Author Topic: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection  (Read 33410 times)

fyliu

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #50 on: September 13, 2018, 12:40:22 PM »
What's a mountain yam? scientific name?
I think it's a common name that could represent 1 or more species. Japanese call their long white yam yamaimo (yama=mountain, imo=yam). I'm not sure if other cultures use the same common name for their native yam as well.

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #51 on: September 18, 2018, 07:18:59 PM »
We might be able to identify the mountain yam from pictures, but that common name is very generic, so if it turns out to have an alternative, we should use it.

*

I’m going to have to try again with a few of them next year. My pentaphylla and pseudo-tomentosa died off, the hamiltonii failed to sprout, and I didn’t reach the business in time to acquire the japonica bulbils. On the bright side, the Ube, the yellow cayennensis and the polystachya are doing just fine. What’s more, the crop on the Indian bulbifera is just starting to take off; more on that in its own thread.

My African bulbifera’s arrived sprouted and in excellent condition. I buried them in a small pot for the moment; tomorrow I’ll get another tub ready and place it by the new trellis.

Here’s mine:



***

Edit: I forgot to mention: the trifida doesn’t play well with others. All the other species are competing for space and growing vigorously (though I’m sure yields will suffer). Meanwhile, the trifidas are failing to put on extensive vine growth, and I don’t expect a good harvest. For anyone growing trifidas out there, give them their space, don’t crowd them.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2018, 07:47:53 PM by Caesar »

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #52 on: September 23, 2018, 03:32:50 PM »
Please see my Air Potato post here for an important announcement. This concerns you too, 00christian00

BajaJohn

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #53 on: September 28, 2018, 11:50:52 PM »
The Papas Voldoras from Las Canada's seem to have taken off. Some of the shoots are already about 6 feet long. The Beauregard didn't make it.

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #54 on: September 29, 2018, 10:16:30 PM »
The Papas Voldoras from Las Canada's seem to have taken off. Some of the shoots are already about 6 feet long. The Beauregard didn't make it.

The Beauregard didn't handle the shipping stress well? How were they packaged? A root might have made the trip in better condition, but I guess they keep the roots as crops and just sell rooted cuttings.

It's great to hear the air potatoes are doing well for you. I think you may be the first person in the forum with that particular cultivar. But "papa voladora" is a pretty generic name, it's just air potato (or "flying potato"), so I think it's safe to assume that this clone is nameless. What would you name it?

pineislander

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #55 on: October 01, 2018, 06:06:34 AM »


Edit: I forgot to mention: the trifida doesn’t play well with others. All the other species are competing for space and growing vigorously (though I’m sure yields will suffer). Meanwhile, the trifidas are failing to put on extensive vine growth, and I don’t expect a good harvest. For anyone growing trifidas out there, give them their space, don’t crowd them.
My Trifida is also the least vigorous of my varieties. These were from grocery store-bought roots and may have been deteriorated in shipping so my home-grown roots may do better next season.

Also, the purple ube Alata yam I am growing had begun to climb on some other nearby trees and some vines were on the ground.
As I trimmed them back I noticed that vines touching the ground had begun to root at the nodes. This looks like it might be another way of propagation by air layering. So, if you'd like to try I'd suggest using sphagnum moss, coconut fiber, or similar media well moistened and wrapped with aluminum foil at nodes to get new plants.

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #56 on: October 17, 2018, 07:57:57 PM »
I'm gonna try that with my Ube, to focus on sending the bulbils to other growers. In fact, I won't be harvesting the tuber for at least a few years. I wanna make the vine grow strong and vigorous, to ramp up its bulbil production.

*

I have saturated myself with projects. The yams are all fine, but my second attempt at in-vitro potatoes for breeding was a disaster, and I didn't get to collect raspberry pollen for my hybrid experiment with the strawberry.

Here are the two surviving in-vitro potatoes, Skagit Valley Gold and Unica. I got the Unica as a tetraploid for reference, the rest were meant to be diploid, but I asked for a lot of tetraploids by mistake. They can be bred together, but them I'd have to rogue out triploids. They're sharing the tub with a pair of DTO varieties and a red phureja. I had poor luck with in-vitros, but I also asked for diploid seed and I expect to have better luck with seedlings, so the project isn't scrapped. The particular seeds are better adapted to my conditions anyway, compared to the in-vitro diploids, so that was a nice surprise.




