I planted yams out of my fridge back in October and now have very happy plants. I am wondering if I should mound them up like potatoes to increase the yield? However, I am worried about breaking their stalks - they look reasonably fragile and I dont want to introduce disease...your thoughts? also any tips on when to harvest would be great! thanks :)
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A tip of mine when growing oca,
They can become a weed as its so hard to get all the tubers out of the ground,here's what i do.
In the first photo on the right bed is a crop of three different heirloom variates.
The left bed was where last season's crop was,in this bed i start off planting lupins in spring,when these lupins reach 40cm tall i sprinkle more lupin seed over the top,then i pull out the plants and lay them down on that bed,the pulling action sows the next generation of seed which grows through among the old plants.This is done three time during the season,each time any yams growing get pulled out at the same time,by the end of the season 99% of the tubers have given up and in spring that bed is clear of any yams plants
I planted the entire oca (oxalis family) and have not grown them before (as you can see!). The ones I planted were the smaller ones that we hadn't eaten and they were well a-sprout by the time they saw soil so I am pretty sure they would have grown by slips as well. when I grow kumara (sweet potato) I grow by slip and that has worked well. Denise
I grew yams (oka) last year and found them really easy in our local climate. I just basically buried them in a garden plot and left them alone. I occasionally weeded them. They were not the best specimens when I planted them, as I kept forgetting about the tubers I had stored to plant, and they were old-but they still grew pretty well.I haven't had any problem with them being invasive but I only grew a few. This year I forgot to plant my tubers again. So I guess I'll keep them until next year. Or maybe just put them in the ground to overwinter. It would be interesting to see how they survive.
I have a photo and a bit more info. on the blog I wrote when I dug them up. https://ooooby.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nz-yamsoka
How do you mean Dinzie by "too risky" and also want do you mean by "plus you will not give them the space they need to produce the next year"
Are you saying that you grow them in the same ground the following season??
True Yams are from the oxalis family and look like a large version of the common oxalys in the gardens ... .It is not a vine ... If it's vining it is a Kumera
You can mound them up but this should be done as they grow when they have the chance to form roots ... If left the stems mature and you won't get much additional harvest ...
They are a long maturing crop and will need well into the autumn to produce enough tubers ,,,They are also heat lovers .....frost will kill them outright obouve the ground .. .
thanks again everyone. These look like a pretty oxalis (definitely not kumara) and are sprawling with a diameter of about 40cm so I guess I have missed the time to mound them, although I might try with some of the smaller plants and compare. If they are frosted do the tubers survive? I wonder if they would overwinter under a layer of mulch and then produce a better crop next winter?
Replies
For those who want to know the difference.
Sweet potato/kumara/yam - http://zoebakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/yams-vs-sweetp01.jpg
These grow by a vine
http://www.kumara.co.nz/grow.shtml
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/sweetpotato1.html
NZ Yam/oca/oka - http://www.greenharvest.com.au/plants/oca_info.html
Hope this helps
Angie
They can become a weed as its so hard to get all the tubers out of the ground,here's what i do.
In the first photo on the right bed is a crop of three different heirloom variates.
The left bed was where last season's crop was,in this bed i start off planting lupins in spring,when these lupins reach 40cm tall i sprinkle more lupin seed over the top,then i pull out the plants and lay them down on that bed,the pulling action sows the next generation of seed which grows through among the old plants.This is done three time during the season,each time any yams growing get pulled out at the same time,by the end of the season 99% of the tubers have given up and in spring that bed is clear of any yams plants
http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp247/Medburygardens/Picture519-...
The same bed with all the lupin pulled and layed flat
http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp247/Medburygardens/Picture520-...
I planted the entire oca (oxalis family) and have not grown them before (as you can see!). The ones I planted were the smaller ones that we hadn't eaten and they were well a-sprout by the time they saw soil so I am pretty sure they would have grown by slips as well. when I grow kumara (sweet potato) I grow by slip and that has worked well. Denise
I have a photo and a bit more info. on the blog I wrote when I dug them up.
https://ooooby.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nz-yamsoka
D
Are you saying that you grow them in the same ground the following season??
You can mound them up but this should be done as they grow when they have the chance to form roots ... If left the stems mature and you won't get much additional harvest ...
They are a long maturing crop and will need well into the autumn to produce enough tubers ,,,They are also heat lovers .....frost will kill them outright obouve the ground .. .
D
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