The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: TheVeggieProfessor on September 04, 2022, 08:20:11 AM
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In the vein of living more sustainably, I've been buying more local food and growing more and more of my own food. It's easy to find locally and grow your own "nutrition" crops, like green leafies. I can also find local fruits easily. But staple foods are harder to come by. So now I am growing my own annual staple crops (e.g., sweet potatoes, cassava, etc.). But I am more interested in perennials; tree and shrub crops. Here's what I have going on right now and what I have in mind.
Currently:
Jackfruit (for the seeds)
Pigeon pea
Bananas
Potential:
Macadamia
Oyster nut
Any other ideas for perennial crops that can provide meaningful amounts of calories and macronutrients like carbs, proteins, and fats that grow in my climate?
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Breadfruit grows pretty well down here at this point.
The occasional cold spell trims it for you.
Just plant it in a more protected spot.
Green jack fruit can be used as a vegetable in addition to the seeds
Avocado (you can pretty much get this year around here)
Akee
I would also consider something like mamey,
It's a pretty filling fruit
Maybe malabar chestnut
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moringa
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katuk
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I saw an oil palm growing well at the Fruit and Spice Park. It would likely produce all the oil you needed in a year. Peach palm (probably should be named Pumpkin Palm), coconut palm, and the Sago Palm (not to be confused with the Sago Cycad) are grown as staple crops on their respective countries of origin. Not sure if any of these would fit in with your plans.
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Peanuts grow in Florida. Sugar cane.
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Having travelled /lived off the grid in Nth Qld, on and off when I was younger, suggest the following.
Taro
green papaya
pumpkin
avocado
sweet potato for tubers and leaves
These have some storage potential, at least a week and upwards with taro and pumpkin
Breadfruit was suggested, don't forget Breadnut, the type with seeds.
Jackfruit was suggested. As I remember Chempadak has better tasting seeds.
Marang and Pedali have really nice crab tasting roasted seeds.
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Sweet potatoes, Okra, malabar spinach.
Katuk? Don't you have to boil that stuff and pour off the water because of some cyanide compound? I not sure about them greens.
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Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I already have pretty much all of the perennial vegetables (except for Chaya - the one that CarolinaZone was referring to - which has to be boiled before it is safe to consume).
Among everything that was mentioned, I'm really interested in breadfruit, though I don't have the biggest yard and already have a lot of trees. Is 12x12 feasible for a breadfruit tree?
Malabar chestnut is super interesting, but I know it contains a fatty acid that is toxic and a possible carcinogen. Of course, the dose makes the poison.
Breadnut is also very interesting but, as far as I'm aware, is pretty marginal for my climate. I also don't know how I would go about finding a tree. 8-10 years is a long wait if going by seed. Plus, these are gigantic trees and I doubt I have the space. Could this one be maintained around 12x12?
I have an avocado and mamey, which were mentioned.
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Another thought. Not food but I use soap every day. In the vein of sustainable living, growing my own soap would be valuable. Does anyone have experience with soapberry? I know I’ll need a male and female. I wonder how small these trees can be maintained while still fruiting?
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In Downtown Fort Myers off MLK man there grows collard greens year round on his driveway, I was able to keep mine till May, I think the trick is to give them some shade during summer. In Georgia they also grow collards year round.
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I don't think you can beat Orinoco banana or dwarf plantain for a staple crop, except they do take up a lot of room.
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I don't think you can beat Orinoco banana or dwarf plantain for a staple crop, except they do take up a lot of room.
I once read an account of an explorer in South America who was rescued by the natives. Green bananas (probably Orinoco) and Cassava were the two staple crops they grew. Great recommendation!
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Muntingia Calabura fruits just about year round here, produces lots of small fruits
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Starfruit also a must for year round fruits
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Nutritional value of Black Sapote , also loaded with vitamins not mentioned, single fruiting tree can crop 1000+ fruit in winter season,
Calories: 111cal
Protein: 2.6g
Dietary Fiber: 15g
Carbohydrates: 34g
Calcium: 19.5mg
Sodium: 10 mg
Magnesium: 25.5mg
Phosphorus: 42mg
Potassium: 344 mg
Iron: 0.3mg
Fat: 0.8g
Vitamin A: 420IU
Vitamin C: 22mg
Also adding other southern fruiting persimmons to list, they crop heavy and loaded with vitamins and nutrients, non processed.
