PlantFiles: Air Potato
Dioscorea bulbifera

Horribly invasive

I grow this in my porch in a big pot every summer, and it is my most beautiful climber, no bugs or other disease seems to like the plant. I think not it can be invasible in my country. It´s to cold here. I ONLY WHISH I could get a bulb of Dioscorea discolor also to grow beside this in my porch.
Lovely plant.

All those negatives by the southeasteners should encourage Californians to TRY IT!..a very attractive vine with large pleated,dark green leaves.Moderate grower outdoors in the bay area, I grew it originally in a greenhouse where it was very fast. The problem for Californians is the brown snail will eat every part of this plant. After a good first year,the pests ate too much of the spring growth and my young vine was killed.
It really is a very nice potted plant also with hanging 'potatos'
As you might think a yam relative with hot and wet/humid needs isnt going to become invasive in California. Keeping it going year to year isn't easy.

I cannot say enough about this most INVASIVE of plants in my attempt to discourage anyone from growing it.

I acquired a lovely 3 acre CLEAR lot with naturally moist, fertile soil. I wanted to grow something and I thought the vines I had seen growing wild in the ditches with the heart-shaped leaves would look nice and lend an air of "quick" fix for my naked land.

WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE!!! I spent the next 30 years battling this plant as I watched it quickly take over every square inch of land.... the house, trees, EVERYTHING!!! Hundreds of dollars were spent on herbicides in my attempt to rid my property of this PEST. I spent thousands of hours with a machete in hand cutting, ripping, pulling,....... ANYTHING to try and rid my land of this vine.

Every single potato, no matter how tiny (they could be the size of a pea) grew and flourished. The underground tubers grew to weigh 20 lbs. or more. The squirrels carried the fruits all over the property and onto the neighbor's land.

The large, strong vines grew from one treetop to the next and eventually covered the whole place in a blanket of vines. During the hurricanes of '04 all it took was one or two trees to start falling and the domino effect went into play with the common "link" being their binding together with this vine. We lost almost every single tree in our yard.

Anyone who is even considering growing this vine is welcome to come view some areas of Central Florida and see what can happen in a very short time when this thing gets busy. You can even come see what it has done to my once beautiful, clean, CLEAR 3 acres of land, just be sure to bring plenty of Round-Up, some machetes and pack a huge lunch and plan on staying awhile as you can help me try to eradicate this horrid pest from my yard.

This gets top vote as the absolute most invasive, noxious exotic EVER!! Anyone who gets this thing loose in their yard, I feel for you and you are going to be facing a virtual losing battle as you try to control, contain and eradicate it from your land. Good luck cause you are going to need it!!!

I wouldn't plant that vine if I were you. I got it in my yard because of rescuing some heirloom plants from a construction site. Unfortunately I didn't recognize it before it established itself under my beautiful mock orange hedge. I have battled it for the last 10 years in my yard as it tries to creep through my grass and vines up my hedges and trees. Unfortunatly now it has spread to my two neighbor's yards and I feel very guilty about it. I can now recognize it as readily as poison ivy and have the same reaction to it.
Rush for the chemicals! Kill! Kill!

There are lots of other pretty vines that won't take out the native habitat if it escapes your lawn, please consider them instead before all your neighbors hate you like mine does. Lest you think that this is non-invasive in the North, I will tell you I live in Southern Indiana!

Highly invasive in Florida. Despite what some may want to think, it does take over natural environments, and is very much subtropical Florida's version of kudzu.

Comments [advocating planting it] show nothing short of a full disregard of natural environments and law, considering this plant is listed on every invasive list there is for Florida and is illegal to possess. But congratulations to the author! That post has now been memorialized in a Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council paper about Air Potato.

According to that same paper, "Air potato causes ecological damage by climbing other vegetation and forming dense canopies that shade out, and may cause the collapse, of native plants (Gordon et. al., 1999; Schmitz et al., 1997; Schultz, 1993). Air potato is listed by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council as a Category I invasive plant--species which are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives."

Air potato was introduced into Florida in 1905, and in just those hundred years has spread into nearly all parts of Florida, from the Panhandle to the Keys, taking over native hammocks along the way. It is a state listed noxious weed, and is illegal to introduce, multiply, possess, move, or be released except with permit from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

I adore my air potato vines! I keep a really close eye on all plants in my yard (in other words, I don't have a life...LOL). I check out every plant (100's) every day. I watch every twist and curve of my air potato vines and direct them on the paths I want using hardware, rods, posts, etc. I have this vine in numerous areas of my yard: over my arbor, encircling my waterfall and fountain, up the ladders to my granddaughter's tree house, up all 4 legs of my wooden swing, encircling wooden landscaping fence sections, etc. Strays are promptly dug up and placed in areas where they can be more appreciated. Look at the symmetry of the leaves and the veining--they are stunning.

