Caesar Smith wrote:It seems I’ve been gone for far too long! I hope all is well with you all. Unfortunately, I’ve continued losing varieties during my forum absence. As it stands, I still have specimens from almost all of the yam species, and several bulbiferas [CV-1, Saipan Purple, Hawaii, Mae-sai Yellow, and some Asian types whose identity I’ve lost (I’ll probably recognize them once bulbils start forming)]. I’m not currently equipped to recover the ones I’ve lost, but at least I know where to recover most of them.
Greetings Caesar! I would like to buy and /or trade with you for a few CV-1. Wish you still had CV-2.. but alas!
I live in Houston Texas (Zone 11b) and I have been growing the "Hawaiian" variety from Ebay for 2 years now. My first year I planted three bulbils and harvested three or four handfuls of medium sized bulbils (a little smaller than my fist). I replanted 11 of those bulbils last year. From those plants I harvested about 50 pounds of bulbils and roots! This gives me hope that CV-1 could thrive in Houston. I harvested them in November. They have been stored indoors. This picture was taken today (2/16/23).
I know you already have "Hawaii", but perhaps you may be interested in some of the other tropical crops I have found to be very delicious and precocious producers in my subtropical environment. I have bulbs/rhizomes of 3 true varieties of Canna Edulis ("queensland arrowroot", giant "red type", and what I call "small red type") and seeds of the larger fruited variety of the tropical seminole pumpkin (once grown in Florida by the Seminole native americans).
The bulbs/rhizomes of the Canna edulis are delicious. Boiled, they taste like a sweetened potato (not a sweet potato, but literally like a potato that has been sweetened with sugar).
The Seminole pumpkin is also a winner at our table. When microwaved or baked in its green stage it tastes like a potato with a hint of zucchini or yellow squash. When the mature tan pumpkins are stored for a month or more (they can store for a year or more without rotting!) they get sweet and tasty similar to a sweet potato, but sweeter, and with a hint of zucchini flavor.
