Yams grow wild in florida. I watched a video years ago with Pete Kanaris filming two guys dig up wild yams and they were growing at the base of trees found by seeing the vines growing up the tree. The yam they dug up weighed 300+ pounds.
The clearance rack had cans of sweet potatoes and cans of yams. The ingredients on the sweet potatoes was sweet potatoes and the ingredients on the yams was sweet potatoes.
Because of your videos I'm obsessed with growing yams. I have about six different varieties in my 9B garden. Some have come from my Publix supermarket.
In my family's backyard in Haiti (around 1 acre), we used to have enough yams to eat EVERY SINGLE DAY, from January to June for a family of 4. Truly a beast of a crop
I just got some Alata bulbils, still in my po box, getting them today, live on the Big Island, excited, wife thinks I'm nuts... Still.... Lol God bless!! And thanks for good vids.. Hey, when's your hilarious "scientist guy" gonna make another appearance?
I grow dioscorea alata in zone 7b Virginia. Never risked them in ground over the winter. I dig them up after the killing frost finishes the vines and plant them back once the tubers sprout. I haven't really eaten them much, but they grow well for me here. I just found a bulbil the other day that I had missed in some weeds, still firm. It benefited from being in contact with the soil, it was BIG!
I do love a good low effort crop. That's why I plant arugula going into the cool season. It handles all kinds of weather and just grows. Great source of vitamins and minerals.
Real talk bro. In Trinidad we mainly have 2 types of yam , white and yellow. They are so excellent we haven't really bothered to look for other types. You have encouraged me to seek out more varieties asap. What you keep teaching us in every video seems to be rule No 1. In planting. Grow what likes your climate and soil type. My experience is typical , years of trying to grow what is popular with dismal results. I value my mistakes as learning. My grandma used to tell me " Like who like you ! " 😂😂 Seems like advice for everything in life. Blessed.
Where I come from yam is a staple diet. Ferguson Island in Papua New Guinea. It takes 9 months to grow. I am so encouraged. I will grow in my urban home.
Yam and cassava are incredible survival crops! So easy to grow, massive harvest...the only downside is that they have poor storage life after harvest, but on the other hand you don't have to harvest them all at once, it's possible to spread the harvest over several weeks or even months...you can dig out just what you need for a week or two of consumption, then go back and dig out some more...
Funny to come home from the grocery store and finding this video. I was disappointed at the Family Fare supermarket where they had a sign saying "Yams" on sale (as in dioscorea), but upon closer inspection I noticed they looked exactly like the sweet potatoes (as in ipomoea batatas) I seen at Walmart last week. I looked for a manager to point out the mistake but he just said "sorry if we are out of yams. We get another produce delivery next Thursday, come back for some yams then." At home I told my sister about that mislabeled produce and she said "I don't buy or eat any of them because I don't know what that is." She wouldn't eat anything that she didn't grow up with a long time ago in Germany. I remember my ex-sister-in-law, when we were still a family, introduced me to what she called yams. By now I know they always were sweet potatoes. Topping them sweet tubers heavily with marshmallows and serving them on every holiday or party was a tradition. Why do we have so many overweight and stupid people in town?
Off Grid With Doug and Stacy spoke last night of your recommendation on Seeds For Generations. I live in FL and want to know where I may buy some of these wonderful yams you speak of. Thank you for this great tip! Many blessings to you and your family.
Try any spanish market/ farmers market. Also publix frequently has true yam for sale. Just eat 75 percent of the yam and save the end with the point. Plant and repeat.
I bought mine at Publix in Palatka fl and I would wager (if I gambled) that all Publix have them. Look for “Name” which is pronounced Nah-May. Publix had multiple varieties and I chose the cheapest per pound. Grew thorny vines but the thorns were soft.
Would you do a video on preparing and cooking yams? We would love to see the variety of ways that your family incorporates yams into your diet/meals. I've watched and read other videos and articles but you always provide the best information. Merry Christmas!
Attn failed content creators with cooking skills. There is a demand for cooking shows that show us culinary heathens how to cook these unique Florida crops. I know I would subscribe.
I wasn’t calling anyone failed, just saying those who are looking for a content genre that has a high potential demand, a cooking show for unique crops could be a money maker.
Here in SC, sweet potatoes are a huge crop. The sweet potatoes are sold everywhere as sweet potatoes. Yet, lol, the have a yam festival every year celebrating the sweet potatoes. 😂 love some sweet taters!
THANK YOU David to talk about survival food🧡 Especially loved the part when you say they are hidden and noone can see how much food you have in the ground🙃 Tubers are an essential part of our Tropical Food Forest, as optional staple food, backup food, survival food👍🏼
Thanks.I caught the end of your live yam stream the other day,started looking into Dioscorea alata here in New Zealand,they call them purple yams,I grow the Oca, Oxalis tuberosa and the whole family loves them roasted.
