Cassava - Yellow
Manihot esculenta
The tuberous root is light yellow and flavour is richer than the white, tasting a lot like potato. This is the sweet variety producing smaller but more nutritious tubers. Harvest can start from earlier than 12 months. Tubers are best dug when small and ... Read Moreused within a couple of days or stored in the ground on the plant.Cassava is a shrubby plant growing to about 1-3m, with thin stems and attractive large palm-shaped leaves. A perennial shrub cassava produces a high yield of tuberous roots in 6 months to 3 years after planting. The tubers are the main part that is eaten, but the leaves can be enjoyed as a vegetable dish. Cassava is an important daily source of starch for 300-600 million of the poorest people around the world. It is among the most productive uses of subsistence land, producing 40% more starch than rice, and 25% more than maize. Note that all cassava is poisonous!! In some bitter varieties, all parts of the plant are laced with a highly toxic poison (hydrocyanic or prussic acid). Sweet varieties have lower or marginal concentrations of the toxin. But the more toxic varieties produce bigger tubers! Plants from the tropics have evolved toxins as a defence against predators more so than those from temperate climates which is why they require cooking in order to eat them. Thorough cooking dispels or denatures the harmful toxins, and makes the remaining portion safe to eat. Powdered cassava is treated like a flour and made into cakes, unleavened bread, pasta, crackers. Sliced cassava is also made into crisps. Flat bread made from cassava meal can keep for a year without spoiling. Dried chips or pellets are used as animal feed. Young tender leaves are rich in Vitamin B and protein, but also has more of the toxins. They are eaten as a vegetable. Like the tubers, they have to be boiled for minimum 15-20 mins in an open topped vessel to remove their toxins.Best grown without the use of fertilisers as too much vegetative growth is promoted at the expense of tubers
$21.00
Preferred Climate Tropical, Subtropical
Grown From Cutting
Max Height (when in the ground with good conditions) 1-2m
Plants required to Pollinate 1 (Self Pollinating)
Can it Handle Frosts? Likes Temps above 5deg
Amount of leaves in Winter? All Leaves (Evergreen), Some Leaves (Partly Deciduous)
Suitability in Pots Yes with 35L+ Pot
Water Requirements Moderate Watering, Drought Hardy (Little Watering)
Is it a Dwarf Fruit Tree? Can be pruned to 2m
Time to Fruit/Flower/Harvest First Year
Sun or Shade Full (Sun:80%-100%)
Preferred Soil Type Good Drainage
Soil pH Moderately Acidic (5.5-6.5), Neutral (6.6-7.3pH)
Fruiting/Harvest Months January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Fertiliser All Purpose
Plant Width 1-2m
Growth Rate Fast
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