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SWFL here growing lots of perrenials:
Chaya
Lemongrass
Long Leaf Hibiscus
Katuk (grows like a weed and sprouts everywhere, kinda a pain)
Longivity/Okinowan Spinach/Sisso leaf Spinach
Pigeon Pea
Bananas
Pineapple
Seminole Pumpkin
Cassava
Sweet potato
Sugar cane
Jicama
Read some of David the Goods books about Florida Survival Gardening, great reads with tons of information on our climate zone.
Dont forget Coconuts are a staple food all around the tropical zones of Earth, grow em!
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From Papua New Guinea
Pit Pit
https://yandinacommunitygardens.com.au/pit-pit/
Rungia
https://www.hishtil.com/our-products/herbs/vegetative-herbs/rungia-klossii/
Also Sweet Leaf plant
https://yandinacommunitygardens.com.au/sweet-leaf-sauropus-androgynous/
Heat free " Habanero" type Capsicum chinense varieties can be very productive. Anybody growing these ?
There was a large red one like a tropical capsicum. Called Choco maybe ??
To TheVeggieProfessor, thanks for this topic.
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Heat free " Habanero" type Capsicum chinense varieties can be very productive. Anybody growing these ?
There was a large red one like a tropical capsicum. Called Choco maybe ??
This one is commercially grown across the Caribbean islands and central america. I have found it to be very good bears right through rains and droughts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuMWC7P2Tn8&t
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I appreciate the great discussion on this thread. I wonder how well rollinia fits the bill as a staple food? I hear it's very filling.
Jamaican strawberry came up as an option for a berry that - although not very filling - produces most of the year. Has anyone tried to dehydrate these? I wonder how they would work for an on-the-go snack. Mulberries are also a good choice as far as I can tell for an easy to produce berry. Berries won't fill you up, but they pack a lot of nutrition.
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I wonder how well rollinia fits the bill as a staple food? I hear it's very filling.
I never found the desert Tropical fruits very filling.
Some other people probably didn't either, as they could eat quite a few at a sitting.
Exception is probably Pouteria campechiana, Canistel, Yellow Sapote, because of its dense texture.
Maybe Diospyros, Black Sapote too, not overly sweet.
Avocado yes because of its oil content. Durian is a yes.
( watery light flesh tropical Avocados not as filling as Hass type varieties )
Dabai, Canarium odontophyllum which is something like a cross of Avocado and olive was very filling.
Pine islander, thanks for the link for Capsicum chinense, Ají Dulce en el Huerto, I knew about Aji Dulce, but that's a new one.
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Katuk? Don't you have to boil that stuff and pour off the water because of some cyanide compound? I not sure about them greens.
you're mixing it up with bamboo shoots. Katuk has no cyanide but has some papaverine-like compound that could be bad for the lungs in high concentrated volumes. [size=78%]https://www.eattheweeds.com/edible-katuk-sauropus-androgynus-2/ (https://www.eattheweeds.com/edible-katuk-sauropus-androgynus-2/)[/size] but in small amounts is safe to eat even raw and has lots of nutritional benefits.
Add cowpea to the list; it's not perennial but grows so well here for me - I got Red Ripper variety a long time ago in a bulk swap, planted seeds in the poorest location just to empty my drawer, and it surprised me with fast and generous crop. I've been growing it every summer with great results. It flourishes and produces in summer, which is one of very few veggies/beans that does so here in the 10b summer heat.
I was also able to perennialize Italian vegetable dandelions here in my raised beds. Some die after a season, but some grow a huge taproot that survives in well-draining soil. They are one of my favorite salad greens.
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Achira. (Canna edulis )
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I've been lurking a while, but feel I have to should say thanks to Veggie Prof for this thread. I'm in Melbourne, Florida trying to get exactly this kind of thing going in my little yard. Ya'll are adding lots to my lists.
Somebody already mentioned D the G so thought I'd share something he would likely add.
Whatever you do, stay away from true yams (Dioscorea family). They grow so easily that they are horribly invasive. If you aren't careful, everywhere you look there will be a vine with a big edible root under it. It would be terrible.
