Can anyone help me with information on growing yams?

I get quite a good crop, but they are mostly very small. Yet in the shops
one can buy yams that are 100-150mms long.

Should I mound up the rows like potatoes?
What fertilizers should I use (apart from sheep pellets and general garden
fertilizer)?

--
Murray and Judy Campbell
15 Mill Street
NELSON
Ph/Fax (03) 548-1170
E-mail

Can anyone help me with information on growing yams?

I get quite a good crop, but they are mostly very small. Yet in the shops
one can buy yams that are 100-150mms long.

Should I mound up the rows like potatoes?
What fertilizers should I use (apart from sheep pellets and general garden
fertilizer)?

--
Murray and Judy Campbell
15 Mill Street
NELSON
Ph/Fax (03) 548-1170
E-mail
Depends;
1. Where are you
2. Are you growing Yams or sweet potatoes?

Very few true yams are groen in the continental USA. But lots of people call
the moist southern sweet potato cultivars yams. If that is what you are growing
than I can help you for next year. This years crop is pretty well committed at
least in the northern hemisphere. I am not familiar with conditions in
Australia and New Zealand but sweet potatoes are not heavy feeders so if your
ferilizing routne works for other crops it should be fine for sweet potatoes.
Here I plant them on lists ( a row about 12 inches wide and 4 to 6 inches high)
It encourages the roots to form in the row rather than all over the patch. I
set each plant 16 inches apart. To get size they need a hundred to 120 days of
hot weather.