Chinese Yam

[Medbury Gardens]

Does anyone have experience in growing Chinese yam (dioscorea opposita),I was given some bulblits last weekend. All i know about it is that its roots grows to about 1 m long after two years, tastes like potato and grows a vine above ground.

Richard

[orflo]

Hi Richard,
it's a beauty , marvellous foliage, autumn colours,...
I'll see if I have some pictures. Vines reach up to three metres, and are happy with some support (don't let the bulbils dry out, they won't germinate any more). When you plant the little bulbils, give them a good bit of water and heat, they are quite slow to pop up. But once they 've started, you can really see them growing, if conditions are right. Unfortunately it takes up to four years for them to build a good edible root, in the south of France it goes faster, just about two years...And it's good, tasty!!!
Frank

[Hristo]

Originally Posted by orflo

Unfortunately it takes up to four years for them to build a good edible root, in the south of France it goes faster, just about two years...

Hi Frank,
This thread confused me ! Do you mean that your yam tubers continues to grow more than 1 year (growing season)? I'm growing chinese yam since 2004 (received them from 3 different places, so I'm sure they are chinese yam) and they are like the potatoes - each year the mother tuber dies and new is formed.
Here are some pics:
These are grown in 2004 from tubercles (the white ruler is 30 cm. long):
http://www.geocities.com/bg_seeds/snimki/yam2004.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/bg_seeds/snimki/2yam2004.jpg

These are grown in 2005 from top pieces of 2004 tubers (the yellow ruler is 1 m. long):
http://www.geocities.com/bg_seeds/snimki/yam2005.jpg

I'm growing them as pole beans on long sticks (vines reach 5+ m.). But do not ask me how I'm digging them , they are so deep and so brittle, and my soil is not sandy...

Hristo

[orflo]

Hi Hristo, how are you?
Indeed, I leave the root in the ground and it starts new growth in April or may; it's dioscorea batatas you have?
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/yam.php
I get the feeling there are some different strains of it, I can't get a 2 kg root within two years, as described in the pfaf leaflet, and yet their climate should be a bit comparable to mine. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the root over here, but they look a bit different from yours, they have that distinct 'club' shape, a thin root ending in a sort of ovale ball, they look more uniform than yours (and my ground is heavy as well). And the plants grow up to three metres over here, but you have the longer and warmer summer...
Did you ever try to overwinter them? They do need a bit of protection against heavy frost.
By the way, did you get a good result from the yacon?

[Medbury Gardens]

I hope i have the right variety,do they both have the same foliage?, whats in the photo is my yam taken today?

[Hristo]

Originally Posted by orflo

Hi Hristo, how are you?
Indeed, I leave the root in the ground and it starts new growth in April or may; it's dioscorea batatas you have?
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/yam.php
I get the feeling there are some different strains of it, I can't get a 2 kg root within two years, as described in the pfaf leaflet, and yet their climate should be a bit comparable to mine. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the root over here, but they look a bit different from yours, they have that distinct 'club' shape, a thin root ending in a sort of ovale ball, they look more uniform than yours (and my ground is heavy as well). And the plants grow up to three metres over here, but you have the longer and warmer summer...
Did you ever try to overwinter them? They do need a bit of protection against heavy frost.
By the way, did you get a good result from the yacon?

I'm 99.9% sure they are D. batatas, but indeed there are different strains and even cultivars (I think there are and some purple varieties). On the image above the flat one and the long one are from different descend. Also like these:
http://www.zhongqingseed.com/images/pr/tgjdwdd.jpg
http://bbs.vegnet.com.cn/PostAttachm...px?PostID=5287
Some of these Japanese and Chinese cultivars can reach 4+ kg.

I like the chinese yam, but it is so hard to dig, so I'm growing only 4-5 plants of each strain. May be I should try to grow them in tubes:
http://www.agnet.org/library/pt/2002030/
They overwinter here, but usualy I dig them in the autumn, cut their tops for propagation and the rest is for eating. I store them as carrots/radishes.

The yacon did very well. They are like easy to clean/peel jerusalem artichokes. The taste is very similar (i. e. good, but nothing special, I hope to improves after some storage)

Originally Posted by Medbury Gardens

I hope i have the right variety,do they both have the same foliage?, whats in the photo is my yam taken today?

Your plants looks like mine at same stage, but there are a lot dioscorea species. If it is D. batatas after some time the shape of leaves will change, see:
http://www.invasive.org/browse/subject.cfm?sub=4527

Originally Posted by Tomaat

MG, your yam's leaves look very familiar to me!

I grew a type of yam before when we were still living in Singapore, it need around 5 to 6 months to form tuber but the tuber can grow easily over 2kg if grown in big pots.
Unfortunately I don't know what it's latin name, but this yam has flesh range from white purplish to deep purple (the peel is dark) and when peeled, it produce slimy extrac which can irritate skin (cause itchy skin). The leaves range from green with purple vein to totally red purplish.
It taste great after steamed or cooked with some coconut milk and it's purple colour stay after cooked!

Frank, does this Yam rings any bell to you ?

Probably your yam have been Dioscorea alata:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...-8&sa=N&tab=wi

[Medbury Gardens]

Thanks for the info Hristo

Oh no a pest plant in parts of the US, i`ll have to keep an eye on it make sure it doesn`t spread,as if we havn`t got enough foreign invaders here all ready.

[Medbury Gardens]

They sound very interesting thanks Frank , do you grow it??.
They weren`t dried out when i got them, i have now planted them in pots just to start them off,should be able to grow an edible root here in two years with the hot inland summers we get here.
You say the autumn are colourful does mean its deciduous?

[orflo]

Yes, it is deciduous, and yes, I have some growing, in fact, just for the foliage, because four years to get one good root.
I do dig one from time to time,(they're a bit spread around in my garden), and mostly bake chips out of these roots, they're better than potato chips. It's in fact a very easy to grow plant, over her small plants pop up every year, the bulbils can be eaten as well (but you saw their size....)

[Tomaat]

MG, your yam's leaves look very familiar to me!

I grew a type of yam before when we were still living in Singapore, it need around 5 to 6 months to form tuber but the tuber can grow easily over 2kg if grown in big pots.
Unfortunately I don't know what it's latin name, but this yam has flesh range from white purplish to deep purple (the peel is dark) and when peeled, it produce slimy extrac which can irritate skin (cause itchy skin). The leaves range from green with purple vein to totally red purplish.
It taste great after steamed or cooked with some coconut milk and it's purple colour stay after cooked!

Frank, does this Yam rings any bell to you ?

[Tomaat]

Hristo,

Yes, it is indeed D.Alata ! Thanks for the info .