Latest / Hydroponics Daily / Chinese Yams: could they be a hydroponic dream crop?

Transcript

Chinese Yams: could they be a hydroponic dream crop? · Hydroponics Daily

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome back to Hydroponics Daily, your go-to podcast for everything soilless cultivation.
• 0:05
  I'm your host Dr Russell Sharp and my ideas recently about the podcast has been
• 0:11
  to intersperse interesting topics about growing plants with more sort of dry
• 0:16
  topics about chemistry or lighting and things like this and problems and challenges.
• 0:22
  So today we did nitrogen yesterday which was a bit dry so today I thought I'd
• 0:26
  do a really interesting subject about growing Chinese yams, which is one of my interests.
• 0:31
  I have been around the world to Japan to study Chinese yams, not to China.
• 0:37
  Why go to Japan to study Chinese yams?
• 0:40
  Well, that's because we call them Chinese yams, but they don't call them Chinese yams over there.
• 0:45
  And they consider them to be just as much Japanese as they are Chinese.
• 0:50
  And actually, they grow more Chinese yams, I think, in Japan. It's more of a delicacy.
• 0:56
  And there's lots of interesting stories about it. So I went to Japan about the
• 1:01
  year after the Fukushima nuclear reactor went into meltdown, I want to say.
• 1:09
  Certainly very, very critical. It's like one of the four biggest nuclear accidents
• 1:13
  or top three nuclear accidents in the world ever, along with,
• 1:17
  you know, Three Mile Island and obviously Chernobyl.
• 1:20
  And that was caused by the tsunami.
• 1:23
  And Chinese yams were being used then as a alternative to seaweed.
• 1:28
  Because when you cut them up and use them, they are full of a gel-like substance,
• 1:34
  carbohydrates, and so they could make fake seaweed using Chinese yams.
• 1:40
  And why would you want fake seaweed?
• 1:41
  Well, if the seaweed is contaminated with radioisotopes, you don't want to be
• 1:45
  eating seaweed from the Fukushima area.
• 1:47
  So I went to Japan to study Chinese yams. I've been to Japan to study...
• 1:53
  A serum the plant that is pollinated by slugs and
• 1:56
  snails i've talked about that in a previous podcast i'm sure
• 1:59
  but i've been to japan to study led lighting and i
• 2:02
  went to study chinese yams i got a grant from
• 2:05
  the farmers club of london yep so the prestigious club in london and i went
• 2:12
  off to study them and they grow in one specific region of japan and they grow
• 2:18
  as a vine and they are so they look a bit like a potato,
• 2:23
  but they grow as a vine.
• 2:26
  So you have to grow them. And they grow much deeper into the ground than a potato.
• 2:31
  So you actually have to dig down to get them. That's one of the disadvantages.
• 2:35
  Although if you were growing in areas where potatoes were being stolen,
• 2:39
  then you could grow Chinese yams because no one would know where the crop is.
• 2:42
  And the other disadvantage is that you have
• 2:45
  to put back 30 to 40% of the actual
• 2:48
  material you harvest for for propagation the next
• 2:51
  year it's a strange plant it's a monocot whereas
• 2:54
  most tuber crops like potatoes
• 2:57
  are dicots like you know we think of tomatoes cucumbers rather than monocots
• 3:02
  which like grasses and maize and reeds so it's a strange one that it's a monocot
• 3:06
  has parallel veins on its leaves and it produces bulbils which on the leaves
• 3:10
  as well which you can use for propagation you don't want them to flower i think
• 3:15
  most of the ones that are grown are male.
• 3:17
  So it's a dioecious species, but it's one where you grow the male rather than
• 3:20
  the female, which is interesting.
• 3:23
  And unlike the yams that come from African or Caribbean culture,
• 3:28
  this one you can eat before you cook it.