I have always preferred the less sweet yams to sweet potatoes. Boil 'em, drain, mash with salt, pepper, and butter. They're great. Add eggs to make fried yamcakes. Mix with meat and veggies for a delicious stew. Thanks for all the info in this great video.
I'm in central Florida and started growing yellow and white pure yam from a Latin market because they are cheaper than the African and Caribbean markets. I grow my yams from cuttings similar to sweet potatoes slips. I fell in love with them when I visited Nigeria. They taste like white potatoes but very thick .
I recently ordered some Chinese yams to try here in coastal Maine. They should be cold hardy from what I've read. The length of winter here seems to cause more problems for marginal perennials than the cold. Never hurts to try!
Speaking to the hardyness of this: I got a big chunk of True Yam from an African guy at a farmer's market years ago. He said he had just dug it up in the woods nearby. That seemed so unlikely at the time, but now that I know the plant I've seen it growing in a swampy vacant lot right near my house! It has been neglected in my yard since then and has never given up. Recently I had a tree cut down, and the stump ground, and some of that original Yam got ground up by the stump guy. It had become big and terrifying, like a knobby pumpkin with roots everywhere. WELL in the Spring a surprising number of vines started popping up! I dug up a few that were growing out of a little piece of bark, like the size of a stamp, a big wad of roots going down, and a vine going up, and about nothing in between. Bigger pieces had grown into roughly a potato, and it's only been a few months. Last year I encouraged a few vines to climb a tree, and those seemed happy, and made a lot of bulbils that got to be like potatoes. So, abuse and neglect doesn't kill them, I now want to see how they do if they are actually encouraged! I mostly keep the bulbils for planting, but you can eat them, too! FUJIAN GRANDMA has a video about cooking the bulbils in quantity for a rugged snack. She also addressed Amaranth and Jicama, and probably a few other things that grow in FLorida: ua-cam.com/video/Y2A3B5V_XwU/v-deo.html
I bought two Dioscorea rotundata tubers (aka, white yam, Guinea yam, or West African yam) from an Asian grocery store in NW Louisiana in the first week of October. I covered them with half-way moist planting mix in two large pots, figuring to keep them dormant in my attached garage until Spring. It seems the planting mix was moister than needed, since the tubers started sending up shoots in a couple of weeks. I moved them to a couple of much larger pots, maybe 12-15 gallon size and am letting them grow on bamboo poles to see if I can keep them alive until Spring. After looking back on some of David's previous yam videos I figure I had the potting mix too moist so it encouraged the tubers to get growing. So -- I bought two more tubers several weeks ago and are keeping them covered in some very barely moist composted bark shreds, which seems to be letting them stay dormant, but it's cooler now in the garage. In one of David's vids he mentioned storing his in barely moist straw or compost in buckets for the winter.
Online they want 50 bucks and 12 for shipping and reviews are low. Typical scam. It took me years to get actual Tiny Tim tomatoes then I discovered the pictures are misleading and they can and DO grow 2 or more feet tall. So I guess I won`t be eating yams. Our stores in central Louisiana have nothing but the normal half rotted garbage so I no longer go to stores. Can`t afford to on disability. The weather lately has made growing food nearly impossible. I paid over 30 dollars for sun chokes to discover they can`t be grown in Louisiana without special care except in pots. I don`t have 5000 dollars for potting soil. I bought three types to try to grow a few things in pots and the soil killed everything. So I tried very expensive "organic" potting soil and got a bag of muddy bark.
Living just north of Montreal QC. I doubt I could grow yams of any sort BUT Jerusalem Artichoke does very well . I get a harvest in fall and another in spring. Anything i miss will take over with a vengeance. Mashed Sun-chokes is a bit soppy but steamed or even raw they are amazing.
I paid over 30 dollars for 5 tiny tubers of it only to discover they can`t be grown in Louisiana without special care except in pots. I don`t have 5000 dollars for potting soil.
You may have been sold a bad variety. I got my tubers from the grocery store for the kitchen . I kept one as an experiment .Little did I realize. Bottom line is grow invasive food that thrives in your zone. @@baneverything5580
Hi, In my island Puerto Rico i grow up eating "yuca, batata, yautia, malanga" this are spanish names, im kind of confused. I think is yams but with hispanic names. My father had the whole yard with this plants. And we ate with rice and beans, soups or fish. And let me include green bananas and plantains too. Maybe you are talking about the same kind.