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Whatever you do, stay away from true yams (Dioscorea family). They grow so easily that they are horribly invasive. If you aren't careful, everywhere you look there will be a vine with a big edible root under it. It would be terrible.
Good point. You have to stay on top of collecting the bulbils. There are varities (I've seen for sale on cody cove farms) that do not produce bulbils - so that would be the way if growing yams.
Cody cove also sells a variety of chayote that is thorny and tastes like a potato - not sure if it's just the flavor or if it in fact has higher calories.
I posted about this initially, but based on my research, it seems like oyster nuts are underrated as a staple crop for tropical/subtropical climates. A vining species that produces an abundance of easily stored and nutritious nuts. Cuttings would be preferred over seeds since you need a male and a female and won't know which is which for I think a year and a half, but I haven't been able to track them down. Going to figure out a trellising system and start from seed. Excited to give it a try. They produce for 20 years I think. The nuts are encased within a pumpkin looking thing, so my hope is the squirrels don't give too much trouble (especially if I plant them in the front yard making it difficult to add the squirrels as a sustainable protein source to my diet).
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We harvested our first plant of Arracacha (Arracacia xanthorhiza ) recently,12 months after planting. The replanting is simple, there are a lot of stem tubers at the surface.
Very good flavour,used like a potato. It grows in South Florida as well,according to Eric Toensmeier ,author of " Perennial Vegetables " . It was very easy to grow here.
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We harvested our first plant of Arracacha (Arracacia xanthorhiza )
Which type are you growing in Ravenshoe ? I have eaten it years ago. I think it was the light purple type. Delicious Coconut/Parsnip Flavour.
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pagnr, This one has white flesh, with some purple speckling through it in some of the root tubers. Some were white only.
Re. the Achira (Canna edulis), the red-leaved form has nicely marked leaves. The fellow at fairdinkumseeds.com has info. on extracting the starch if you want to dry it. He lists it under Queensland Arrowroot (Canna indica ). It's native to the Andes, though,so I'm not sure how it got that name.
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He lists it under Queensland Arrowroot (Canna indica ). It's native to the Andes, though,so I'm not sure how it got that name.
Pretty sure it was grown for 'Arrowroot' flour in Queensland. Milk Arrowroot Biscuits.
"Originally from South America, it is known as Qld Arrowroot because it was once a major industry in Queensland for the production of starch and flour. Starting in 1870, by 1892 there were 300 acres under production in Coomera and Pimpana, and by 1908 the region supplied the whole country. The industry died out because the crop was not big enough to be mechanised and it was uneconomic to harvest by hand."
("enough to be mechanised and it was uneconomic to harvest by hand." means without the captured South Sea Islander and Kanaka labourers after that practice was banned)
https://www.beelarong.org.au/blog-plants-of-beelarong/2022/6/4/queensland-arrowroot-canna-edulis?rq=arrowroot
http://floreznursery.blogspot.com/2017/03/queensland-arrowrootachira-canna-edulis.html?m=1
Some say Arrowroot comes from an Andean word Araruta ??
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Thanks, pagnr. Yes, I did know that. It's my fault for being too brief with my comment. When I said " not sure " what I really meant was that it was
presumptuous of the earlier people cultivating the species here to rename it ,as it already had a name, and had been cultivated by the Peruvians for how many thousands of years. That could have called it Peruvian Arrowroot if they wanted to relay the similarity of the use of the tuber to Arrowroot.
Anyway, that's just my opinion, and thanks for the link.
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David, things might be changing ?? I recently got some nice Avocado fruit from my local supermarket. They had a small produce sticker that said AHUACATE ( not Avocado ).
Not sure if they came down from up your way ?? Looked like a skinny Hass type, but not too unusual.
