

The evidence, with sources

ResearchGood1 entry

Goodyield / land usefield trialauto-classified

Integrating Intercropping, Nitrogen Fertilizer and Azospirillum spp. to Enhance Growth, Yield, and Quality of Sweet Corn-Sweet potato Systems in A Sandy Land
Integrating Intercropping, Nitrogen Fertilizer and Azospirillum spp. to Enhance Growth, Yield, and Quality of Sweet Corn-Sweet potato Systems in A Sandy Land (Abdalla RM · 2026 · Research Square)

Relevance 97% · effect confidence 77%

Yield trialGood1 entry

GoodLER 1.40field trial

Bangladesh, 2011-2012; Additive design; median LER 1.40 over 3 treatment(s) · partial LER Sweet corn 0.98, Sweet potato 0.64
Hybrid maize and sweet potato intercropping: a technology to increase productivity and profitability for poor hill farmers in Bangladesh (Islam · 2014)

Plan a bed with corn and sweet potatoes

All neighbours of sweet corn and of sweet potato, or every pair at once in the companion planting chart.

Have you grown corn and sweet potatoes together?

Tell other gardeners what happened: spacing, pests, harvest, or ask a question. Reader notes are not checked by us and do not change the verdicts on this page.