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Post by richardw on Mar 10, 2012 14:36:36 GMT -5
My Dioscorea batatas is into its third year growing,the first two years it didnt do so well because of my shallow soil so the past winter i dug it out, then dug out a deep pit removing heaps of stone and shingle,this was then refilled with compost and soil which has made a massive difference this season,its now showing some kind of flower stems or something,anyone know what becomes of these?,i had heard they grow bulbs  |
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Post by khoomeizhi on Mar 10, 2012 17:11:46 GMT -5
yep, that's flowerbuds. the air-tubers follow. they still flower, but i'm not sure how much seed they actually set.
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Post by Hristo on Mar 10, 2012 19:34:03 GMT -5
These are male flower buds. If you do not have a female plant(s)... well you know what to expect. I have/had 3 accessions and all of them are male. Actually I haven't seen someone to offer true seeds, so I wonder how rare are the female plants?!
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Post by richardw on Mar 10, 2012 23:23:42 GMT -5
Oh Ok,thats interesting,ive got one other plant that's still growing in shallow soil and is still rather small so i'll work on giving it a better place to grow this winter, also a friend's got two plants that have not been looked after and have not shown what sex they are,i'll ask him if his plants can come here and hopefully at least one is a female. Thank you guys  |
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Post by Hristo on Mar 11, 2012 6:19:14 GMT -5
As I see you live in New Zealand, then I'm not sure if it's good for you to get both sexes and produce true seeds. This yam could get invasive in your climate. It's not so problematic here, but for you the thing may differ a lot. That is just a note of precaution.
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Post by khoomeizhi on Mar 11, 2012 7:44:50 GMT -5
i agree. you'll have enough invasiveness to deal with with just the aerial tubers.
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Post by richardw on Mar 11, 2012 15:49:52 GMT -5
Thanks for your advice, but i dont think it would become invasive where i am,ive got Dairy/pig farms all around us (yes rather smelly) and we can get frost 12 months of the year though the summer frosts are very light and don't tend to effect the frost tender plants.
I will take on broad what you two have said and if and when i can get aerial tubers,i'll be very careful not to let them spread and get away on me.
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Post by richardw on May 28, 2012 15:29:42 GMT -5
The guy who gave me the two Dioscorea batatas tubers,was talking to a friend of his who's now retired from where he worked as plant breeder for an ex government research department,he asked him about if he knew if there were any female plants in the country when he was working with the breeding of them,he reckons they only ever brought in male plants,so does that mean that male plants produce aerial tubers and if we were to have a female plant they could produce actual seed?.
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Post by caledonian on Jun 8, 2012 16:52:53 GMT -5
Enough people have written about the scent of the white flowers (which it seems occur only on females) that I strongly suspect there are female plants out there somewhere.
Can anyone tell us whether the male flowers produce scent? If it's only the females, I can't imagine that the male version would be the one people chose for landscaping.
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Post by Hristo on Jun 25, 2012 4:41:59 GMT -5
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Post by richardw on Jun 25, 2012 14:25:49 GMT -5
Thanks Hristo for those links.
I cant see anything where it mentions about separate male and female plants,is it possible that both are on the one plant??
Flowers appear from June to
September. Rarely in panicles, the male
inflorescences are two to eight spikes,
2-8 cm in length, that grow erect from
the leaf axil, with zigzag rachis. The
outer lobes of male flowers are broadly
ovate while the inner lobes are ovate.
Female inflorescences form one to three
spikes in the axils. Fruiting from July
to November, capsules are oblate or
globose, 1.7–2 cm long and 1.5-3
cm wide, white-dotted, and contain
membranous winged seeds near the
middle of the capsule
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Post by Hristo on Jun 26, 2012 2:14:12 GMT -5
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Post by mountaindweller on Jun 26, 2012 2:48:55 GMT -5
For the Australians: the tubers are available in Australi (I can't believe it!) look at "all rere herbs".
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Post by richardw on Jun 26, 2012 15:16:39 GMT -5
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Post by cesarz on Jun 28, 2012 7:12:19 GMT -5
Hey Richard,
Are your Dioscorea batatas purple tubered? I only have the white tubered one.
Cheers,
Cesar
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