Chinese yam growing

Hello,

Does somebody know's how to grow Chinese yam? I've got 7 young plants and i want them to hold them in the house in the winter because it can get pretty cold in the winter.
But how to grow them? Much sun, little sun, how much nitrogen, ect.

Gr. Matis

They have naturalized in our area (tropics), they grow wild down by the river. Not sure I can help you much.

In my experience they do not like to dry out at all.  I've never been able to get them to grow well in my hot dry climate.

"The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil.The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils..It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.It requires moist soil."

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Dioscorea+batatas

We grow these at our place. They like full sun and moist, well-drained soil.

Since they can make a 3 foot long root that oozes slime when damaged we actually grow these is a 55 gallon, food-grade barrel. That way when harvest time comes around we can just kick the barrel over and pull the tubers out (a sandy soil mix helps) without damage. For this growing system it seems that they also like to receive liquid fertilizer (fish emulsion & soluble seaweed) during the summer. Sometimes it takes them two years in our climate to size up.

Good luck!

Dave

Yams are another invasive edible here in Florida.

Common conditions here in Florida are:
Soil that is pure sand.
Intense water in May/June/July.
Low amounts of sporadic water the rest of the year.
The ground never freezes.
It is happy growing in the shade here, but our light levels are substantially higher than those in more northern areas, more like full sun there.

Other useful information:
Yams are climbers. It is common to see trees (in "waste" areas) that have been swamped by them.
The leaves are also edible -- although some people recommend cooking them first.

Perhaps some of this will be useful to you.