But anyway, back to the yams. Here we have the base of the pvc trellis, showing everything I got growing around it. In the ground is a Barbados Gooseberry, then one bucket with the Ube one with the Nagaimo Yam, and then the two tubs, one with a struggling set of Hodgsonia + Jarilla, the other with the Sena Air Potato (reposted pic from the other thread). With said air potato are Recao, Mauka, Bambara Groundnut and a recently-planted Striped Peanut (not pictured).




Here's one of the Nagaimo Yams (D. polystachya) which I've since placed in the bucket with the rest. This one took a long time to come up from the roots. In fact, the Nagaimos are always the last to sprout in my yard, it's frustrating.




Some more recent pics of the Ube (note the stem looks slightly less red by now). I twined the Nagaimo over it, so it's a mess of leaves from both species, but the big Ube stem is easy to make out.




The Ube and the Air Potato twining around the trellis:




A leaf from the Yellow Guinea Yam that's growing on the bamboo trellis. This may be the prettiest yam I've yet grown (I don't have D. dodecaneura yet). It's dark green and tender-looking & glossy in leaf and stem. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.




The remaining pair of Mauka plants. I need to find a good place to plant them.




And finally, group photo: Elephant-foot Yams, Ensete ventricosum, Cerrado Cashew, rooted Florida Pistachio cuttings, and a Cyclophyllum coprosmoides (I have another in the ground).


Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #57 on: November 03, 2018, 06:55:55 PM »
I'm selling some air potatoes now, with a few other things, in the vegetable buy/sell/trade section. Link here: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=30268.0

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #58 on: November 14, 2018, 05:20:39 PM »
I ordered a Dioscorea dodecaneura/discolor from this place: link. It'll be shipped next week, and I suspect it'll arrive before week's end.

Also trying again with D. pentaphylla, same vendor. Before buying, I asked the vendor about the harvest season and if they had fresh bulbils. They did, and they arrived in great shape! This time next year, I'll have Pentaphylla bulbils for distribution. As for dodecaneura, I'll have to figure out how to propagate it... Maybe layering?

Pentaphylla pics:



Luisport

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #59 on: November 15, 2018, 05:09:17 AM »
I ordered a Dioscorea dodecaneura/discolor from this place: link. It'll be shipped next week, and I suspect it'll arrive before week's end.

Also trying again with D. pentaphylla, same vendor. Before buying, I asked the vendor about the harvest season and if they had fresh bulbils. They did, and they arrived in great shape! This time next year, I'll have Pentaphylla bulbils for distribution. As for dodecaneura, I'll have to figure out how to propagate it... Maybe layering?

Pentaphylla pics:


This ones are edible? I never saw them...  ;D

Luisport

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #60 on: November 15, 2018, 06:18:27 AM »
And here are the two dioscorea bulbifera bulbs that i got from Cesar. They are big... 250g each and will be planted next spring!  ;D






Luisport

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Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #62 on: November 15, 2018, 08:28:20 AM »
I ordered a Dioscorea dodecaneura/discolor from this place: link. It'll be shipped next week, and I suspect it'll arrive before week's end.

Also trying again with D. pentaphylla, same vendor. Before buying, I asked the vendor about the harvest season and if they had fresh bulbils. They did, and they arrived in great shape! This time next year, I'll have Pentaphylla bulbils for distribution. As for dodecaneura, I'll have to figure out how to propagate it... Maybe layering?

Pentaphylla pics:


This ones are edible? I never saw them...  ;D

The Five-leaf Yam has edible and poisonous varieties. This one is being sold as edible, and the vendor eats them steamed. She also said she doesn't eat the bulbils, but couldn't explicitly confirm if they were toxic or merely ignored by the people. I'd like to cook a bulbil sample when they start producing and send it to a laboratory for analysis, but I haven't found a local lab yet that could analyze it.


And here are the two dioscorea bulbifera bulbs that i got from Cesar. They are big... 250g each and will be planted next spring!  ;D



I'm glad they arrived in good condition! I was a bit worried, this was my first time shipping international. But it looks like they had no trouble.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aeUxNkmJwQ

In the audio and text description it sounds like they're referring to several different species. The species shown looks like an alata. Interesting how different species are used in different ways depending on where you are.