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I really enjoy yuca, plantain & coconut. Sweet potatoes grow very well here but they don't taste as good as supermarket sweet potatoes. They are much more fibrous & less sweet (even after curing). They are also pretty invasive - they just come up, I don't plant them. Pineapple doesn't grow abundantly for me. I have a huge raised bed full of them for 3 yrs and most of them just languish or they fruit but the fruit doesn't make it to maturity - only have got 2 pineapples so far :(
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I really enjoy yuca, plantain & coconut. Sweet potatoes grow very well here but they don't taste as good as supermarket sweet potatoes. They are much more fibrous & less sweet (even after curing). They are also pretty invasive - they just come up, I don't plant them. Pineapple doesn't grow abundantly for me. I have a huge raised bed full of them for 3 yrs and most of them just languish or they fruit but the fruit doesn't make it to maturity - only have got 2 pineapples so far :(
Big pineapples come from big plants with long, wide leaves. They like lots of nitrogen. Maybe give them some space (at least 3' each direction) and apply high nitrogen fertilizer monthly. They have been super easy to grow here--with the exception of freezes.
One other thing, maybe they need better drainage. I have seen them rot in muck or heavy soil even as potted plants. Mine are in sandy loam.
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In my experience pineapples are easy to grow but they seldom fruit. You'll get one here and there but it's random. They'll take lots of fertilizer without being burned. It will grow a bit faster but just not a fast growing plant. They'll also survive in Florida with zero care but will be ragged and probably no fruit.
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Longevity spinach is great ground cover, super easy to grow, and has a good mild texture and taste.
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Nothing beats cooking bananas. 20% of my diet is cooking bananas, I eat them daily. I do need to grow about 1000lbs for me and my partner though. Its doable here with 10 maoli mats. Breadfruit is the next most logical. They are amazing if you know how to pick and cook them. Very filling, not sure if that will work in your climate though. There is colocasia and xanthosoma and true yams, sweet potatoes that are filling too. Check out my blog for other options but sounds like you already know a lot of your perennial vegetables. Peach palm, fruits and palm hearts, and edible bamboos. Beans, canna, cassava, Sacha inchi, and squash too
https://tropicalselfsufficiency.com/
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Nothing beats cooking bananas. 20% of my diet is cooking bananas, I eat them daily. I do need to grow about 1000lbs for me and my partner though. Its doable here with 10 maoli mats. Breadfruit is the next most logical. They are amazing if you know how to pick and cook them. Very filling, not sure if that will work in your climate though. There is colocasia and xanthosoma and true yams, sweet potatoes that are filling too. Check out my blog for other options but sounds like you already know a lot of your perennial vegetables. Peach palm, fruits and palm hearts, and edible bamboos. Beans, canna, cassava, Sacha inchi, and squash too
https://tropicalselfsufficiency.com/
By the way Spencer, I have enjoyed reading your website in the past. There is lots of good information, especially your post in bananas. The pictures showing the various deficiencies are very helpful.
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I agree with Spencer that cooking bananas/plantains are the best carb source you can grow in the tropics/subtropics. I'm still looking for the perfect variety for my house. I have a hua moa plant since I've heard that is very good, but I'm looking for a regular plantain variety as well. How do you normally prepare them?
For me thai basil is amazing. I know it's not a source of carbs but it grows year round very well.
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I really enjoy yuca, plantain & coconut. Sweet potatoes grow very well here but they don't taste as good as supermarket sweet potatoes. They are much more fibrous & less sweet (even after curing). They are also pretty invasive - they just come up, I don't plant them. Pineapple doesn't grow abundantly for me. I have a huge raised bed full of them for 3 yrs and most of them just languish or they fruit but the fruit doesn't make it to maturity - only have got 2 pineapples so far :(
Big pineapples come from big plants with long, wide leaves. They like lots of nitrogen. Maybe give them some space (at least 3' each direction) and apply high nitrogen fertilizer monthly. They have been super easy to grow here--with the exception of freezes.
One other thing, maybe they need better drainage. I have seen them rot in muck or heavy soil even as potted plants. Mine are in sandy loam.
Ty for the advice. I need to start taking better care of them and being more pro-active but I'm so busy :(
The two sugarloaf pineapples that I had over a year ago were amazing. This year 3 fruit but the fruits ripened before they reached maturity - not sure why.
