I wanted to grow sweet potatoes this year.

I saw this guide by @quinneaker here on Steemit:

@quinneaker/how-to-grow-sweet-potato-crops-sustainably-comprehensive-tutorial-one-of-my-favorite-and-most-abundant-crops

That looked easy enough.

At 2:08 he says 'this is actually a couple few months'.

I'm not sure what a 'couple few months' are, but this is what my attempt looks like after nearly 3 months:

I started late February ...
It looks like some roots are finally growing, or it's going completely rotten now.

I bought these in the store, since I had no other way to start.
They don't sell the 'slips' here.

I'm not sure, if these have been treated with some sort of hormone.
(They do that with regular potatoes to keep them from sprouting)
I bought 'organic' quality - whatever that means.

Other than that I had to change the water twice, because I was growing a lot of algea.
It's usually not even in the sun, I just put it there to be able to take a better picture.

My advice

If you want to plant in May:

Put them in water sometime in January.