I visited a grocery store in an urban and ethnically diverse area yesterday. I came apon a bin of tubers in the produce section, marked "taro". I've NEVER seen them in a produce aisle! I picked up 3 for just a few cents.
What species are they, and will they grow if I pot them up?
It will be hard to say what they are till they put out a few leaves. Most Chinese stores carry a dark green to blue taro and at times Xanthosoma Violaceum. The india grocery stores usually carry Colocasias some have pink to green stems most if not all are hybrids developed for produce but still pretty plants.
Also it maybe difficult to get them to grow. Usually they are covered in wax which can cause them to rot once planted.
One of the reasons I grabbed these is b/c they seemed not to be covered in anything- still pretty rough. I'll scrub them a bit first. Do you recommend water or soil for sprouting?
I'd recommend potting soil. I say never start tubers in water unless they are aquatic species.
LariAnn
Aroidia Research
I have a friend who picked up some from an Asian market and I now have them growing in the hoop house. He says they are sweeter than potatoes. I will see about getting pictures tomorrow.
...but I hear they can be poisonous if not properly cooked!!! Well, I suppose not b/c there would be lots of dead people by now. Anyway, my regular cooking is pretty poisonous.
I've placed the tubers in containers with hydrated gel crystals. That way, they're always damp, but not wet, and I can see if they're sprouting more easily.
The asian markets here carry several taros, heres a pic of two kinds, the tuber on the left is Malanga (xanthosoma) and regular taro (colocasia esculenta) both are cheap and if you grow with bottom heat will make very large specimens in one season. I bought 20 taros the other day for $4 they were lemon sized tubers.
Kyle
Do they grow into decent-looking plants? Is there a link?
Xanthosoma Violaceum is almost always sold as Malanga usually in oriental stores or at times india grocerys as well. This is a south american plant which seems to have been introduced into Asia a long time ago. It is a beautiful plant to grow but seems to only preform well here if we have very hot summers. Last year I was able to grow one out to around 5 to 6 feet tall. I have seen one over 9 feet tall years ago. The stems are a dark purple color with white powder on them and the tubers are usually pink with some purple around the tip of the growth area they are also longer and will bleed white sap. I believe all tubers of aroids must but boiled or prepared in such a way to get rid of the poisons in them. So I would not take a bit out of any of the tubers.
Here is a pic of my Xanthosoma violaceum
As for the taro or Colocasia esculenta. It seems every time I have grown them out from oriental stores they have all been the same 2 forms as well as most india stores. One is a dark blue green leaf colocasia with red to pink stems. It produces some nice thick leaves never gets really huge maybe 5 to 6 feet with normal looking leaves. I have been unable to find a oriental name for the plant and if anyone knows a name for it I would be interested to hear.
This next one I believe came from the india store. It has shown some very odd behavior one season it grew and had dark leaves similar to black magic but then the following season the leaves were green. At times new leaves will show this dark coloration but it seems to fade now. The leaves are light green and usually held horizontal with a pink to light maroon dot in the center. I have been unable to get a name on this as well. Possibly they are Hawaiian hybrids being sold as taro all over. The guy at the india shop said all the taro he buys is being grown and sold in south america so it is possible that even if the place is a india or oriental shop they could be selling hawaiian or other taro hybrids. To them they are probably almost all similar or the same.
WOW!!!
You are a great gardener. How old are those plants?! Did you grow them indoors or out?
I must say I like them better than the "big box" EE I grow every year; they are thinner, and it seems that the stems are redder.
I have the roots I have in cups of moist polymer crystals- no growth yet!
