Anyone growing Dioscorea macrostachya?

I received a caudex today and need some hands-on cultural advice.
Does anyone out there have one growing?

Ric

Hi Ric.....I do know they prefer semi shade. like warm temps, and to be watered regularly....not a big help am I?? I grew a few from seed, and they're still small....I'm sure you can find the info you need by looking up the plant of google.com Debra~

Thanks Debra.
I've Googled and found a little info but not a lot.

I'm wondering if that is semi shade in Mexico or here?
I'm guessing that it would be partial to almost full sun here.

How long have you been growing it?
Where did you find seed?

Ric

Dear Ric,
I just got a large caudex of Beaucarnea recurvata. I know next to nothing about caudiciforms except they are fascinating. So I bought a book.
Phillipe de Vosjoli's Pachyforms--A Guide to Growing Pachycaul and Caudiciform Plants. I put the info on this book up on the Garden Bookworm. I found it a little sparse on Beaucarnea, but it has pictures and a lot of info on Dioscorea. I got my copy from Ebay.

Martha

This message was edited May 29, 2005 10:47 PM

Thanks Martha!
I'll look that one up.

Ric

Ric,
I have also a 45 year old Beaucarnea, they really hold water, mines is as big as a car, about 14ft around and as high. I do have it in an area where it gets water whenever I water the lawn. It survives very well, flowers, and I really am lucky that it is not a female plant. I also have a Dioscorea but it very small, I have been told not to water when the leaves fall off in October, then wait until you see growth then begin to water and fertilize again. Good luck with your plant, and enjoy. I saw tortoise in Africa whose shell looked like a Dioscorea.

I forgot to add that I purchased the D. macrostachya at Black Jungle.

http://www.blackjungle.com/

I've not seen any for sale before and was suprised to see it.
It was on sale also.
Including shipping it was $22.50 for a small one.
The caudex was about 5" across.

Ric

Ric,
I do have a Dioscorea, here is a pic of my plant. It is about 10 inches in diameter.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/508762/
I am still not sure if mine is macrostachya ( mexicana) or elephantipes. I bought this thing, a rootless flat caudex at the time, about a year and a half ago. I placed it on top of well draining soil in a deep saucer and started to water very gently. It started to sprout a vine last summer. I keep the plant warm and sunny year around. It never went really dormant on me last winter and it started new growth about a month ago.
Ursula

I picked up my plant at Logee's, where they have a mature specimen that is really incredible. It was just a little bump when I got it, alomst 2 years ago. I place it in a East facing window in the winter, so it gets morning sunlight. In the warmer months, it goes outdoors in a mostly shaded spot. I have found that the leaves burn very easily in the sun. The "shell" has grown some, & is now showing some ridges. It has been fun watching it change. I tried to root a vine that I had cut, but it refused to root in water. I have the vines climbing up over a rounded wire support.
Here is a photo of the "shell" - it is only a little under 2 inches across.

Here is the plant - just beginning to show signs of discontent after being brought into the dark house for the winter!
Julie

I am growing a couple of the Dioscoreas. The macrostachya is my largest.
It loves to spend the hot Summer outside in FULL SUN. Since I planted it last Spring into a very well draining wirebasket, I was able to flood the plant during hot weather daily and give it plenty fertilizer. The leaves will not burn if the plant is acclimatized or, as it was in my case, coming out of Winter dormancy, and they will shade the caudex. The leaves were climbing upwards through the cage, I had to gently dislodge them all Summer long and wind them around the bamboo hoop.
cage pic:
http://kammlott.net/CageDecketc2006/DSC_0193a.jpg
I need to take a picture of the plant as it looks now. But -if one looks really close, it is the coconutmat lined wirebasket all the way down next to that little sunflower.
http://www.kammlott.net/October2006/062.jpg

Edited to say, this is the same plant I mentioned previously in this thread. It had outgrown the shallow planter and needed something deeper, so it went into this basket, since the way I grow it has to be somewhat compatible with all my other plants. The basket worked out well.

This message was edited Oct 24, 2006 9:51 AM

Oh - I am so jealous of your beautiful greenhouse! And it IS the cleanest one that I have ever seen too. Immaculate - & a gorgeous display of your plants. Something that I dream of on a daily basis :)

Julie,
thank you. How kind of you to say so.
I took some pictures today of my macrostachya. Here we go:

And a size comparison with my thumb on a leaf -
Since the basket drains freely, I wasn't afraid to water and fertilize a lot this Summer outside, the plant liked it.

Ric - I think Ursula had the right idea - to place it on the soil surface until it shows positive root growth. The large speciemn at Logee's is potted up in a small planter - it looks like it would be too small. Perhaps they like to be rootbound.
Mine also does not go into a dormant period. It is a heavy drinker too.