• 3:31
  It doesn't need cooking to remove any toxic residues, which is very interesting
• 3:35
  because obviously reduces processing and energy inputs and means it can be used
• 3:40
  fresh and in different recipes.
• 3:43
  It's not used much in the UK, although it should be, because it's a really interesting plant.
• 3:47
  I've got some in my garden my wife hates it because it gets in
• 3:50
  amongst all her plants where she wants to grow and
• 3:53
  but i like the fact that chinese yams come up every year very very
• 3:56
  late to emerge sort of like late may and that's one of the other disadvantages
• 4:00
  of growing chinese yams so could they be used hydroponically to get them growing
• 4:04
  faster and more all year round production i think that's a really interesting
• 4:08
  subject what else can we say the so there's lots of yams there's water yams,
• 4:13
  purple yams, big, large African yams.
• 4:16
  I used to get a, when I went to the farmer's market, the farmer's club,
• 4:21
  sorry, I said that the best thing about Leicester, where I used to live,
• 4:24
  is the market and all the different cultures you get at the market.
• 4:28
  And I used to go to this guy who, he's called Michael, and he had an Afro-Caribbean
• 4:33
  shop and he, and I used to go, and I used to get all the different types of yams.
• 4:37
  And I'd say, you got any water yams, michael and
• 4:40
  he would say no not this week russell and every
• 4:43
  week no not this week and then i'd point at a strange vegetable
• 4:46
  and he'd go and i go what's that michael and all
• 4:49
  these like african caribbean women was to be stood around laughing and he'd
• 4:53
  go you don't know what this is man your mama never used to cook this for you
• 4:56
  and i was like f off michael what the fucking heck is it and then he'd say like
• 5:02
  a lester accent oh it's it's just this and this and this i was like oh thank
• 5:05
  you very much for making an absolute fool of me in front of all these old ladies.
• 5:09
  So I really like studying yams, if you haven't worked that out.
• 5:12
  It's got a few, interestingly, they've got a few scientific names for Chinese
• 5:16
  yam, and they're not quite sure what the...
• 5:19
  The actual species is dioscoria polystachia
• 5:24
  but opposite to folia is another one i've heard so
• 5:27
  it's not really been pinned down the taxonomy of this species it
• 5:31
  is i think it's prone to viruses because it's a perennial crop
• 5:34
  it's native to east asia china korea japan
• 5:37
  taiwan and it's and it's obviously used in
• 5:40
  the in the in all those areas because it grows so
• 5:43
  deep in the ground and emerges so late it's really hardy
• 5:47
  so it can grow usda hardiness zones
• 5:50
  if you know what they are four to nine grows with
• 5:52
  heart-shaped leaves scented flowers i never smelt
• 5:56
  the flowers though so i don't know about that and it's the edipical edible
• 5:59
  underground tubers you're after the the leaves
• 6:03
  and the yams themselves of many
• 6:06
  of the species in the yam genus
• 6:09
  are full of steroid chemicals natural plant
• 6:13
  steroids and i think certain species
• 6:16
  in africa are used to make female contraceptives and
• 6:20
  it's said that jamaican runners are.
• 6:24
  So fast because of the natural steroids
• 6:27
  that are in yams however it's also
• 6:31
  known that usain bolt doesn't like
• 6:34
  yams and never eats yams so is
• 6:38
  he the exception that proves the
• 6:41
  rule or it certainly can't be due to
• 6:44
  that so and yeah convenient one
• 6:46
  that isn't it the tubers can reach one meters
• 6:50
  in depth so you're going to need a really sandy soil for this you
• 6:52
  can't be digging up clay to one meter they can weigh
• 6:55
  several kilos though when they're harvested and it's that
• 6:58
  starchy stable crop in east asia adds
• 7:02
  texture similar to new potatoes so really
• 7:05
  really valuable potatoes new potatoes they're perennial
• 7:08
  and low import once established they regrow every year like
• 7:11
  asparagus or rhubarb but the harvest is not great
• 7:14
  aerial ball bills you can't you can't eat the ball
• 7:16
  bills they'll be poisonous they're edible raw
• 7:19
  though that's their main advantage so you can plant the small tubers or
• 7:22
  the aerial tubers they need full sun or partial
• 7:25
  shade they grow on a-framed supports
• 7:29
  vertical supports netting poles trellises up to
• 7:32
  three to six meters that is pretty tall these plants go really tall and they
• 7:37
  can strangle all the foliage if you're not careful so if you've grown them hydroponically
• 7:40
  you could have a lattice system sort of like scrognets to control these they
• 7:45
  don't have to go vertically they could go horizontally as long but they are going to grow as a vine.
