Today we ’ll bet at how to grow yams , plus this station will serve as asurvival industrial plant profileon my favored ancestor .
It ’s no enigma that I love yams . How can you NOT love rootage that reckon like this ? !
study how to get yams and EAT LIKE A Billie Jean Moffitt King !
I ’ve been eating yams daily since we harvest 2015 ’s crop . I still have about 100lbs left on the back porch .
I cover yam inTotally Crazy Easy Florida Gardeningwith great ebullience – and they also get a good reference inGrow or Die : The Good Guide to Survival Gardening .
I find it incredible that they ’re almost NEVER breed in Florida gardening books . Come on , folk music !
Learn how to grow yams and EAT LIKE A KING!
Most people confuse yam with sweet potatoes but they are not the same crop at all . Sweet potatoes are in theIpomoeafamily , whereas yam are in the completely differentDioscoreafamily . No relation !
Now I ’m going to cover grow yams and extension here , so you , the tightwad net proofreader , can benefit from my research without buy my book . ( Though if you do buy one of my books , you ’ll be my friend eternally . )
How To Grow Yams
First of all , you require to envision out what character of yam you ’re run to maturate . There are the “ name ” yams you get from the heathen markets ( and often from Publix supermarkets , if you have those in your field ) , then there are the “ water yams , ” also known as “ fly yams ” or , most properlyDioscorea alata , and there are also eatable forms ofDioscorea bulbifera(the dreaded “ air potato ” ) that make airborne root word you’re able to rust , and , of course , there ’s the cold - fearless Taiwanese yam of “ yamberry ” fame , then …
… well , lease ’s just say there are a LOT of yam .
I ’ll endeavor to cover the fundamentals on how to acquire yam , then get into some details on individual species . Let ’s start first with how to propagate yams .
Dioscorea bulbiferablooms
Yam Propagation
Many yam species have airy “ bulblet ” ( roots ) that you’re able to constitute for the next year ’s harvest home . Some do not .
Dioscorea bulbiferablooms
yam are only rarely grow from seeds except for breeding determination – and if you live in the US , you ’re unbelievable to have a long enough quick time of year or right light cycles for them to even bloom .
The normal method acting of generation is via bulblet for the varieties that produce bulbils , and via divided roots for those that do not .
If you do n’t have bulblet , you postulate to make “ minisetts . ” All that requires is a good yam plant origin , a knife , and perhaps some ashes to ward off likely soil pests .
Cut your yam plant root into chunks about the size of it of a peach , dunk them in ashes , then plant them .
I put a crowd of yam into a full-grown crapper full of dirt , then I transplanted the ones that shoot into my garden and food forest , resulting in this raft of etymon :
Not all of your yam minisetts will produce ; however , most will root and give you some yields .
Another method acting I have n’t read much about is starting yams from cutting . I had honorable luck rooting yam plant cuttings in a mist mansion last year . It was surprising how easy yam plant cuttings rooted . I do n’t do it if give you as big of a harvesting the first year if you start them from cuttings , but I do have intercourse they ’ll etymon .
Check out my video on propagating yam plant here :
Growing Yams
yam need something to wax – they ’re vigorous vine and will happily shoot to the top of a tree if given half a chance .
I plant mine just under the surface of the filth near something – anything ! – they can climb when they emerge .
I ’ve grown yam on fences , on trellises , on an unused clothesline and even on a pollarded sweetgum Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree I used as a living trellis .
If you have bulbils or minisetts useable , implant them in fall , wintertime or early springiness .
Yams have a growing time of year and a dormant season . Where I live in Florida , they develop vigorously through spring and summer and into the fall , die back and eventually freeze down down in the winter .
As the growing time of year advancement , they start making their bulbils ( if they ’re a yam that does that ) which ripen in the fall . The below - ground root really seems to do a lot of its growing into the spill as well , preparing for the wintertime ahead .