Ñames! they were my favorite in Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico we have multiple varieties of ñames. Some are less sour than others. (I did grew carrots here in central Florida and I had good luck. Yes, there are pest that attack ñames. The easiest ñame to grow in Puerto Rico is the wild ñame or as we called ñame burro. They grow huge. I love the texture of yams is delicious :)
I just found your channel. I love your content, so laid back and simplistic about gardening with a side of comic relief. Thank you! I’m going to have to try growing yams up here in the Rockies.
David, Thanks to you I now know what a “true” yam is, and have just harvested my first one two days ago in zone 10 SW Florida! Original came from Publix supermarket under the name of “Name.”😃 Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks for another interesting vid. They don't seem to be so easy to get here in Australia. I'd love to get my hands on some Dioscorea Alata. I have sweet potatoes growing wild, but would love me some true yams 😊
@@MeMe-zf8bg Thank you so very much, Me Me. You would not believe it, I just found and ordered one from eBay yesterday! I definitely would have taken you up otherwise. 🙏🙏🙏
Hi there- we live in Central FL and are growing yams thanks to you (purple variety) but have no idea how to cook it. I see several dessert recipes online but I am not interested in this as a dessert but more of a survival crop. Any helpful hints would be appreciated. Thanks very much.
I've gotten more curious about yams, especially since seeing your interest in them. I'm also in zone 8b here in western Oregon, but my summers are shorter and not as hot or wet as yours. If alata takes four to five months to get going, we'd maybe have a month or two left for them to grow before the cold weather really sets in. I've also been looking into the hardier species like japonica and polystachya. The more I think about it, the more I feel like I should just get some of each and see how each perform. As an alternative calorie crop, I've considered sunchokes. They have a reputation for causing serious flatulence, but I've heard lactofermenting them removes the saccharides responsible for the gas and results in a food product like a starchy water chestnut.
I grow a Chinese yam in a compost bin with open top, makes the harvest a little easier. They are next to my walnut tree, really a plant and forget type of crop. I live in Germany, temperate climate
Last year I did purchase Name tubers from the Organic food section, cut, dusted with ash, then planted. They are doing well; putting out vines; but good to know they probably won't overwinter, so I need to harvest them prior. I may leave a few to see if my conditions might allow overwintering.
I live and grow UBE (Purple Yam) here in the Philippines. I am surprised at how large and deep they can grow. Have you done experiments on different soil or by modifying it to be more loamy! I dug up one yesterday that was nearly 3 ft deep in tacky gooey clay at that level. It was only 16 lbs but I can imagine it being much bigger If I had prepared a softer soil. This harvest started life 9 months ago as a 2" piece of UBE.
USA doesnt have this. I am at awe how beautiful they are.🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
I am in south central Texas below San Antonio. It’s very hot and dry. In fact I’m in a little microclimate where it rains even less than all around me and the sun just seems to be sooo intense. I am trying yams. I have alata bulbifera and opposita. They are living ok in full sun on trellises with regular watering but look much better growing on the east side of my oak trees. Not directly under them but just enough to get shade from about 2 pm. I am wondering if the ones in full sun will do better next year if I leave them there.
You’ve got a very challenging climate there! I live in N W Arkansas, zone 6. I grow both D. Alata and D. Polystachya. I grow both kinds in 20 gallon pots as we are extremely rocky. At harvest time in the fall, I collect the aerial bulbils and then tip the yam tubers out of the pots. I will hold back some D alata tubers inside in a cool dark place for replanting. I can also easily get more yams at my local ethnic markets. We love the flavor of D alata. D Polystachya is hardy to Zone 5 so I just put tuber cuttings back into the pots to overwinter outside. These yams need to be peeled and are slimy. No worries though. I purée them in the food processor and make them into waffles and yam cakes! I freeze these. A favorite food. Good luck!
What do you think of the new growing zones. I am not to sure I was zone 7 now they say I am zone 8 . last year we got down to 3 below and killed a lot of garden plants. where do you find yams to grow.
Yeah.... I gave up growing carrots several years ago. The results we got were pathetic. I figure if we eat winter squash and sweet potatoes, we won't be losing out on anything nutritionally. I think in my garden that Jerusalem artichokes is a wonderful survival food. I fermented some this fall and oh my goodness they made wonderful crisp pickles! Wash them well, cut into nice chunks, half fill a glass jar with the chunks. Add some dill seed and mustard seed and a bit of garlic. Fill the rest of the way with chunks. Mix 1 Tablespoon salt per cup of water and cover them with the brine. Fix up a way to keep them under the liquid and put on a lid. Then, let them sit until they are "done." Refrigerate. So, where can I get the yam starts? I live in Zone 5.