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #63 on: November 24, 2018, 01:16:28 PM »
I harvested a prematurely senescent Chinese Yam last week (I had accidentally lopped off the growing tip early in the season). The root remained small because it didn't get a good chance to grow. I hadn't planned on eating it, but my mother wanted to try it, so we cooked it up. It was good! Very mild, like an excellent D. alata.



I left three other D. polystachya vines growing in the pail, with a pair of Apios americana... Too many plants, not enough space (I never learn, do I?). I separated another pair into a small pot to figure out what to do with them later.

I also discovered that air potatoes are best eaten freshly-plucked, more on that on the Air Potato thread.

I'm still waiting on the D. pentaphylla to sprout, but I hadn't planted them immediately, they've only been in the ground for a week. They probably still have dormancy.

My D. dodecaneura arrived safe and sound, and I managed to separate out 7 plants and 10 tubers (2 small, 8 tiny). They were thoroughly pot-bound but healthy, and I noticed what seemed to be stolons from which the different plants and tubers sprouted. I've never seen a yam vine produce offsets by stolons so I find this highly curious. I'll report more on this detail next growing season.


pineislander

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #64 on: November 27, 2018, 06:39:20 PM »


Also trying again with D. pentaphylla, same vendor. Before buying, I asked the vendor about the harvest season and if they had fresh bulbils. They did, and they arrived in great shape! This time next year, I'll have Pentaphylla bulbils for distribution. As for dodecaneura, I'll have to figure out how to propagate it... Maybe layering?

Pentaphylla pics:



On a Facebook group I belong to a friend showed his pentaphylla:



Caesar check your PM, Ube bulbils are ready.

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #65 on: November 27, 2018, 09:24:11 PM »
On a Facebook group I belong to a friend showed his pentaphylla:



Caesar check your PM, Ube bulbils are ready.

Pm sent.

They look just like mine. I wonder if it's the same strain. Where did they source theirs? Mine was from a Thai eBay vendor called "goodmice".

Does your friend eat the bulbils? Goodmice wouldn't say either way if they were poisonous or not, just that they didn't eat them.

That they are not eaten doesn't automatically mean they're poisonous. But at the same time, the tuber being edible doesn't mean the bulbils are too (with several poisonous yams, the tuber is less toxic and can be made edible, but the bulbils stay toxic). And D. pentaphylla is one of those species that has edible and toxic types, closely related to D. dumetorum and D. hispida. Steaming is a pretty mild way to cook, and Goodmice told me they eat it steamed, so I suspect mine is a rather toxin-free strain, but I'm still reluctant to try the bulbils. I want to cook a sample at harvest time and have it Lab tested, but I've no local labs able to test it, that I'm aware of.

pineislander

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #66 on: November 29, 2018, 08:10:23 AM »
Yes, he is eating the pentaphyllum and other member does too. I don't know the sources they used. If you or anyone uses Facebook the group page is here:

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #67 on: November 29, 2018, 04:04:52 PM »
Yes, he is eating the pentaphyllum and other member does too. I don't know the sources they used. If you or anyone uses Facebook the group page is here:

The bulbils too? Or just the tuber?

pineislander

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #68 on: November 30, 2018, 07:06:12 AM »
I will ask the folks about eating quality.
Sorry I forgot the Facebook link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/495305670949220/

pineislander

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #69 on: November 30, 2018, 06:03:51 PM »
I will ask the folks about eating quality.

Quote
Delicious. Very potato-like. (starchy, mealy). No bitterness. I got mine from Taylor Nelson, who I believe got it from Uncle Chan on ebay. I would say it is just as delicious as the good cultivars of bulbifera, but it doesn't make anywhere near as large of bulbils. Luckily the skin peels off really easy after cooking so you don't need to pre-peel the smaller bulbils. Do you not have the air potato beetle where you live? That was the only drawback of bulbifera. We all got the good cultivars about a year before they released the beetles all over FL. I've pretty much given up on bulbifera, although I do get a few plants that randomly come up from time to time.

Also, I finished harvesting the vine (which went totally dormant) and got maybe 3/4 more harvest as what you see in the first harvest picture. Not bad for one plant.

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #70 on: November 30, 2018, 06:37:19 PM »
Then the bulbils are edible, good! I'll be eating some bulbils from my vines in small quantities until I'm sure about them, but I really doubt mine is toxic.

