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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-276
Jicama
Pachyrhizus erosus
Jicama is a tropical vine grown here as an annual for its crisp, apple-flavored root rather than the multi-year tuber it forms in frost-free climates. It needs the days to shorten before it bulks its root, so a single hot summer only produces a small tuber in the ten or twelve weeks before frost. Only the root is edible - the seeds, pods and leaves carry a toxic compound and must stay out of every harvest basket. Pinching off the flower buds as they form is the one trick that pushes more growth into the root instead of the vine.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 10–12
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Vine- Soil pH
- 6.5–8
- Plant type
- Vine
- Mature height
- 12–24 in
- Mature spread
- 20–25 ft
- Plant spacing
- 6–8 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
Similar plants
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Cyclanthera pedata
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Plukenetia conophora
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Air Potato
Dioscorea bulbifera
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Banana Passionfruit
Passiflora tarminiana
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Bitter Melon
Momordica charantia
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Bottle Gourd
Lagenaria siceraria
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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