I am currently obsessed with this highly nutritious tasty vegetable that I honestly wouldn't mind eating every day. It's an often overlooked vegetable, possibly due to the fact that it is such a great vegetable. The best part is it has 3.6X less calories than a normal russet potato, so you can eat 3.6X as much without affecting your BMI! This glorious Vegetable is known as the Cucurbita pepo, and I think everyone should grow at least an Acre of it, per person. Isn't that such a wonderful name? I could say it all day, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita pepo. Say that ten times fast. Don't you shake your head... that's rude.
David, I am very interested in some white dioscorea alata bulbils. However, due to not being very familiar with the breed I am scared of buying the wrong variety online form well-intended sellers. Do you ever sell them in your Etsy store? Or know somewhere I can find them? I am in Zone 8 central Alabama. Thank you.
You need to find a twin that's a zone 4 gardener and youtuber. There are some up here, but they don't know enough and don't work at youtubing enough! Most of what you say is very interesting but isn't something I can do!
I`m on disability. How can I get a start of zone 8 types without paying a massive fortune? It took me over two years of getting scammed to get actual Tiny Tim tomatoes! My amaranth seeds that were supposed to be red flowers were invasive pig weed. I just want to grow food.
Ya’ll should do a yam cooking video where you prepare them in several different ways and maybe do a side by side with potatoes. That would be awesome!
Yams grow wild in florida. I watched a video years ago with Pete Kanaris filming two guys dig up wild yams and they were growing at the base of trees found by seeing the vines growing up the tree. The yam they dug up weighed 300+ pounds.
I have a very sweet friend that gave me some bulbils that he found forging here in central Florida, they're growing nicely! 🤩
Geez, if the apocalypse hits, you could probably live for years on foraged yams.
Those are different yams. They are wild.
The clearance rack had cans of sweet potatoes and cans of yams. The ingredients on the sweet potatoes was sweet potatoes and the ingredients on the yams was sweet potatoes.
I moved to Kansas from Jamaica 22 years ago. The idea of growing yams in the midwest is very appealing.
Because of your videos I'm obsessed with growing yams. I have about six different varieties in my 9B garden. Some have come from my Publix supermarket.
Where do you purchase these yams ?
In my family's backyard in Haiti (around 1 acre), we used to have enough yams to eat EVERY SINGLE DAY, from January to June for a family of 4. Truly a beast of a crop
I just got some Alata bulbils, still in my po box, getting them today, live on the Big Island, excited, wife thinks I'm nuts... Still.... Lol
God bless!! And thanks for good vids..
Hey, when's your hilarious "scientist guy" gonna make another appearance?
Show us how you chop and cook it. Cheers
I grow dioscorea alata in zone 7b Virginia. Never risked them in ground over the winter. I dig them up after the killing frost finishes the vines and plant them back once the tubers sprout. I haven't really eaten them much, but they grow well for me here. I just found a bulbil the other day that I had missed in some weeds, still firm. It benefited from being in contact with the soil, it was BIG!
I do love a good low effort crop. That's why I plant arugula going into the cool season. It handles all kinds of weather and just grows. Great source of vitamins and minerals.
This video is more pure than a brick of gold
Real talk bro. In Trinidad we mainly have 2 types of yam , white and yellow. They are so excellent we haven't really bothered to look for other types. You have encouraged me to seek out more varieties asap. What you keep teaching us in every video seems to be rule No 1. In planting. Grow what likes your climate and soil type. My experience is typical , years of trying to grow what is popular with dismal results. I value my mistakes as learning. My grandma used to tell me " Like who like you ! " 😂😂
Seems like advice for everything in life.
Blessed.
Where I come from yam is a staple diet. Ferguson Island in Papua New Guinea.
It takes 9 months to grow. I am so encouraged. I will grow in my urban home.
Yes! There are many species there.
Yam and cassava are incredible survival crops! So easy to grow, massive harvest...the only downside is that they have poor storage life after harvest, but on the other hand you don't have to harvest them all at once, it's possible to spread the harvest over several weeks or even months...you can dig out just what you need for a week or two of consumption, then go back and dig out some more...
Funny to come home from the grocery store and finding this video. I was disappointed at the Family Fare supermarket where they had a sign saying "Yams" on sale (as in dioscorea), but upon closer inspection I noticed they looked exactly like the sweet potatoes (as in ipomoea batatas) I seen at Walmart last week. I looked for a manager to point out the mistake but he just said "sorry if we are out of yams. We get another produce delivery next Thursday, come back for some yams then." At home I told my sister about that mislabeled produce and she said "I don't buy or eat any of them because I don't know what that is." She wouldn't eat anything that she didn't grow up with a long time ago in Germany. I remember my ex-sister-in-law, when we were still a family, introduced me to what she called yams. By now I know they always were sweet potatoes. Topping them sweet tubers heavily with marshmallows and serving them on every holiday or party was a tradition. Why do we have so many overweight and stupid people in town?