Hi,

I am growing a few Dioscoreas: D. mexicana (macrostachya) and D. elephantipes.

My single D. mexicana came out of dormancy a couple of months ago - it slept about 10 months! Two weeks ago the first leaves appeared.

IMHO, dioscoreas are opportunistic growers - some are winter growers and dormant in the summer and vice versa. Some grow all season and never go into dormancy. What is your experience?

Best regards,

Martin, Denmark

Seedling of D. elephantipes:

Hi Martin from Denmark!
I agree, they seem to have some disregard for seasons. The first Winter mine stayed green. Last Winter it was green and lush until about February, then it decided to drop all leaves! I then only sprayed it once in a while and left it in full Sun in the (warm) greenhouse. In the Spring I moved it into that wire basket and hung it outside, where it simply took off again once it got warm. I think they love it hot and sunny.
I also bought a tiny elephantipes about a year ago so I could see the different leaves better. This one is still green and didn't go dormant yet.

I've been growing mine in a pot for two Summers now.
The first in mostly shade.
This year in about full sun.
There was a marked difference.
In shade I used an inverted large tomato cage as a support, much as RUK did w/ the basket hanger.
The leaves were about 3". The vine when unwrapped was 12' or so long.
I wintered it dormant.
This year in sun I let it run up a vine I have mounted on the Garage front.
It ran past the top peak of the garage by at least 6'.
(I'd say probably 22 feet or so total.)
The leaves were a deep glossy green and 6".
I will let it do it's thing this Winter. I was able to bring 14' of vine in and it's clambering around the GH.
In the two Summers it's caudex has gone from 5" to 6" so it is happy. lol

Here it is on July 30, 2006

Thanks for all the info and for reopening this thread,
Ric

Ric,
that sounds awesome!! We agree, full sun is better. And just as you said too, I will watch this Winter what it wants to do and adjust the amount of water accordingly.

Hi Ursula - I noticed you were asking whether you has the D. Macrostachya or Elephantipes. The Macrostachya has the large, heart shaped leaves and the Elephantipes has very small leaves. I have a large Macrostachya and am saving my money for an Elephantipes. I only want a good size one as they grow so slowly. Needless to say they are much more expensive.

Also, from all I have read, the Dioscorea likes it's leaves in the sun and the caudex in the shade. As far as potting material, I have all my about 100 caudiciforms in semi-hydroponics. They have done much better for me than in soil. I am not losing them to rot anymore.

SallyD,
semi-hydroponics? I am curious!! How exactly do you do that? This sounds interesting!

Hi Ursula,
I am really excited about the semi-hydroponics. I have been using it for about a year with amazing success. I started using it for my orchids which worked well, but the caudiciforms even like it better. It is basically using semi-transparent pots with irregular clay nuggets. You put a few small holes about 1 inch from the bottom. When you fill the pots, they will wet the clay and leave about an inch of water which will wick up when needed. The plants are never sitting in water. You can go to a site www.firstrays.com and get more information. I could never grown African Violets and have 6 now in bloom all the time. I have posted a picture of my Operculicarya decaryi to show you an example.

I got a HUGE bag of the Hydroton pellets from a GH supply company.
By huge I mean you could put two pillows in the bag.
It's also fairly cheap and lasts forever!

I'll see if I can find the name.....
Ric

Thanks.
SallyD your plant looks really nice. I have never thought about growing them like that.

About the difference between the two Dioscoreas- I picked up a small elephantipes, the leaves are very different from macrostachya and now I know for sure how to id those two. I don't know about different leaf size yet, perhaps one needs to compare similar size and age plants?

WoW... Glad I found this topic... I was lucky enough to find several of the Dioscoreas macrostachya but their around 3 to 5 foot around so the biggest problem is finding a container large enough to put them in.. near the top of the topic the "Shade" factor from Mexico and OH, I'd keep the caudex shaded with at least 50% but allow the vine to grow into full sun

Later today I'll get some images of these HUGE Dio's and post them here or on my site :)

The Images and a link to some more information.. I still have some editing to do but most if not all the info is there

http://rsigrowers.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=270

Great contributions to the cause Turtleman! I like to photos, where you can see the roots. Good info on the watering too - I think I over water on occasion. Mine little plant is dormant now, the leaves yellowing due to the reduced indoor sunlight. It would be cool to see these plants in their natural environment in the desert.
Also cool to know that it will live for so long. At least, as long as we care for it properly :)
Julie

Most of these will out live us Julie.. as long as there taken care of.. The ones I have need a 24" container to sit in.. so were guessing their around 75 to 85 years old.. and like the post on my forum said.. let the vine be your guide to watering.. if there going dormant stop the water!, each one seems to have its own idea of when to sleep :)

A great plant to add to any "fat plant" collection.
I will have to leave it to someone in my will someday -

Turtleman, thanks for the info on your website. Well done!