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Nothing beats cooking bananas. 20% of my diet is cooking bananas, I eat them daily. I do need to grow about 1000lbs for me and my partner though. Its doable here with 10 maoli mats. Breadfruit is the next most logical. They are amazing if you know how to pick and cook them. Very filling, not sure if that will work in your climate though. There is colocasia and xanthosoma and true yams, sweet potatoes that are filling too. Check out my blog for other options but sounds like you already know a lot of your perennial vegetables. Peach palm, fruits and palm hearts, and edible bamboos. Beans, canna, cassava, Sacha inchi, and squash too
https://tropicalselfsufficiency.com/
By the way Spencer, I have enjoyed reading your website in the past. There is lots of good information, especially your post in bananas. The pictures showing the various deficiencies are very helpful.
Thanks! Trying to spread information as I learn
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I agree with Spencer that cooking bananas/plantains are the best carb source you can grow in the tropics/subtropics. I'm still looking for the perfect variety for my house. I have a hua moa plant since I've heard that is very good, but I'm looking for a regular plantain variety as well. How do you normally prepare them?
For me thai basil is amazing. I know it's not a source of carbs but it grows year round very well.
Huamoa is a great variety, however its a bit of a novelty. I've only had the banana for one cycle and it made a 15lb rack and only 4 hands. As a food source other popo'ulu are more productive. However if you got a huamoa to make a normal type rack then it would be a good food source. But I personally prefer the red trunked popo'ulu as food. Mine made a 50lb rack in a non fertile spot. My next generation is about to flower in a much more cared for location. I'm hoping to get a rack over 65lbs. We shall see. But I love the quick cycle of popoulu. From planting to harvest in 9-10 months. My maoli take 2 years, but give 100lb racks.
I prefer all my bananas cooked, I don't even care to eat them sweet at this point.
Utilizing green: We cut off the tips, slice superficially through the skin, then peel. Then cut into sizeable chunks and boil for 20 minutes. Then take it out, split lengthwise into quarters and then its prepared. We usually freeze them at this point. Great for fries, or mash, or Currys and soups. Use like a potato
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3CwPSn1yDI
Some good info on growing pineapples from the White Sugarloaf farm.
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Groundnut (apios americana or prieceana), Jicama (pachyrizus sp.s), dioscorea sp., sweet corn root (calathea allouia), texas ebony (ebenopsis ebano), malabar chestnut. what about oil crops? such as acorns, cocoplums, oil palms, macadamia,. there have to be some many other nuts as well..
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Groundnut (apios americana or prieceana), Jicama (pachyrizus sp.s), dioscorea sp., sweet corn root (calathea allouia), texas ebony (ebenopsis ebano), malabar chestnut. what about oil crops? such as acorns, cocoplums, oil palms, macadamia,. there have to be some many other nuts as well..
I commented earlier about oyster nuts. I'm planning on trying to find some seeds and trying it out next Spring. Sacha inchi seems like a great candidate as well, though I know it's a pain to process the nuts (as is the case for many nuts).
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Reviving this oldish thread to see anyone's thoughts on adding tropical almonds to the mix. We have room for a big shade tree. I was thinking about breadfruit or paradise nut, but they are marginal for my area. Tropical almond is not. It it a serious staple?
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I've never grown nuts (and barely grown anything else) so I'm not sure what would constitute a serious staple from them. I've got a big tropical almond. It fills with leaves and nuts twice a year (and drops every leaf onto the path from my driveway as often, haha). If I gathered them, I'm guessing a five gallon bucket's worth. Processing is a significant pain. Most of the seed is corky, floaty fiber, then a nut inside, smaller than an almond. Actually a pretty tasty nut.
I don't harvest mine regularly, mainly just to interest my kids and their friends. If I got serious about it, I'd guess two afternoons work would yield a quart of tropical almonds from my large tree.
I realize that all sounds negative, so let me throw some love toward my poor trop almond. When it's got leaves on it, it really is a nice looking, tremendously good shade tree. And all said, it was saved from the chainsaw only because I had a permaculture awakening (i.e. carpets of leaves 2x/year are actually a blessing) and I discovered it makes food (even if I don't harvest it for sheer laziness.
Helpful rambling?
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Black eye peas and cucumber berry wild produce year round there. Many melon types would do well too.
