# Yams! How do I grow one? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459 "2009-05-05T21:19:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AquaPura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AquaPura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AquaPura)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/1 "2009-05-05T21:19:38Z")
I have this rogue yam that I bought sometime around Christmas. I was planning to eat the delicious tuber soon, so I set it on top of my printer. About a week later I noticed that it had developed four long shoots growing out of the end of it. I decided to let nature take it’s course and see what happened. It is now early May and those four shoots have been joined by nearly a dozen friends, all of which are about a foot long and showing off baby leaves. I would like to somehow finish growing this baby outside, but I have no idea what to do next. Do I just stick it in a planter of dirt? What kind of dirt? I read something about growing potatoes in a trash can, is growing yams similar? Tell me O Great and Mighty Dope, what do I do? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/2 "2009-05-05T21:27:08Z")
Just stick it in some dirt. Depending on your climate it might not produce any tubers, they need it fairly warm. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/3 "2009-05-05T21:59:36Z")
If you just stick it in a jar/vase/whatever of water, it will become a nice houseplant. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/4 "2009-05-06T01:02:39Z")
You really need to give a location. Yams have to have lots of heat and sun, that’s why they are almost all grown in sub-Saharan Africa. [Yams](http://www.new-ag.info/06-3/develop/dev03.html) You might have a chance with sweet potatoes. [Sweet Potato](http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/sweetpotato1.html) Figure out for sure what you have. [The difference between sweet potato and yam.](http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/vegetables/sweetpotato.html) ---
**Author:** ![AquaPura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AquaPura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AquaPura)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/5 "2009-05-06T01:36:33Z")
_gasps_ I am a LIAR! I apparently have a sweet potato, not, as previously reported, a yam. I am located in south eastern Wisconsin. Just south of the city of Milwaukee. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/6 "2009-05-06T03:28:30Z")
The Sweet Potato link has growing instructions so have at it. Enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/7 "2009-05-06T03:56:36Z")
Now that the question has been answered, might I ask a follow up? If food you are going to eat soon goes on the printer, where do you store the food you’re _not_ planning on eating right away? ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/8 "2009-05-06T13:02:16Z")
I might offer a variation on the previous instructions. I’ve grown sweet potatoes on the farm and the method used was as follows: Cut the runners, or stalks, off the sweet potato you have used for seed. These are called “draws”. Stick the cut end of the draw in freshly turned earth, at a depth of about 1/2 inch. Keep watered regularly. This draw will root itself with a primary root and then along the runner. Your new potatoes will grow off these roots, along the runner. for the sake of clarity I will offer this edit. Runner=Draw=Stalk, in this context. Don’t forget to "cure’ the new potatoes you get. ---
**Author:** ![AquaPura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AquaPura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AquaPura)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/9 "2009-05-07T05:40:26Z")
> [@Tenebras](#): > > Now that the question has been answered, might I ask a follow up? If food you are going to eat soon goes on the printer, where do you store the food you’re _not_ planning on eating right away? What a silly question… It goes on the wash machine. ---
**Author:** ![AquaPura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AquaPura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AquaPura)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/10 "2009-05-07T05:42:10Z")
> [@CateAyo](#): > > I might offer a variation on the previous instructions. I’ve grown sweet potatoes on the farm and the method used was as follows: Cut the runners, or stalks, off the sweet potato you have used for seed. These are called “draws”. Stick the cut end of the draw in freshly turned earth, at a depth of about 1/2 inch. Keep watered regularly. This draw will root itself with a primary root and then along the runner. Your new potatoes will grow off these roots, along the runner. > > for the sake of clarity I will offer this edit. Runner=Draw=Stalk, in this context. Don’t forget to "cure’ the new potatoes you get. Do I keep the runners standing straight up when planted? Or do I lay them down to plant them like tomatoes, and keep a little bit of the end sticking up? ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/11 "2009-05-07T10:29:13Z")
I have had luck planting tropical type food plants in tyres. The black colour helps to heat the soil up during the day and the rubber gives some insulation at night ---
**Author:** ![redshift](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@redshift](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redshift)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/12 "2009-05-07T11:44:53Z")
Not to derail but… how do you manage to grow a plant on top of a printer in the first place?? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/13 "2009-05-07T12:43:25Z")
I had a plant on the deck last year that was labeled “sweet potato plant.” it was very viney and the leaves were a beautiful purple color. Is that the same leaf I’d get if I plant an actual sweet potato or is this some kind of spinoff from the real thing? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/14 "2009-05-07T12:48:30Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I had a plant on the deck last year that was labeled “sweet potato plant.” it was very viney and the leaves were a beautiful purple color. Is that the same leaf I’d get if I plant an actual sweet potato or is this some kind of spinoff from the real thing? Decorative plant of the same family (which is also, IIRC, the same family as morning glories and other viners). It doesn’t grow edible tubers, and the edible sweet potato’s leaves are usually green or chartreuse. ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-how-do-i-grow-one/495459/15 "2009-05-07T23:38:40Z")
> [@AquaPura](#): > > Do I keep the runners standing straight up when planted? Or do I lay them down to plant them like tomatoes, and keep a little bit of the end sticking up? The cut end is pressed into the soil at abt 1/2- 1 inch, the remainder of the runner is laid on the ground. A little soil sprinkled over it might help, but don’t bury it completely.