And it's a shame about what happened to their bulbiferas. Was there no concoction they could've used against the beetles on their vines?

What were the cultivars of bulbifera that they were growing? And were they African types or Asian types?

pineislander

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #71 on: December 18, 2018, 07:54:15 AM »
The wild inedible D. bulbifera has gone wild/invasive here and the State introduced a beetle to do some control of it. That probably has slowed it down but it still remains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLagUwn0nY

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #72 on: March 17, 2019, 12:44:43 PM »
I’ll be inspecting every yam I receive, to insure I don’t release any beetles here. If they have any holes, I’ll inspect them carefully to kill any pests that may be inside.

My pentaphylla bulbils are sprouting, and they’re looking fuzzy, as it should be.

The growth of the dodecaneura is in full swing! I haven’t trellised them with the other yams yet (in fact I have to make a new one, the termites ate the old trellis), but it’s looking very nice and ornamental! The original package came with so many vines and roots in a single pot, I’ll be able to taste one at the end of this season, even if it’s a small one.

I finally harvested my Ube! Sold to me as Dark Night St. Vincent, it was mostly white inside, with some limited pigmentation (the skin was all purple though). Either I was given the wrong variety, or, more likely, it was affected by the heat in its paint bucket container (heat inhibits anthocyanin production) and by its shorter growing season (the vine died off at the tip on arrival and I had to prune it back, plus the extra time spent in a very small container).

And the first of my African bulbiferas (Sena) is finally entering production! All the bulbils on the healthy vines are still small, but the seemingly virus-infected one (which I will eat rather than propagate) is already growing larger. Because they’re all growing in the same container, I will be growing them next season from new healthy bulbils, to minimize the risk of viral transmission (I won’t retain any of the original underground tubers).

I’m waiting for my second African bulbifera to sprout (seemingly “Hawaii”, judging from its origins and physical features), as well as a second Indian variety (the dense presence of prominent lenticels suggests Suavior, but it was given as a Sativa, so that’s how I’ll label it for now). I’m also sprouting an esculenta, and am waiting for D. japonica bulbils in the mail.

In other tuber-related news, the Australian Bush Potato (Ipomoea costata) has tuberized, though the vine is still small. The Oca, Ulluco and Mashua have started growing, and I had to prune back the Mauka, whose foliage was a bit beaten up by the heat (I’m now growing it in shade). And the one remaining trellis is now a mess of vines, with Sena Air Potato, Yellow Guinea Yam, Hopniss, Madeira Vine, Hodgsonia and Conophor Nut all growing in the same spot. I plan on adding Winged Bean to the milieu soon (Baker Creek Seeds has a day-neutral variety that starts bearing quickly).

Pics!

The pentaphylla:




The dodecaneura:




The Ube:




Sena (from the infected vine):




Oca, Ulluco, Mashua, and Mauka Cuttings:




Conophor & Hodgsonia:




Tangle: Anredera, Sena & Hodgsonia




Bush Potato, Tuberous Vetch & Talet:


00christian00

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #73 on: March 17, 2019, 02:28:11 PM »

And the first of my African bulbiferas (Sena) is finally entering production! All the bulbils on the healthy vines are still small, but the seemingly virus-infected one (which I will eat rather than propagate) is already growing larger. Because they’re all growing in the same container, I will be growing them next season from new healthy bulbils, to minimize the risk of viral transmission (I won’t retain any of the original underground tubers).
What are the signs of the virus? And if it's a virus shouldn't all have it? Do you think the bulbils came from different vines?

Strange, I got the pentaphylla later than you but mine are already quite large.

Caesar

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Re: The Yam Checklist: Starting a Backyard Dioscorea Germplasm Collection
« Reply #74 on: March 17, 2019, 02:52:53 PM »
What are the signs of the virus? And if it's a virus shouldn't all have it? Do you think the bulbils came from different vines?

Strange, I got the pentaphylla later than you but mine are already quite large.

Interesting... perhaps my pentaphylla didn’t like the way I treated it. Initially, I stuffed all 3 bulbils in close quarters in a single pot. Then I separated them, but stuffed them into the small party cups.

I don’t know with full certainty that it is a virus, but I find it very strange that the one vine has most (possibly all) of its leaves curled up. I hope I’m wrong, but it sounds like a virus to me. Pure speculation anyway. That was my impression, that the bulbils came from several vines.