Off Grid With Doug and Stacy spoke last night of your recommendation on Seeds For Generations. I live in FL and want to know where I may buy some of these wonderful yams you speak of. Thank you for this great tip! Many blessings to you and your family.
Try any spanish market/ farmers market. Also publix frequently has true yam for sale. Just eat 75 percent of the yam and save the end with the point. Plant and repeat.
I bought mine at Publix in Palatka fl and I would wager (if I gambled) that all Publix have them. Look for “Name” which is pronounced Nah-May. Publix had multiple varieties and I chose the cheapest per pound. Grew thorny vines but the thorns were soft.
@@Theway2028 yup
I got mine from Publix too! I’m in zone 10.
@@johnliberty3647 Thank you for this. I will be on the hunt at Publix now.
Would you do a video on preparing and cooking yams? We would love to see the variety of ways that your family incorporates yams into your diet/meals. I've watched and read other videos and articles but you always provide the best information. Merry Christmas!
Attn failed content creators with cooking skills. There is a demand for cooking shows that show us culinary heathens how to cook these unique Florida crops. I know I would subscribe.
I wasn’t calling anyone failed, just saying those who are looking for a content genre that has a high potential demand, a cooking show for unique crops could be a money maker.
Can't wait to give these guys in Canada thanks for the info
Have you done a yam song? ;)
I need2 grow yams!!!😊Convincing video.
Here in SC, sweet potatoes are a huge crop. The sweet potatoes are sold everywhere as sweet potatoes. Yet, lol, the have a yam festival every year celebrating the sweet potatoes. 😂 love some sweet taters!
Yeah... those aren't real yams! But they're still worth having a festival over.
I discovered true yams through your videos and books, I am now just as obsessed with them as you are 😄😁👌
THANK YOU David to talk about survival food🧡 Especially loved the part when you say they are hidden and noone can see how much food you have in the ground🙃 Tubers are an essential part of our Tropical Food Forest, as optional staple food, backup food, survival food👍🏼
Hello wild knowledgeable man. Dwayne from North Atlanta Georgia. Where can I get dioscorea alots....AI.. not as smart as us.
Thanks.I caught the end of your live yam stream the other day,started looking into Dioscorea alata here in New Zealand,they call them purple yams,I grow the Oca, Oxalis tuberosa and the whole family loves them roasted.
I have always preferred the less sweet yams to sweet potatoes. Boil 'em, drain, mash with salt, pepper, and butter. They're great. Add eggs to make fried yamcakes. Mix with meat and veggies for a delicious stew. Thanks for all the info in this great video.
I'm in central Florida and started growing yellow and white pure yam from a Latin market because they are cheaper than the African and Caribbean markets. I grow my yams from cuttings similar to sweet potatoes slips. I fell in love with them when I visited Nigeria. They taste like white potatoes but very thick .
I recently ordered some Chinese yams to try here in coastal Maine. They should be cold hardy from what I've read. The length of winter here seems to cause more problems for marginal perennials than the cold. Never hurts to try!
I had a friend from El Salvador and he said sweet potatoes grew wild there. They handle heat very well. They are a tropical plant.
Can yams be stored in basement all winter?
Hello 👋 Great video 🌿
I sure wish yams would grow up here in NE Oklahoma.
Speaking to the hardyness of this: I got a big chunk of True Yam from an African guy at a farmer's market years ago. He said he had just dug it up in the woods nearby. That seemed so unlikely at the time, but now that I know the plant I've seen it growing in a swampy vacant lot right near my house! It has been neglected in my yard since then and has never given up. Recently I had a tree cut down, and the stump ground, and some of that original Yam got ground up by the stump guy. It had become big and terrifying, like a knobby pumpkin with roots everywhere. WELL in the Spring a surprising number of vines started popping up! I dug up a few that were growing out of a little piece of bark, like the size of a stamp, a big wad of roots going down, and a vine going up, and about nothing in between. Bigger pieces had grown into roughly a potato, and it's only been a few months. Last year I encouraged a few vines to climb a tree, and those seemed happy, and made a lot of bulbils that got to be like potatoes. So, abuse and neglect doesn't kill them, I now want to see how they do if they are actually encouraged! I mostly keep the bulbils for planting, but you can eat them, too! FUJIAN GRANDMA has a video about cooking the bulbils in quantity for a rugged snack. She also addressed Amaranth and Jicama, and probably a few other things that grow in FLorida: ua-cam.com/video/Y2A3B5V_XwU/v-deo.html
I bought two Dioscorea rotundata tubers (aka, white yam, Guinea yam, or West African yam) from an Asian grocery store in NW Louisiana in the first week of October. I covered them with half-way moist planting mix in two large pots, figuring to keep them dormant in my attached garage until Spring. It seems the planting mix was moister than needed, since the tubers started sending up shoots in a couple of weeks. I moved them to a couple of much larger pots, maybe 12-15 gallon size and am letting them grow on bamboo poles to see if I can keep them alive until Spring. After looking back on some of David's previous yam videos I figure I had the potting mix too moist so it encouraged the tubers to get growing. So -- I bought two more tubers several weeks ago and are keeping them covered in some very barely moist composted bark shreds, which seems to be letting them stay dormant, but it's cooler now in the garage. In one of David's vids he mentioned storing his in barely moist straw or compost in buckets for the winter.
