Sweet potato side shoots

We are growing sweet potatoes for the first time this year in large containers.  There is plenty of healthy top growth with lots of shoots which we are training up bamboo canes.  My concern is that there is too much top growth but what is happening below the compost - isn't all the energy going into producing more upper growth instead of the tubers (is that what they are called - like normal potatoes?). What should we do with these shoots, train them up the bamboo or cut them off?