Jicama

I bought the seeds. I planted them. They grew. They look good. Now what?

They've not made any tubers as far as I can tell from trying to feel around their roots. I've read that they are annuals and I've read that they are zone 9 perennials. Will they ever bloom? I had counted on getting some more seeds from them, even if I didn't get tubers. At this point, I don't know if I've done something wrong or if I'm just being impatient. I realize that they likely have not gotten as much water as they might have liked this summer. I started with sand and amended heavily.

They'd look good as an ornamental, but I just wanted to eat their little roots...

Here's a white paper from California that appears to reflect the same problems you are having. Might provide some insight.

http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/pubs/brochures/Jicama.html

You might want to poke Xenomorf here at DG who appears to have had some luck growing Jicama in Arizona. I am a big fan of this veg myself and am glad I can readily purchase it here.

Excellent article. Our day length here should be comparable to Northern Mexico, but temperature can go either way. Last year, we had our first cold weather in October. Other years we've worn shorts up through January with only coolish weather. The best tip in the article was snipping the flower will encourage root expansion. I'd not read that anywhere.

I think now that I have just not been patient enough. We're pretty rural here and reluctant to go into the "big city" so I've never seen them in the stores here. We're big fans of all root crops and I expect we'll love these as well if we ever get any. Thank you.

I have two friends that grow this for the farmer's market. I'll have to ask them how they get big tubers. I know for seeds, they replant the tuber and it flowers the second year. I remember seeing them growing in their gardens, one grows them in raised beds, the other doesn't.

Interesting. I'm trying to try one new unusual vegetable a year and this was my choice for this year. I love to experiment!

Hi I love them but they are so expensive I am wondering If I could grow them in zone 5

I'm still trying to figure out if I can grow them in Florida. I planted them around the first of April. They came up and grew very slowly until July. They are only now starting to flower. Also, they are a very large vine. The five plants shown in the photo above are about twice as large and have totally outgrown their space. I know that I'll be spacing them out more and planting them along the fence next year.

If I don't get any tubers of significant eating size, I will likely dig up one or two and move them into the greenhouse for the winter. They are supposed to be a zone 9 perennial. I am a firm believer in experimenting.

I ordered the seeds from R. H. Shumway.

Pillita, removing the flowers will make the tubers larger. It takes 5-9 months to make a good sized tuber.

I have been considering leaving two flower clusters in hopes of getting seed and will pinch the rest. The tuber is larger than the last time I checked, but still not something I want to put on the table.

I guess then I'll be leaving them in the ground for as long as I can. I should have several options, all depending on the weather. If we have a fairly warm fall, then I'll just leave the plants in place. If we've frosty weather, I can cut them back and mulch heavily. If we get freezes, then I'll dig a couple up to bring in. I should still have a couple of months, though, before having to worry about it.

It's been an interesting experience.

As you can see, the jicama has grown to become a wild green beast. Never again will I plant this close or directly in the garden. There's plenty of fence around here to accomodate this bad boy.

I started pinching the flower buds and then moved on to pinching the entire stem ends. It finally occurred to me that I would never be able to find them all in this jumbled mess, so I've decided to let the jicama be free to bloom and seed. There's always next year now that I know I can grow it.

The flowers are very attractive. They remind me of Baptisia or Wisteria.

Well, the wait is over. Apparently, you can grow Jicama in Florida. There were 8 plants when I cut away the leaves and stalks. From these, I got 16 pounds of tubers. I did not pinch off the flower stalks. There were also several smallish pieces that looked like rooted runners. These had small tubers as well.

The seed pods had not dried, so I don't know if they will be viable or not. I will spread them out on some paper towels over the winter and try them in the spring.

Planted second week in April and harvested second week of December.

Now I'll have to look for some recipes and research how long they will keep.

I want to add that they were planted in mostly sand.

This message was edited Dec 7, 2009 8:31 AM

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a successful experiement, all in all.

Congratulations, Pillita looks like your experiment worked. I've never tried Jicama - what does it taste like? I lived in south Florida for over 30 years, I wonder why I never thought to try going it?

We peeled a piece to taste it after I dug it up this morning. It doesn't really have much of a flavor, just a sort of green taste, very juicy, though. From what I read, it absorbs flavors and can be used like a potato. Most of the recipes called for it to be julienned and added to salads. I can see where it would be a nice addition to a salad, a juicy, crisp texture added to the salad and the taste highlighted by salad dressing. The more you cook it, the less flavor it will have, so I will try it in stir-fry first. DH is a big fan of raw turnips, so we'll see what he says when he tastes it tonight. I'd also like to bake a couple.

Storage will be a bit of a problem. It will keep 2-4 months at 55-59 degrees, too warm for the refrigerator and too cool for the cupboard, after which it will start to resprout.

If my seeds are viable, I plan to plant it all along our back fence (under power lines so I can't plant much there anyway). I should be able to dig some all throughout the fall so that I don't have a glut all at once. I kept feeling around the base of the plant like a turnip or rutabaga, but these tubers were deeper than that and off to the side. I actually have holes in the walkway beside the row where some of the tubers were.

There was very little uniformity in size and shape of the tubers, but I'm just so thrilled to have grown some that I'm willing to overlook it. My sweet potatoes looked much the same way and they were planted two rows over.

Pillita - thanks for your post, all so very interesting. My sweet potatoes seem to grow right where I set the slips - straight down. I had to be sure the raised row I made for them was high enough so they would'nt hit the underlying clay.