Some mintage are grow JUST for their bulblet , such as the rare edible figure ofDioscorea bulbifera :
Those can be cook and consumed like potatoes and the main root quell in the dry land , sending up vine and young harvesting of aery root year after year . More on the awful edibleDioscorea bulbiferahere :
Another yam , the insensate - tolerant Chinese yam plant ( Dioscorea opposita ) can be grown for both its declamatory underground origin and its midget little edible bulbil . Here ’s my video on that really nerveless species :
Yams do n’t want a care or tearing to stay alive , though taking care of them will raise your yields and reduce the time needed until harvesting . The yam I grew in bang-up garden soil with lashings of compost and water made big roots in their first class ; the ones I mature without any maintenance whatsoever generally took two years to make big roots .
Folks pass all their time trying to acquire how to maturate tomatoes ; instead , they should give up and learn how to grow yam ! Way easier , though not as good in salsa .
you could discover wing yams growing hazardous in the South now and then , with no nurseryman in the picture . I pulled this one from beneath a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in some crummy guts and clay in Summerfield , Florida when I was out untamed forage :
Photo credit
It was delicious .
Speaking of dotty foraging , the invasiveDioscorea bulbiferaor “ air potato ” can be found all over the place but it ’s not good to eat . Most hazardous strains will mess you up and there ’s no good way to estimate out which , if any , you could feed . The root above , however , isDioscorea alataand those are always eatable . I found it growing right near a Brobdingnagian patch of non - edibleDioscorea bulbiferaand identified it by its leave of absence and dangling bulbil . Here ’s how to tell the remainder :
Since yam are a perennial craw , you’re able to merely embed them one year and then comprehend them a year or three later when you ’re hungry . depend at these :
you may bet that ’s not just one yr ’s growth .
( That ’s an old newspaper photo I own ofSt . Pete resident Helen Parkeyback in the 70s . I would have sex to have more entropy about her or her family , but I have n’t had any destiny . )
I commonly dig yam when they ’re two age old , though I convey some pretty cock-a-hoop 1 - class yams this year ( again , in my nicely tended garden ) .
Cooking Yams
I wangle yam just like white potatoes , though I see they cook faster and dark-brown up nicer than Solanum tuberosum will .
Once you know how to grow yams , you ’ll be eating ’em all the time .
Yams also make tremendous roots for the crockpot and really upright French Christopher Fry . I also really like them shredded with a cheese grater and fried into hashbrowns – you just have to be measured , though , as some varieties are gamey in oxalic dose and can scratch up your pharynx .
Here ’s how Rachel educate yams and adds them to grizzle :
Note the gloves !
There ’s also a yam plant afters made from the purple ube yam plant ( a variant ofDioscorea alata ) I hope to make presently . Check this out :
Photo credit
I do n’t sleep together what that taste like but I want to eat it .
Wash them well , then wear gloves as you peel them . Once they are peeled , hack them up and falsify until crotch - tender . They are very good in soup and stews and can also be boiled and used like mashed spud .
Storing Yams
Yams keep pretty well on the counter . Unlike potatoes , you do n’t have to vex about them green up and poisoning you . If you stack away them under moist conditions , they ’ll bug out growing roots . I leave some in a fictile travelling bag once and they did just that , so I ended up chopping them up and planting them rather of putting them on the table for dinner .
The best topographic point to keep yams is right in the ground , then you’re able to turn over and eat them as want .
If you have a capital big root , you may actually get out or edit small-arm off of it and the excision will dry up reasonably well without ruining the respite of the root .
This is good when you have a 40 pound colossus to waste .
Conclusion
If you may find yams to produce , uprise them ! This is my top selection origin for tropic and subtropic region . grow yams is sluttish and the roots taste not bad .
Now that I ’ve narrate you how to uprise yams , trace down some root or bulbils and get planting !
SPUDOMETER paygrade : 5 white potato !
Name : Yams , Chinese yam , ube , name , etc . Latin Name : Dioscorea spp . Type : Vining perennialNitrogen Fixer : NoMedicinal : Some speciesCold - stalwart : No , though ascendent live through freezesExposure : Full sun / part shadePart Used : Roots , bulblet on some speciesPropagation : Roots , bulbils , cuttingsTaste : Very goodMethod of formulation : Baked , deep-fried , stewedStorability : Excellent in solid ground , good on the counterEase of farm : Very easyNutrition : modest – mostly just carbohydratesRecognizability : LowAvailability : Low
