pachyrhizus

[orflo]

Here are two interesting vegetables, the first one is jicama (pachyrhizus erosus), the second one is ahipa (pachyrhizus ahipa).Both are members of the leguminosa family, which makes them related to beans, peas, apios, ....even lots of trees.
First the jicama:
it's in fact only good for frost free climates (in Europe: parts of Portugal, Spain, Sicily,...in USA: parts of Florida, California,...). It grows long vines (over 4 metres or 13 ft)and bears loads of wonderful flowers if you have the good conditions. The edible part is in fact the thickened root, the beans are poisonous. The root seems to have a crunchy , sweet, juicy taste. I grow some every year, but I never managed to get an edible root (it's a daylenght sensitive plant). Rooting up only starts when flowering has nearly ended, and that's very late (end of october is even optimistic). The seeds are readily availabe in some German seed shops. I hope to be able to survive the plants this year, in a large tub, and grow something decent out of it
The second one is ahipa, which is not daylenght sensitive. But the seeds are hard to find,this year I did receive some seeds from an English friend (originally they come from Bolivia). Ahipa has more prospects in temperate regions, flowering stars earlier, before september 21, and thus rooting up starts earlier as well. The plants I have are already three to four times as high as the jicama, so that's promising...Now I hope to grow seeds and a good firm tuber for tasting,
Frank

[canadamike]

They sell Jicama in Ottawa's grocery stores. I always saw them bought by the kind of people who drown everything in hot pepper sauce ( jamaicans etc...) so I never really bothered. I figured if they grew up eating tons of it while never tasting them anyway, the taste must not be that great and you are not helping much :

The taste '' SEEMS" crunchy, etc....etc... SEEMS?

If Frank Van Kiersbielk has not tasted it yet, I am suspicious ;D ;D ;D

[orflo]

:DWell, I have a good reason for never tasting them: I never saw or grew one of these tubers (they're not for sale here). But, Michel, I'm convinced of one thing: if I tell you at the end of the year that the taste is great, you'll be the first one to jump up and down, shouting out :I want them I want them. ;D ;D ;D
By the way, the seeds of these plants are toxic, they contain rotenone, which can be used as an insecticide

[canadamike]

They really are all over the place in eastern Ottawa` were an important african and carribean community lives.Up to now, both these cuisine never really impressed me,as everything tastes the same once covered in very hot peppers. It is more protein ingestion than anything else to me...They don't smell much...I could always put one in the ground to see. They look like a small log,or a tree root of some sortafter a couple of beers ;D

A friend of mine has a parent that grows ginger here out of grocery store roots.I never tought of it.This one I will try...it apparently makes a big plant.

[stevil]

Hello there, Frank

Here's my limited experience with Jicama:

I've harvested tubers of Jicama twice. I've never seen a flower. Therefore, flowering isn't necessary for tuber formation. However, I haven't grown it outside - outside tomatoes are difficult here, so I don't think Pachyrhizus has much of a chance.

The first time I grew it was about 5 years ago. Unfortunately, for some reason I have lost my notes. I'm pretty sure that I sowed the seed in March. I then basically grew the plant in our living room (south facing window) in a large pot and with continuous daylight in our northern location (64.5N) most of the summer. I think I harvested in November and was pleasantly surprised that it had produced a tuber which was large enough to eat. I looked on the Internet for a recipe and found that a simple salad of sliced Jicama with chili and lime was the commonest way of preparing the tuber, so this is what I did. No exaggerating, but this was one of the best taste experiences I've ever had - - slightly sweet, crisp and juicy but with a taste all of its own... I only have pictures on slides, but my daughter, a budding artist and 16 at the time, decided to paint the tuber as it had a peculiar shape and here it is:

www.hagepraten.no/gallery/pic.php?mode=large&pic_id=996


I had to try this again (I remember I was in touch with a Danish ethnobotanist, who had an article on the net about Pachyrhizus sp., and he gave me a few tips about increasing my yield, starting earlier for example - I must try to find the email....) The following year the seed I had left didn't germinate, the following year I got some new seed and they didn't germinate either, then I couldn't get more seed. Finally, last year I noticed Chiltern Seeds had seed, they germinated in my office in January and I decided to grow plants both as before at home and in my office where the temperature is a steady 22-23C all year. The ones at home died, but the ones in my office grew well. I decided to wait as long as possible to harvest and finally harvested in March (a year after sowing). The plant didn't flower. The harvest was rather disappointing and the tubers were smaller than when I had grown it at home in much cooler temperatures. Here is the harvest with some (small) Physalis ixocarpa fruits for scale:

www.hagepraten.no/gallery/pic.php?mode=large&pic_id=994

Obviously, Jicama seed loses its viability quickly as this year there was no germination of last year's seed.