I can't give this vine a negative because I do not have the same experience everyone else does. It climbs on my chain link fence in a few sections, but seems very mild. Every so often I yank out a section but would hardly call it work.

It is a pretty vine with bright color, so I don't make a big deal out of removing it from my garden area. In comparison to the other potato vine I grow, this one pales greatly.

It dies back with the winter and has to start all over again the next spring.

I live in Miami, Florida and have thousands of these plants growing on an acre that I have just purchased.

I am a SLAVE to them !!!

For those of you who are growing them for beauty and live in Florida you can go to jail for them. Get on the Internet and see that cities have regular "collections" and every one you have collected you should burn.

The untended yard that came along with the old (ca 1920s) house I purchased in Decatur, Georgia has been a challenge to tame (I haven't won yet). The privet, bamboo, English ivy, and wild violets all combined have not caused me nearly as much misery and heartache as the air potato. The harder I fight it, the stronger it grows. This year I'm going to try putting sheets of landscape cloth underneath the vines that will inevitably return, and gather the potatoes daily. (Last year I went out every day and picked them off the ground, but it's impossible to get them all, once they hit the dirt.) All I want is to give my cannas and daylilies a fighting chance.

This is very evasive weed of which the state of Florida is attemping to eradicate. It is on their "noxious weed" list..The
plant is very difficult to get rid of once it takes over. It threatens Florida' s natural hammocks and hardwood forests and is very toxic to the wildlife..Please , Please to not contribute to the problem of "it takeover of our environment" by cultivating and purposely growing this noxious weed.

I have grown this plant for years and have never found it to be invasive. It has never come back from either roots or potatoes for me ! I let this grow up a trellis each year and it has never strayed. I always tell people that get a potato from me that it is invasive in some areas.

Air Potato Dioscorea bulbifera is naturalized in Texas and other States and is considered an invasive plant in Texas.

My experience with Dioscorea bulbifera has been very positive.

This beautiful green, rapidly growing vine gives a lush ropical rainforest appearance to my Florida garden. It thrives in deep shade and if there is nothing to climb, will provide a wonderfully dense groundcover (do not walk on it frequently.)

Those who prefer to micro-control their environments may use exaggerated descriptions such as "invasive", "noxious" and "damaging to the ecosystem (How?!) but this plant can be easily contained in your garden with the usual gardening practices of trimming and uprooting every few days if you wish, just as you would with any plant.

I was given some bulbs of Dioscorea bulbifera by a friend about 3 years ago. I was told by him it's call "Ah shou wu" in Chinese. Direct translated means something like Mr. Black Head, because it is believed that this plant is used as a herb to prevent the growth of grey hair if consumed regularly. As the Chinese have black hair, thus "Mr. Black Hair." The potatoes are not only edible, but very tasty when cooked as soup. I love it so much, so I saved one and planted it on my fence. Unfortunately, before it could bear any potatoes, it was destroyed by my dog. It is definately edible.

Zone 8b they freeze to the ground, but return..Mine are in shade and arn't very aggressive, just producing a few potato bulbs..A novelty for the grandchildren and no problem so far..

I have just spent a full day pulling/digging potatoes out of our St. Augustine lawn. Our neighbor's empty lot has been completely overrun by these terrible vines and have been encroaching on our property for a couple of years. We didn't mind, at first.

Before we realized what was happening (because we thought they were so pretty growing up the trees) our beautiful TALL tree line between the two lots has been completely eliminated. At first, we thought they had some type of disease or maybe a worm infection. Right before our eyes, THE VINES CHOKED THE LIFE RIGHT OUT OF THE CEDARS AND OAKS. Now I feel like I'm "on a mission" to rid our property of these.

Every weekend for the past two months I have pulled vines and potatoes, as well as spraying everything available in the stores.

Unfortunately, the man next door doesn't even know his property and trees have been destroyed because he never checks on the lot. I've been spraying his lot too because I know if I don't kill his, those aggravating potatoes will just come on over to our property AGAIN!

