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Did you figure out how to manage tubors treated to not sprout? I'm really hoping I did it right this time by soaking them in water with ascorbic acid added (vitamin c capsules). The elephant garlic is definitely growing and very obviously doing well compared to the one I just soaked in water. No sign of growth from the purple and white sweet potatoes though.
I had a good enough harvest from the Dioscorea bulbifera from Caesar to show and even eat. I picked bulbils and dug out tubers to relocate them this spring. They were strong growers and began to overtak some young mango trees planted close by.
The flesh is yellow and not so slippery as most yams. I fried some and the taste was excellent, very neutral flavor with nothing off-putting, equal to potato. The batch pictured I left the skin on but it was too tough to chew, however it pulled off easily with no waste.
One thing about these is they are good eating and the outward appearance is pretty regular, smooth and not gnarly bumpy or covered with roots. Plus they do taste very good!
I harvested this Air potato two days back, it weighed a whopping 3.1lbs.
About 3 months back I found this Yam growing on a tree in my farm. It looks as if I had planted the tuber two or three years back and had not noticed the vine.
The vine is different in that, it has 6 ridges and not 4 as compared to other Dioscoreas I have, and there are small thorns in the ridges.
Last week when I checked on the vine it had dried up and the seed tubers were falling down. So yesterday I decided to dig up the tuber. Initially the tuber appeared the thickness of a thumb but as I went deeper it became thicker, but it is so tender that the slightest pressure on the soil would break the tuber, as you will see from the no. of pieces! Finally after a depth of about two and a half feet, the tuber had grown into the root of the tree and I had to abandon my attempt.
After boiling the tuber, when I tasted it I got a surprise! It is the tastiest Yam I have eaten! It is very creamy and unbelievably 'White' !!
The mother root has been in the ground two years. Every three years I dig up the mother root to boil and eat, as it is tastier than the arial tuber. I plant a new one in its place.
Anyone have any yams they want to trade? I have a fee types of bulbifera: Hawaii and Mexico. As well as a few alata cultivars: Emperor(i think was the name)) purple, another purple, yellow and white fleshed alatas.
This bulbifera tuber I had dug up yesterday and it weighed 4.756 kgs or about 10.5 lbs. After boiling, it was soft but not mushy and slightly sweet! Much better than the arial tuber.
I dug up these Dioscorea esculenta tubers today. Tubers from this vine is what Caesar has.
God I wish there were more folks involved in cultivating and selling the edible bulbiferas. It's an extraordinary producer and I'd love to get my hands on some.
The last couple of years I have propagated a bunch of dioscorea with varying soccess. The alatas went crazy. A few other types did o.k. About January when the vines had all dried out and some bulbous started dropping I carefully collected the bulbils and brought them into the house. Early March I put them in pots and back outside. Then the critter raids started. Everything got mixed up and no labels were left in place. Guess I'm going to have some now unidentified dioscorea....
Wow, that is a beautiful tree, very architectural! I have a few young ones here in Florida, only 2 feet tall but have some hope they might look so good some day.
If anyone is selling some i'd love to buy.
These things are very beautiful.
Congrats! A couple questions, how old is your tree and do you only have one? Reason I ask is because I have one on my property but was wondering if I should put a couple more. Thanks!
Kyle
Congrats! A couple questions, how old is your tree and do you only have one? Reason I ask is because I have one on my property but was wondering if I should put a couple more. Thanks!
Kyle
It would probably be prudent to try the fruit before you plant more. The smell of the fruit can be pretty assertive so it is not for everyone. I've got a couple; it was probably about 5 years to bear in the Hilo area.
Congrats! Agree with everything Peter said. If the big one starts turning yellow, then it is ripening. Even if it doesn't probably seeds will be ok to germinate. In tropical climate the pods drop and if not gathered will start volunteer plants all around the mother trees. BTW to open it's easiest to crack them against a cement slab. They are very difficult to cut, but are brittle and crack open pretty easily.
Congratulations my friend! This is a awsome achivement even if this fruit don't get matured.
Are there more fruits on the tree?
Pataxte fruits fall on their own when they are ready. At that point the fruit is yellow and could still wait a couple of days to ripen more. They should smell and the shell needs to be cracked open.
I don’t think anyone can say whether the fruit in the photos could be any good or the seeds be viable.
Suerte,
Peter
This paper by Dr. David Fairchild would be difficult to find because of a typo in the database. I will try to send this to their attention for correction by the FSHS. I am fortunate to have found this via a search of Brosimum in a Vol. of HUNTIA and noticed a citation.
The Ramon Tree Of The Yucatan (Brosimum alicastrym)
Should be
The Ramon Tree Of The Yucatan (Brosimum alicastrum) by Dr. David Fairchild (1945)
https://journals.flvc.org/fshs/article/view/102305
As I understand these are dioecious (male and female). If you get too many males the wood can be harvested to good effect.
http://www.fincaleola.com/ojoche.html
Maya bread nut is native here, called ojoche. I have them in my nursery and I’ve sold a few. They’re not hard to grow but will take years to produce.
The interest is mainly from activist people interested in food security. It’s possible to speak with campesinos here who recall their family using ojoche when they were young but I still haven’t found any local people in CR who still go to the trouble to process it.
Guatemala is another story. In the Peten we spent a day with people who process and use ramon. Friends of mine have guerilla planted ojoche along the buffer of a national park here in an area that it occurs naturally but has probably been harvested for the lumber which has a good reputation.
Suerte
Peter
It seems pretty common in Jamaica too. At first I thought they may have been speaking about Breadnut Artocarpus but it is clear enough this is brosimum.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Kl8DAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA708&lpg=PA708&dq=brosimum+alicastrum+jamaica&source=bl&ots=DTNKgV0S3M&sig=ACfU3U0Vio8S-gtHsgxxFEBJcY5mtciQ9g&hl=en&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSr5fe8d7nAhXkUN8KHagzAK8Q6AEwCXoECA0QAQ#v=onepage&q=brosimum%20alicastrum%20jamaica&f=false
Difficult to start from cuttings, unless you use rooting hormones and mist house.I have an isolated kwai muk tree that produces nice large fruits on its own and gets loaded with fruits.
I'd still like to try the scions as cuttings, if feasible. I haven't grafted yet, so I'm not very confident in my skills. That productive tree sounds like elite material indeed.
Please, could you name a source for Dioscorea and Plecthranthus in Europe?