• 7:50
  And i don't know anyone who's grown them hydroponically so
• 7:53
  could you grow them hydroponically who knows i think
• 7:56
  this is a as i say this is one i would really
• 7:59
  look at especially if you're growing in hydroponics in like a greenhouse that
• 8:03
  gets frosty in the winter and you can't heat it and this could be a good one
• 8:06
  for a perennial crop as i said can be invasive so just be careful of that if
• 8:10
  you're growing in the soil another reason to grow hydroponically really i suppose
• 8:14
  and i'd say it's a bit like.
• 8:17
  Speak to a local afro-caribbean or asian
• 8:21
  importer see if they'd be interested in growing in
• 8:24
  you growing chinese yams hydroponically
• 8:27
  and whether there's an advantage of having them fresh rather than being
• 8:30
  imported a bit like i talked about the other day about the
• 8:33
  peonies think of a go to these people
• 8:36
  and speak to them and see what is their pain points do they
• 8:39
  have a struggle to get chinese yams is freshness an issue do they
• 8:42
  struggle to get certain fruit and vegetables at certain times of year that's how you'll make
• 8:45
  your money in hydroponics not thinking oh i really
• 8:48
  want to grow this plant is there a market for it like i.
• 8:51
  Did with sunfire i thought i can grow sunfire i've
• 8:54
  got these three different techniques i can use to grow
• 8:57
  sunfire i'm going to grow sunfire and see if i can sell it
• 9:00
  and nobody wanted it there was no pain point there they were
• 9:03
  more than happy to keep on buying israeli sunfire
• 9:07
  that if you look on the waitrose or marx
• 9:09
  and spencer's supermarket website people complain that
• 9:12
  it's tasted sticks and it's horrible so yeah.
• 9:16
  They were more than happy to carry on buying that so yeah work out
• 9:19
  where the pain points are and and go from there but it
• 9:22
  could be a really interesting hydroponic crop being a
• 9:25
  monocot you want to make sure that these ample levels of silicon
• 9:28
  and just have a
• 9:31
  look at it make sure the ph doesn't go crazy who knows
• 9:35
  what the ph and optimum ec levels are no one's
• 9:38
  looked it no one's looked at hydroponic chinese yams yet to
• 9:41
  my knowledge so it's a blue ocean the big
• 9:44
  issue will be making sure that the yam tuber can
• 9:46
  produce in the growing media that you're using so probably not one
• 9:49
  for rockwool but maybe one for coke and
• 9:53
  like clay beads or volcanic particles something
• 9:57
  that a tuber can develop into and if you
• 9:59
  gave it long days all day all the time maybe
• 10:02
  it won't go dormant and you could have a continuous crop that would
• 10:05
  be the dream wouldn't it so that's been hydroponics daily for today
• 10:08
  could we potentially be growing chinese yams in
• 10:11
  hydroponics who knows i have no idea i'd love to try it if you'd love to collaborate
• 10:15
  on a project with me growing chinese yams then get in touch with me and i'll
• 10:19
  happily provide you with some chinese yams and some fertilizer or we can get
• 10:22
  going you provide the hydroponic system we'll do it all right until tomorrow
• 10:27
  that's been hydroponics daily thank you very much for listening goodbye.