How long does kumara take to grow

Tubers should be buried about a finger deep. Water as needed in first two weeks and then sparingly thereafter — only when it is dry. Kumara need between 4 and 5 months to mature. Wait until foliage has all turned yellow before digging carefully. I do this by hand in containers. Store undamaged tubers in sacks in a cool dry, frost-free place. Kumara Ipomoea batatas. Sweet potato. Companions Sunflower, cosmos. Quantity 2 plants per person.

Getting started When In warmer areas kumara can be planted from August to December. Where A warm and sheltered sunny part of your garden. Soil Kumara are grown in free draining, rich organic material above a hard soil base which stops their roots running and running and tells them its time to develop the edible tubers.

Bindweed Onion Weed oxalis. As they are planted on the sloping side of the mound we shape around each planted shoot to catch the water. We water them well and keep them watered for the first few days. Over the first few weeks, while there are still spaces between the plants, I remove any weeds that appear.

Eventually the tops cover the whole area and require no significant input until harvesting. Kumara do not withstand frost so, if you live in an area that is marginal for kumara growing and late frosts are a possibility then hooping the beds so that plastic or frost cloth can be put over could be a good idea. Remember to check under the cloth or plastic regularly, keep the bed moist and remove the cover completely once the danger of frost is over. The only significant action required during the growing season could be to water if the plants wilt during a prolonged drought.

We have never needed to do this. Harvesting Kumara needs to be harvested before the first frost so harvest time is determined by where you live. Up in the Far North we usually start in April but can reliably leave it until May with no danger of frost. We try to harvest after the full moon and begin harvesting by scything the tops off the plants.

Incidentally the tops are good food and can be used in soups or stews or cooked like spinach. They are also good stock food and our cows and horses love them. At harvest time our milking cows have them as their daily treat during milking. Once the tops are removed we harvest carefully from one end of the bed using a garden fork. It is very important to harvest carefully and methodically to avoid damaging the kumara as damaged kumara do not store well.

As we harvest we lay them on the section of bed already cleared to cure in the sunshine. The more nodules, the better. If you don't have time to propagate your own plants, kumara seedlings are available to purchase in bundles for a short while in spring. Before planting your seedlings, aim to build fertile sandy soil with good drainage for best results.

When planting, cover most of the stem by burying longways so the stem is more or less horizontal into the prepared raised rows or mounds. Water as often as a couple of times a day in the early stages to ensure the seedlings take. Kumara vines need plenty of space and, as they grow, gently lift the vine along its length to prevent it setting down more roots.

That means the plant puts more energy into producing tubers at its base. The vines need to be handled carefully, and weeding is best done by hand. My friend Teina is a great gardener. She said her brother planted a few kumara under his feijoa tree in his Otara garden. He built a boxed bed around the drip line of the tree into which he would gradually add vege scraps to add nutrition to the soil and ensure a great crop of fruit.

One day he decided to plant a few kumara underneath the feijoa tree. The vine from the kumara he planted in this bed grew all over their shed and the kumara dug up were huge. He made cuttings from that vine, and then planted those cuttings in cultivated garden beds.