Online they want 50 bucks and 12 for shipping and reviews are low. Typical scam. It took me years to get actual Tiny Tim tomatoes then I discovered the pictures are misleading and they can and DO grow 2 or more feet tall. So I guess I won`t be eating yams. Our stores in central Louisiana have nothing but the normal half rotted garbage so I no longer go to stores. Can`t afford to on disability. The weather lately has made growing food nearly impossible. I paid over 30 dollars for sun chokes to discover they can`t be grown in Louisiana without special care except in pots. I don`t have 5000 dollars for potting soil. I bought three types to try to grow a few things in pots and the soil killed everything. So I tried very expensive "organic" potting soil and got a bag of muddy bark.
Living just north of Montreal QC. I doubt I could grow yams of any sort BUT Jerusalem Artichoke does very well . I get a harvest in fall and another in spring. Anything i miss will take over with a vengeance. Mashed Sun-chokes is a bit soppy but steamed or even raw they are amazing.
I paid over 30 dollars for 5 tiny tubers of it only to discover they can`t be grown in Louisiana without special care except in pots. I don`t have 5000 dollars for potting soil.
You may have been sold a bad variety. I got my tubers from the grocery store for the kitchen . I kept one as an experiment .Little did I realize. Bottom line is grow invasive food that thrives in your zone. @@baneverything5580
Hi, In my island Puerto Rico i grow up eating "yuca, batata, yautia, malanga" this are spanish names, im kind of confused. I think is yams but with hispanic names. My father had the whole yard with this plants. And we ate with rice and beans, soups or fish. And let me include green bananas and plantains too. Maybe you are talking about the same kind.
This is called names de monte because it grows wild in PR AND ALL OVER THE CARIBE it was use as survival food
Ñames! they were my favorite in Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico we have multiple varieties of ñames. Some are less sour than others. (I did grew carrots here in central Florida and I had good luck. Yes, there are pest that attack ñames. The easiest ñame to grow in Puerto Rico is the wild ñame or as we called ñame burro. They grow huge. I love the texture of yams is delicious :)
Yes! That is this one!
I just found your channel. I love your content, so laid back and simplistic about gardening with a side of comic relief. Thank you! I’m going to have to try growing yams up here in the Rockies.
That's a fun idea
I’m glad you keep talking about it. Finally kicked in that there are varieties that can handle my climate
Love the outro music.
I’m loving these discussions about yams, add my name to the list of people that would like to see a cooking show about them.
David, Thanks to you I now know what a “true” yam is, and have just harvested my first one two days ago in zone 10 SW Florida! Original came from Publix supermarket under the name of “Name.”😃 Can’t wait to try it!
I love this channel
That's a lot of alatas!!! Well done! Thanks!
Thanks for another interesting vid. They don't seem to be so easy to get here in Australia.
I'd love to get my hands on some Dioscorea Alata.
I have sweet potatoes growing wild, but would love me some true yams 😊
Hello, I grow yams including Dioscorea alata (Purple Yam) here in Queensland. I have plants available if keen. Cheers :)
@@MeMe-zf8bg Thank you so very much, Me Me. You would not believe it, I just found and ordered one from eBay yesterday! I definitely would have taken you up otherwise. 🙏🙏🙏
@@WilderDust Hey no worries, glad you got one!
Great video I really enjoyed watching it.
Hi there- we live in Central FL and are growing yams thanks to you (purple variety) but have no idea how to cook it. I see several dessert recipes online but I am not interested in this as a dessert but more of a survival crop. Any helpful hints would be appreciated. Thanks very much.
Zone 6. Can you grow them in containers to get a jump on the peak season?
Thanks! How can you tell the difference between the 2?
