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I bought a salad jicama at KTA and left it sitting on the counter a bit too long - the fool thing sprouted. I’ve been just kind of standing back and letting it go to see what it would do and it now has two long slender shoots about 12-15 inches long, each topped with a feathery pink frond. It’s reaching for the sun and it’s getting a bit intrusive so it’s got to be moved but I’m not sure what to do with it. Do I bury the whole jicama, right up to where the sprouts take off? A jicama is a root, isn’t it? Should I expect it to propagate more little jicama, like a potato, or…what? Anybody? Mahalo.
use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without
I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
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Jicma grows well here but you need to plant the seeds, not the root, to grow jicama. They are nice and crisp in a salad. You can buy a home garden packet from CTAHR (College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources) in Manoa for $1.00. They call them yam beans. They recommend that the seeds only be planted in August or September; they take a long time to get the root vegetable but we have had good luck with them. Their seeds are developed to grow in Hawaii and they only charge 50 cents for shipping. Here is the link:http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/seeds.asp
Markie
Markie
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In some SE asian cultures jicama is also used in stir fries. It stays firm. Try it. You'll like it.
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I just put the whole fruit on the ground and it roots. Makes a long vine and will climb trees. Watch for falling fruit one of those on the head will hurt. I have no idea about starting from seed I didn't even ever see anything that looked like a small seed. Inside the fruit is a seed,but it good size.
PS This fruit or veg. has a lot of names but is not a root even if it looks like one.
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Larry T, From your description, it sounds like you might be talking about a chayote squash, or they are known locally as pippanola (sp?).
Dee
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Larry T,
Well, the Jicama we grow is definitely a root crop, so we must be talking about two different things.
Jerry
Art and Orchids B&B
http://www.artandorchids.com
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You are right this old man got both plants this last weekend and got them mixed up. The Jicama I was given was a plant not a seed but a got the idea the seed was large and formed on the root.
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Mahalo to all for your responses. What eventually happened to my sprouting jicama is, I threw it out in the rubbish, not the compost. Reason being, I googled it and found that both the leaves and seeds are quite poisonous and with all my animals around, I just didn't want to take a chance. Not a big loss, jicama isn't one of my favorites anyway, which is the reason it was left sitting on the counter long enough to sprout in the first place. Live and learn! Aloha.
use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without
I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