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I have had good success with Xanthosoma sagittifolium as a root crop. Common english name is Tannia, common Spanish names are malanga or Yautia. This is different from Taro which is Colocasia esculenta. The Xanthosoma is a native american plant, takes much longer than the large taro and needs far less water. It also keeps in the ground much better. You can eat the cormels like potatoes, and even the large 4 inch diameter stems are edible. They work in fairly shady spots within fruit tree areas but just outside the canopy. I got a start with grocery store cormels but within a few years I have unlimited planting material at any time.
The big advantage is they are available year round and can be dug and used whenever, versus cassava which goes bad quickly after harvest or gets hard if left too long in the ground, or yams which have limited dormancy and are unavailable mch of the year.
The second best new staple I am growing is an edible Dioscorea bulbifera yam. This came from India originally but mine was sent from Puerto Rico. This is a completely edible type of "air potato" which is the bane of Florida, except is an edible form, very smooth skin and good eating. While seasonal the same as other yams this one is perennial in the ground and you never have to dig the "mother", just pick the potatoes off the vine. I put in a 100 ft row on a fence last year.
(https://i.postimg.cc/5HWMV0CT/20220923-141008-1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/5HWMV0CT)
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Pine, are you selling any of the edible bulbifera?
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I have had good success with Xanthosoma sagittifolium as a root crop. Common english name is Tannia, common Spanish names are malanga or Yautia. This is different from Taro which is Colocasia esculenta. The Xanthosoma is a native american plant, takes much longer than the large taro and needs far less water. It also keeps in the ground much better. You can eat the cormels like potatoes, and even the large 4 inch diameter stems are edible. They work in fairly shady spots within fruit tree areas but just outside the canopy. I got a start with grocery store cormels but within a few years I have unlimited planting material at any time.
The big advantage is they are available year round and can be dug and used whenever, versus cassava which goes bad quickly after harvest or gets hard if left too long in the ground, or yams which have limited dormancy and are unavailable mch of the year.
The second best new staple I am growing is an edible Dioscorea bulbifera yam. This came from India originally but mine was sent from Puerto Rico. This is a completely edible type of "air potato" which is the bane of Florida, except is an edible form, very smooth skin and good eating. While seasonal the same as other yams this one is perennial in the ground and you never have to dig the "mother", just pick the potatoes off the vine. I put in a 100 ft row on a fence last year.
(https://i.postimg.cc/5HWMV0CT/20220923-141008-1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/5HWMV0CT)
This sounds incredible. I'm assuming the above ground growth is as aggressive as any other true yam? And it goes dormant in the winter?
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Malanga is a wonderful food. We use it like potato, always put in soups, and make malanga chips in the air fryer. Soothing to stomach as well. Did not realize it grew so well here, gonna throw some in the dirt and see what happens. Thanks!
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Malanga is a wonderful food. We use it like potato, always put in soups, and make malanga chips in the air fryer. Soothing to stomach as well. Did not realize it grew so well here, gonna throw some in the dirt and see what happens. Thanks!
Do you boil it before cooking with it? I've read that the oxolates can cause mouth irritation.
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While we often boil it, when air or pan frying, we do not pre-boil. Never noticed any problems.
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Yes, grows just like the air potato or other yams and dormant in winter. I don't have any left this season. There should be a lot next fall. This is what they looked like on the fence just before Hurricane Ian blew them all off:
(https://i.postimg.cc/ZBtnXc22/20220923-140944-1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/ZBtnXc22)
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Yes, grows just like the air potato or other yams and dormant in winter. I don't have any left this season. There should be a lot next fall. This is what they looked like on the fence just before Hurricane Ian blew them all off:
(https://i.postimg.cc/ZBtnXc22/20220923-140944-1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/ZBtnXc22)
Great setup!
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I'm trying to estimate the total seed yield of a jackfruit tree to estimate how many calories and grams of protein jackfruit trees yield per square foot. I thought I'd post it in this thread rather than starting a new one, since it is part of my plants to grow more of my own staple foods. Obviously the answer depends on a lot of factors (varieties, conditions, etc)., but on average, any ideas what the seed yield of a jackfruit tree is?
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The resources listed on this website, especially the third one, will likely be of great interest to those interested in this topic:
http://www.perennialsolutions.org/subtropical-species-resources
Has anyone ever tried growing maya breadnut or tahitian chestnut in south florida?