I've gotten more curious about yams, especially since seeing your interest in them. I'm also in zone 8b here in western Oregon, but my summers are shorter and not as hot or wet as yours. If alata takes four to five months to get going, we'd maybe have a month or two left for them to grow before the cold weather really sets in. I've also been looking into the hardier species like japonica and polystachya. The more I think about it, the more I feel like I should just get some of each and see how each perform.
As an alternative calorie crop, I've considered sunchokes. They have a reputation for causing serious flatulence, but I've heard lactofermenting them removes the saccharides responsible for the gas and results in a food product like a starchy water chestnut.
D. polystachya would work for you
I’ve seen Chinese yam vines while hiking here in southeast Michigan. It’s not considered invasive yet. They say it’s on the “watchlist”
Can you Please create a list of yams varieties by grow zones? You have convinced me... zone 6, survival gardener.
How do you cook dioscorea alata?
Following...
I will have to do some more research but I wonder how well yams would grow in say a 20 gallon container in zone 6?
I grow a Chinese yam in a compost bin with open top, makes the harvest a little easier. They are next to my walnut tree, really a plant and forget type of crop. I live in Germany, temperate climate
I often wonder if a person could WEAR a yam. Never mind, that's just silly. Great video!
You've convinced me, I'm ready to try growing yams down here in Lower AL. Thanks for the great info.
Last year I did purchase Name tubers from the Organic food section, cut, dusted with ash, then planted. They are doing well; putting out vines; but good to know they probably won't overwinter, so I need to harvest them prior. I may leave a few to see if my conditions might allow overwintering.
obsessive means excellence 🤍🕊
Awesome, as always!
I do have one question...
What is this "too much sweet" thing you speak of?
Sweet potatoes which are not related to yams.
@tanyawales5445 Shunning is not kind. Sweet potatoes are vegetables too! Or was it the yam fam that was ex communicato? I need more grounding.
I live and grow UBE (Purple Yam) here in the Philippines. I am surprised at how large and deep they can grow. Have you done experiments on different soil or by modifying it to be more loamy! I dug up one yesterday that was nearly 3 ft deep in tacky gooey clay at that level. It was only 16 lbs but I can imagine it being much bigger If I had prepared a softer soil. This harvest started life 9 months ago as a 2" piece of UBE.
USA doesnt have this. I am at awe how beautiful they are.🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
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Are yams high in oxalates? We have to watch out for oxalates.
OK OKAY...yams on my list. 😊
You should show everybody how to cook them I would like to learn how to cook a yam maybe it'll be yamn good
I will try cooking those yams in a Thai massaman curry. I'm predicting it will be delicious.
What are my chances of growing yams in north eastern Massachusetts??
I am in south central Texas below San Antonio. It’s very hot and dry. In fact I’m in a little microclimate where it rains even less than all around me and the sun just seems to be sooo intense. I am trying yams. I have alata bulbifera and opposita. They are living ok in full sun on trellises with regular watering but look much better growing on the east side of my oak trees. Not directly under them but just enough to get shade from about 2 pm. I am wondering if the ones in full sun will do better next year if I leave them there.
I need true yams!!!!!! ❤
👍👍👍I like easy
Where would be a good place to buy a variety to get started
All I’ve ever seen is sweet potatoes. Where can I find )African) yams in Louisiana?
Can we grow varieties from the grocery store?
Yes
Where does one find yams to grow?? Will they grow in zone 7?
I grew them from a organic yam from the grocery store, they take awhile to produce the slips but they grow well above freezing
I'm living in Idaho the growing season is possibly a month here I don't know if Yummy Yams will survive this HARSH climate ... 😢😢😮
Yam will grow anywhere, don't worry, just make sure you give water and provide partial shade if you are worried.
❤I'm in SouthEast Texas, zone 8b. Where can i find starts of yams?
You’ve got a very challenging climate there! I live in N W Arkansas, zone 6. I grow both D. Alata and D. Polystachya. I grow both kinds in 20 gallon pots as we are extremely rocky. At harvest time in the fall, I collect the aerial bulbils and then tip the yam tubers out of the pots. I will hold back some D alata tubers inside in a cool dark place for replanting. I can also easily get more yams at my local ethnic markets. We love the flavor of D alata. D Polystachya is hardy to Zone 5 so I just put tuber cuttings back into the pots to overwinter outside. These yams need to be peeled and are slimy. No worries though. I purée them in the food processor and make them into waffles and yam cakes! I freeze these. A favorite food. Good luck!
@@agapefieldu need to order online.
Will they grow on the S. Cumberland Plateau Tennessee, 7a? Which variety would you suggest? I found Dioscorea Villosa available, what about it?
Lol There's still a majority that don't know what food looks like before getting to the grocery.