This noxious invasive is probably the most frightening of the many invasives in my yard (in Tallahassee). If a neighbor planted it intentionally, I'd seriously consider suing. For those who think they can control it, think again -- all it takes is a kid grabbing a few of the tubers and throwing them around in the woods. This thing kills trees.

The back and side of my yard are attacked. Both neighbors dislike it, but both have even less time than I do to attack it. One lets me go into her yard to pull it, but the other owner rents the house to people who have dogs, and so far I cannot work on that source.

Please, do not even plant air potato in Ohio or other northern states. If one tuber falls in the storm sewer, it will end up in the river and could well sprout in the Atchafalaya basin.

Edward

This "weed" is the most horrible thing I've dealt with and it reminds me of Kudzu (from the I-95 corridor). It has taken over the small wet land behind our house and has completely destroyed the Florida pine trees that are ten or twelve stories tall.

We had our first "air potato" roundup today and we gathered almost 500 lbs of potatoes. The largest sizes were larger than a softball and as small as a corn kernel.

Any person who thinks the Air Potato is a nice, pleasant, non-invasive plant should stop eating the potatoes because they are poisonous and obviously impaired your judgment.

I'm really glad to have seen all the comments on this plant. I got starts of this plant from a friend who has planted it everywhere on her property. I really like the vine, but after reading all of the comments I've seen here, I'm definately not going to plant it in my yard!

I really feel for her neighbors.

I agree without maintenance this will become invasive. I am careful in placement and trimming of the "Aerial Potato" Dont plant under trees or bushes and harvest all the "potatoes" off the vine, before allowing them to the ground, and then replant them as you wish. It is a wonderful climber for lattice or fences. I was given a tuber "potato" from an experienced horticulturist in Lousiana, and now grow it in Central Texas. The huge hardy leaves are shade-full and tolerate heat well. Flowering is rare. As mentioned above, it will do well in baskets or large pots. ( In research found that in chinese-herbal medicine, the powder of the tuber is used for medicinal purposes. I myself wont try that!)

There are many non-invasive vines to choose from. This vine is almost impossible to eradicate once it takes hold. The parks in our area have volunteer drives several times a year to get rid of this pest. Even a miniscule piece of the tuber will sprout a new vine.

The Florida Dept. of Agriculture lists this vine as a noxious weed and it is listed as Category I of highly invasive plants by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council.

PLEASE DO NOT PLANT THIS VINE IN FLORIDA.

We grow it as a houseplant in Pennsylvania. Ours stays under control as a hanging pot plant in the greenhouse and outside in the summer, going completely dormant in winter. I have never seen flowers on this vine, only the potatoes. I tried to help you Floridians out by bringing a "bagful" of them back to PA and I will be distributing them to our local Hobby Greenhouse Club. Sorry I couldn't bring a tractor trailer down to Fla to help you out but I only know how to drive a 4-speed.

This is a very beautiful vine with beautiful emerald greed color and large heart shaped leaves. It has little tassels of white blooms with a very nice fragrance. With the novel addition of the potatos, it is a vine that would attract any gardener who has not experienced it.

All may seem well in the beginning, but the tiniest pea size potato is fully mature enough to generate a new plant. One that size somehow managed to get into my house. I left it alone to see how far it would go. With no soil to grow in and nothing but air to feed it, it made a 6ft vine before it died.

I hope that suggests how dangerous this invasive is. Especially if you live in Florida, you truly do not want it no matter how beautiful. Unfortunately, my beautiful pest arrived in a load of mulch 5 years ago. I battle it every summer and still have not been able to eradicate it. I am fearful that the floods of last summer may have helped to spread it. Thankfully it dies down over winter.

I think these are very pretty vines-I found one of these air potatos and put it in the ground and it grew into a very nice vine on my fence. Requires no care whatsoever. Invasive? I did not find it to be. The vine did not grow spectacularly large. In fact when I got tired of it-it was not hard to get rid of...but I planted it again. I found it to be very easy to manage.

And yes I live in florida. I like this plant.

Much like the North Carolina comment, I grow it on a Trellis in northern Virginia, close to Washington, and experience on positive reactions. Because it does not have time to produce mature tubers this far north, I purchase them from Texas each year.

I wouldn't recommend growing Dioscorea bulbifera aka Air Potato Vine (and D. alata, aka Winged Yam) anywhere except maybe an enclosed courtyard or indoors. It is extremely invasive in southern states, and, once one vine has been allowed to mature, the air potato vine (and winged yam) is almost impossible to remove, or even control. Refer to Univ of Florida website for full details, including how to attempt to control it.