[orflo]

Hi Stephen,
there's a difference between P. Erosus and P. tuberosus, and certainly between these two and P. ahipa. The ones I've sown for years (the seeds kept their viability) grew wild and vigourous, they overtook the greenhouse, shoots up to 5 metres were no exception..But they never formed a root. But this year I bought new seeds , P. erosus , put them in tubs to overwinter them more easily, and , to my surprise, they already have made a small root (you saw the small plants). So these are probably another variety than the first ones I had, they had less tendency to grow very wild . I must check my notes to see what the 'old' variety was. But Ahipa seems to be the most promising (and sadly enough, hard to find) variety. A French friend (no, not Seb.) told me he had some early variety, his seeds already ripened a month ago and he should have a colder climate compared to mine (Alps). Ahipa forms tubers quite readily, but I still have to taste them...And ahipa has some 11 accessions in the cipotato database, including one from Argentina...Oh, we still have so much to grow....

[stevil]

As far as I know it is tuberosus I've grown - however, I haven't identified them botanically, just relied on the name supplied... Yes, it seems that the more one grows the more there is yet to grow...

[stevil]

I found the email I received from Dr. Martin Soerensen of the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark back in January 2003 (he's still active as I've seen his name on papers in the Society of Economic Botany Journal).

The Danish original is below for the benefit of the Scandinavians here. Here is a rough translation:

"I asked whether the Yam Bean could be propagated vegetatively. He replied “No, it cannot be propagated from the tubers. However, if one stops watering late in the year and put the pot in a dark, dry place, then it will sprout again from the tubers (as potatoes do) and begin a new cycle.” That my plant didn’t flower: he believes this is because I sowed the seed too late. To be certain of flowering, the seed should be sown latest at the end of February (and in Norway, there will probably be a need for extra light at that time) and the plant will then flower in August (NB! As I wrote above, this isn’t my experience). He then refers to two free books which can be downloaded (he is the author of the book on the Yam Bean and co-author of the other about Ahipa, Maca etc )

www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pubfile.asp?ID_PUB=311
www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pubfile.asp?ID_PUB=472 "


Do you Danes know this guy?

...and in Danish:

Mange tak for mail - ja, jeg tror også, at det må være de højest mod nord dyrkede jamsbønner! Og tillykke med høstudbyttet. Nej planten kan ikke opformeres fra rodknoldene, men hvis man i efteråret -efter blomstring og bælgsætning - ophører med at vande planten og stiller potten mørkt og tørt, så vil den (ligesom kartofler) spirer igen fra basis af den gamle overjordiske stængel og begynde en ny cyklus. Da planten jo ikke blomstrede tror jeg, at den nok er sået for sent. For at være sikker på blomstring - jamsbønner er kortdagsplanter - så skal den sås senest i slutningen af februar (så vil den jo i Norge nok kræve tilskudslys i starten) og så vil den blmstrer i august.
Iøvrigt kan der med fordel henvises til et par bøger, der kan downloades på flg. adresser:
www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pubfile.asp?ID_PUB=311
www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pubfile.asp?ID_PUB=472

[orflo]

I should have consulted this IPGRI (now bioversity) file, I knew about it, but it was somewhere in the back of my head. I had a brief look, and it confirmed what I thought: P. tuberosus is the bigger, 'wild' one, while P. erosus is clearly the bushier and smaller type.
A word on ahipa (this can probably be found in the file as well): farmers in the Andes leave a maximum of one pod each plant, or grow some plants specifically for seed. If the plants produce seeds, tuberisation is delayed or even not taking place . I grew one plant for seed, one is left with one or two pods, the other ones are pruned, so they won't produce seeds. It takes forever for these pods to ripen off (there are over 20 pods hanging on the plant ), already more than two or even three months, and still not a single ripe one (and I did put them on SSE :

[stevil]

Well, the plants I grew were not large and climbing all over the place, compact would be my description, so maybe it was actually erosus I grew??

Perhaps we can do a little experiment next year and grow plants from different sources and compare.... Anyone seen seed offered this year?

Perhaps the seed don't need to be "ripened off" to germinate - like Broad (Fava) Beans which can be dried mature but still green (something one learns living in the north where even Favas don't fully ripen in some years).

[orflo]

I know about the seeds of fava and other leguminosae, ripening off afterwards. But, as long as the winter is delayed, I'll try ripening them right on the plants. That's just to be very sure they are ripe, I could try picking one or two unripe pods, so we know it can or can't be done.
Seeds are generally offered by some German firms: magic garden seeds, sementes and others, I didn't check if they offer jicama this year (sementes has a good selection of tropicals and sub-tropicals). I'll try cipotato, they know what they're doing

[canadamike]

Frank, do they offer seeds or tuber/roots? do you need a permit to import?

[canadamike]

I just check at cipotato, there is no yacon available for distribution

[orflo]

Michel, whether or not you need an import permit, depends on the Canadian law, not on Peruvian (they have to export). They distribute mostly seeds and in-vitro stuff (what's the English for that??), tubers are distributed , but they don't like doing that, postage costs are higher and plants need a long time to produce tubers, so that 's also more expensive. Even if they say: not available, try it, it could be available after all!

[ottawagardener]

Psst. Mike, top secret. There might be a supplier for Yacon in Canada in the future (not me) but when I know, I'll pass on the info.

Was this thread about Jimaca (Pachyrhizus erosus)? If so, I'm sure you know that Solana sells seeds.