What do you think of the new growing zones. I am not to sure I was zone 7 now they say I am zone 8 . last year we got down to 3 below and killed a lot of garden plants. where do you find yams to grow.
I think the new growing zones are bunk.
Can you grow them from seeds?
Many cultivated varieties do not grow from seed.
I ate lots of vines amd leaves from plant i think was a yam
But was told potato vines and sweet potato vines are poisionous
Sweet potato leaves are edible, but more nutritious cooked than raw. I don't think true yam vines or leaves are edible, however.
Are there any good companion plants for dioscorea?
TFS
Where can I buy yams to plant and get started? I'm in Central ga what species will be good for me?
Ebay or if you are lucky enough to have one in your area an Asian grocery store.
Yeah.... I gave up growing carrots several years ago. The results we got were pathetic. I figure if we eat winter squash and sweet potatoes, we won't be losing out on anything nutritionally. I think in my garden that Jerusalem artichokes is a wonderful survival food. I fermented some this fall and oh my goodness they made wonderful crisp pickles! Wash them well, cut into nice chunks, half fill a glass jar with the chunks. Add some dill seed and mustard seed and a bit of garlic. Fill the rest of the way with chunks. Mix 1 Tablespoon salt per cup of water and cover them with the brine. Fix up a way to keep them under the liquid and put on a lid. Then, let them sit until they are "done." Refrigerate. So, where can I get the yam starts? I live in Zone 5.
Will they grow in that cold a climate?
@@meanqkie2240 they grow here in Indiana tmreally well.
Good morning. Will you or your kids sell these yams in your shop?
I am currently obsessed with this highly nutritious tasty vegetable that I honestly wouldn't mind eating every day.
It's an often overlooked vegetable, possibly due to the fact that it is such a great vegetable.
The best part is it has 3.6X less calories than a normal russet potato, so you can eat 3.6X as much without affecting your BMI!
This glorious Vegetable is known as the Cucurbita pepo, and I think everyone should grow at least an Acre of it, per person.
Isn't that such a wonderful name?
I could say it all day, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita pepo.
Say that ten times fast.
Don't you shake your head... that's rude.
Oh yes, that is a good one. I grow Cucurbita moschata, mostly, since it seems more vigorous here in the heat and the bugs.
What yam would you suggest for California Sacramento area zone 9B
Can you eat the yam leaves?
No
@@davidthegood Thank you. I heard you can eat sweet potato leaves, so thought I'd ask :)
David, I am very interested in some white dioscorea alata bulbils. However, due to not being very familiar with the breed I am scared of buying the wrong variety online form well-intended sellers. Do you ever sell them in your Etsy store? Or know somewhere I can find them? I am in Zone 8 central Alabama. Thank you.
I'm a sorry gardner, black thumb, but I can grow Ube and long green beans here in the Philippines. My wife grows everything else.
Could you bake it whole and then peel it?
I do not know. Boiling breaks down the oxalates. Not sure if baking does.
Can we eat the yam leaves. And how do we know if we planted a sweet potato or a yam
No, the leaves are not edible. Sweet potatoes grow quite differently, with fleshy creeping vines. Yam vines want to grow straight up.
Hi anyone got any thoughts about the prospects of growing yams in United kingdom. London.😊
Dioscorea polystachya for sure
What type do you recommend for central Florida, South of Ocala?
I am in Tampa and I grow both the Uber and the white one he talks about. No problems with either.
Ube…. Autocorrect
Can you dehydrate them or freeze dry them? Or perhaps preserve them in other ways? There's little info online.
I have a friend who dehydrates them
@@davidthegood Idea for a video in the future?
I am too lazy - I just keep them in the ground for when I want them.
Anybody have a source for northern varieties?? NY?
You need to find a twin that's a zone 4 gardener and youtuber. There are some up here, but they don't know enough and don't work at youtubing enough! Most of what you say is very interesting but isn't something I can do!
So if i got Dioscorea polystachya would the yam stay in ground over zone 6 winter? or do you need to just save the bulbils for spring?
Do they do ok growing in the same exact spot every year, or should they be moved somewhere new each time they’re replanted?
They do well in the same spot.
I`m on disability. How can I get a start of zone 8 types without paying a massive fortune? It took me over two years of getting scammed to get actual Tiny Tim tomatoes! My amaranth seeds that were supposed to be red flowers were invasive pig weed. I just want to grow food.
I would connect with other gardeners. Maybe a meetup group.
Are their green edible and nutritious?
No
“I Yam What I Yam”… Popeye
I had to know, CC says it’s spelled decoria……..😂
challenge accepted. in michigan looking for yams to grow.
Try D. polystachya