Maybe this vine would be nice if grown as a houseplant instead of in the yard.

This horrible plant was introduced to our area by a mainland transplant. She brought them over from where she lived previously and started giving them to people up stream from us ... she offered some to us and we refused it, telling her why and how invasive this plant was.

She ignored us and now our area is beginning to get covered with the vines after rains and little flash floods brought the potatoes down stream.

Our local tourist attraction - Akaka Falls State Park - is already getting covered with this pest and the natural tropical plants and flowers are being strangled.

When I lived in Florida, I battled this plant for years as my neighbor had planted one at the fence between our yards....Almost daily I had to go out and cut as much as possible and rip up from the ground. I would even reach across through the wire fence and pull as much as I could from their yard!!!!

I'm sorry to be so adamant and do not want anyone to feel insulted.....but anyone who plants this vine on purpose should be fined.

Just looking at the pictures of this plant make me nauseous. This cursed thing grows so fast you don't even need a time-lapse camera to film it growing. I noticed a tendril coming up out of the ground next to my porch lattice. 45 minutes later it had already begun climbing & weaving into the lattice work.

I think it comes up from the roots as well as the "potatoes" because I cleared out all I could, put down weed block (black landscape fabric) & LOTS of mulch. This stuff is the ONLY thing that came back & IT GREW THROUGH THE WEED BLOCK! Everything I plant has to be in containers until I get rid of this cursed plant!

I made the mistake of thinking the heart shaped leaves were cute and I let it grow after one volunteered in my yard. It almost killed my 5' azalea before I realized it had to go. Unfortunately the potatoes had already formed and went everywhere. I'm still battling it four years later. I'm in Atlanta.

This plant is extremely invasive in Florida to the point that there have been group "clean-ups" of this plant from river bottom areas here in Northcentral Florida, zone 8b, where people spend part of a weekend trying to remove this plant from natural areas it has invaded. I suspect in cooler climates it is much less invasive.

The plant with the smooth, baseball-sized tubers is the least useable (edible) of the Dioscorea species that grow wild in the southeast U.S. The tubers are very bitter and must be cut up and boiled in more than one water change; also, the main tuber does not get as big as the other wild varieties.

I have found that it is better to plant the one with the rough, looking exterior and irregular shape--these are good to eat baked or boiled, and I prefer them to potatoes. Also the vine is just as beautiful as the others (the difference is that the leaves of the edible one are a little longer and not so wide, and the size of the air potato tuber is a little less usually. Please note there are at least 3 different species described as "Air Potato",

AAAAAHHGRG!! Once you have them you can't get rid of them! I spray round up and it kills the vine but even a small brown potato as miniscule as a pea will start them back up again. My recommendation: catch them early and throw the potatoes into a container and dispose of them with the garbage. Don't let any of the potatoes touch soil.

Be aware this invasive exotic plant is listed as a Category I pest by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. It is almost impossible to get rid of once it has invaded an area.

I am having a different experience with this vine. I'm in eastern North Carolina (U.S.), and I have this vine planted in a border on the back wall of the house. It is shaded by the house all day, and maybe that explains why mine never reaches gargantuan proportions. It grows on a six foot trellis, completely covering the trellis by summer's end, but it has never gotten out of hand.

The potatos will start to drop before much longer and I'll just store them until next year and give them away (those that I don't plant somewhere else). I love it. It has glossy, heart-shaped leaves and is very attractive against the plain ole vinyl siding of the back of the house. People always remark on how pretty this vine is. It will die back to the ground this winter, and around here some people do dig up the Mother Tater. So far I haven't had to. Just a layer of straw or mulch and it will shoot back up next spring.

I do not grow this plant, but I have seen it in the local area. It is extremely invasive, and damages the natural ecosystem. Rainbow Springs State Park has been trying to eradicate this pest from the facility [once a commercial tourist trap] and progress is being made.

Dioscorea bulbifera is another non-native, invasive vine in Florida (U.S.) While some members of this family have edible tubers this one is said to be bitter and possibly poisonous.

A member of the yam family (Dioscoreaceae), the "Air Potato" produces large numbers of aerial tubers. These tubers are attached at the stem and look like potatoes. The plant drops tubers (at the faintest touch) and dies back each winter. In spring the tubers start to grow (as does EVERY potato that touches the ground) and the vines often reach 70 feet and more in a single season.

Propagation of this plant is strongly discouraged as it smothers out native vegetation.