African Yam – Colombia – 1 Planting Piece

2024 yam note:

This season we are sending 1 nice planting piece, which makes this product more expensive than last year. The reason is that this is one of our most labor intensive products that is hard to multiply into large volumes. It is easy to grow as a food, but hard to scale up as a crop for a “seed” grower. The large planting pieces we are mailing all have eyes starting to bud, or active shoots. Extra long shoots may be trimmed before shipping which will readily regrow. These large pieces have the capacity to grow very big yams in one year which can be multiplied into more. Pieces may be entire mini yams or head tuber pieces cut and dipped in ash to prevent rot. Plant into a good spot ASAP upon receiving. The featured photo shows the smallest yam size we will mail, most are actually larger than this.

This is a representative of the West African yam, which we originally purchased with a label indicating it was grown in Colombia.  In West Africa, true yams are a very important food source and their cultivation goes back many thousands of years.  The West African yams are dense and starchy.  We tried a number of varieties of this species and have only had great success with this one clone.  We believe it is variation in nematode susceptibility that causes this dramatic difference in performance.  When grown well, this can be a highly productive root crop for Florida gardens.  These yams are very smooth and easy to peel compared to other types.  The flesh is of high eating quality.  The growing season is 9-10 months.  True yams need to have a robust trellis structure for their rampant vines.

Unlike the more common winged yam (Dioscorea alata) this is not a regulated species in Florida.  It does not produce bulbils and for reasons too complicated to get into here, will not produce viable seeds.  Therefore, the risk of this becoming a weed like some other Dioscorea species is zero.

This listing is for 1 yam planting piece. Planting pieces are freshly dug and cut surfaces are covered in agricultural lime to prevent rotting. We are currently mailing head pieces with active buds or shoots, the most ideal planting pieces for yams. Pieces will be 7 oz at a minimum with many weighing more. Unfortunately, we missed the narrow window to dig before shoots emerged. Long shoots will be pruned before shipping. Branching will emerge from the cut shoots or new shoots will emerge from the tuber head rapidly.

Dioscorea rotundata.