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  • From: Claudia Joseph <permie@earthlink.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] japanese potato or yam culture
  • Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:31:26 -0400

I experiment a bit. I used a cage made of chicken wire, just like those recommended for white potatoes. I pulled a yam out of the compost. I put it next to a chain link fence in light shade. As the vine grew I added a mix of compost and straw to the cage. It was watered frequently. The vine was bushy and about 30 feet long. It rooted in some places where it lay on the ground. It was quite aggressive. The first potatoes I dug were edible. I trimmed the vine back and about a week later, harvested the rest. There were quite a few and big ones. They were so bitter that I composted them. What happened?

The Coop sells jewel and garnet yams right next to the box labeled Japanese Sweet Potatoes. These look like yams. They have dense, light but not white colored flesh. They are generally long and narrow. They don't fall apart when cooked, so they are good for miso soup. They were popular in CA where I was told that they like heat and sand.

I know that potatoes and yams are in different families. It appears that they can be cultivated the same way. I suspect that the compost contributed to the bitterness. Does this happen with cucumbers too? I have loads of compost but no extra soil. We garden on a rubble site.

Claudia
Brooklyn, NY


On Jun 27, 2007, at 6:07 PM, Dieter Brand wrote:

Claudia,

I didn’t know that you can grow sweet potatoes above the ground.
Can you explain how it is done. And how are the Japanese
sweet potatoes different from other sweet potatoes. I used
to live in Japan, but didn’t do any gardening then.

Dieter Brand
Portugal

Claudia Joseph <permie@earthlink.net> wrote:
I had a problem with japanese sweet potatos - they were bitter.
I had heard that they do well in sand but I used compost and straw in
the above ground cage because I had it.
Also, some that I picked earlier were sweeter. The vine was
extremely vigorous and dark green.
Anyone know the specifics?

Claudia

On Jun 27, 2007, at 1:23 PM, Charles de Matas wrote:

Thanks Lisa and others for the tip on growing potatoes. The first
time I
heard of this was from the Nearings' book. I've been wondering
what other
people's experience were with this method. I don't grow potatoes,
but I
have compacted clay soil and would like to grow sweet potatoes.
Maybe I'll
try it with sweet potatoes.

Charles



<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Lisa in Oregon
wrote:
We use old hay, tucking it up around the plants as they grow so just
a few inches of leaves peek out, leaving some in flakes, and shoving
some down between the stems as they get large. I toss on weeds from
other areas too. We grow in beds and the mulch gets 2' high, might
be harder in rows. It eats up several bales for 100sgft. I bury the
seed potatoes barely below the soil level (clay), the potatoes grow on
the dirt-mulch boundary and if the mulch isn't think enough, the
potatoes get green. We don't seem to end up with weed problems using
old hay for potatoes (but then, this is all drip, no rain). When
potatoes are harvested the mulch is reused on winter crops.


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