I often shop at local vietnamese groceries and saw nice size Taro root (khoai Mon) for $0.59 each! Some were actually sprouting.....
Has anyone ever planted these tubers? They actually had 4 different taro roots -
taro root from the grocer??
I have planted them! I took advice from both rootdoc and Eclipse and have bought them the last couple of years. A friend picked me up some again this spring.
The taro roots are usually Colocasia esculenta.
Melanga will give you some nice big Xanthosoma.
Hi Capt - Wow 4 different ones? What grocer? I would like to get some next spring.
Asian Market @ 1815 E. Central and Kim Son @ 960 E Pawnee here in Wichita. There must be 10 other Asian (Vietnamese) grocers here in town.....I will check with them to see if they also carry Malanga. Up there in Eskridge....it is probably closer to go into Topeka or even KC isn't it??
Yes, it is (guess I don't get out much, lol) 45 minutes to work - 9hrs and then stop by grocery and/or Kmart/Walgreens and 45 minutes home.... My daugher drives from Lawrence to Wichita every other weekend so I thought maybe I could get her to pick me up some---- shall I wait till next spring? Thanks, Capt, you really a captain? In the army or NG?
okay.....well I went and bought some of these things today. I bought some smaller "Taro root", 4 absolutely humongous "Malanga", and two unknowns that were starting to bud
The taro are about the size of a baseball. The Malanga look exactly like the giant elephant ear bulbs I paid $10 each for this spring, but they are three times the size and were only $3 each. Two of the bulbs weigh 7 lbs each!
The unknows are gargantuan.....thats why I bought them. They are a tuber of some sort and are starting to bud. They are about 2 feet long and a foot across. They look very similar to the Malanga. I will plant them and see what comes up!
I think I am going to put these in pots, let them sprout and then winter protect them in a greenhouse.
What a find, let us know what they turn out like. I'll have to find an Asian market in my area, I don't know of any.
Just wanted to share some pics of the stuff I picked up:
Large "malanga" (elephant ear bulbs) - I bought these three for $4
Taro root - $0.79/lbs
The unknowns - anyone have a clue?? One is starting to bud
I bought some taro bulbs a few years ago from a specialty grocery store but the foilage was a boring green and not a very large grower. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Hopefully yours will have better results. I also tried lotus root twice but didn't have any luck with it. I wonder if the giant yucca roots would give better results.
Wow, great finds capt. Maybe I should look around here in town..(topeka)... I sure my daughter would have NO idea what to look for.