Ummm, I am pretty sure its poisonous

My understanding is that it was brought here as a food crop and that it is edible, just not very.

It is considered poisonous. I hand dug the tubers in my yard for a couple of years to eradicate them from my garden. I also watch for "new potatoes" every year and dispose of them. So far, so good.

Would you believe some idiot is selling air potato bulbs on eBay.

Below is a link that discusses air potatoes and how to eventually eradicate them. Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Air potato and control

quote: Would you believe some idiot is selling air potato bulbs on eBay.

Haha. My neighbor just sold 100 used tennis balls on ebay for $35!! She was cleaning out her garage and had the idea...

I kept telling my dad to sell his air potatoes on ebay!! I have heard that in cold climes they grow like annuals and die when hit by freezing temps.

As far as getting rid of them there is no magic bullet. You just have to keep digging them out and you have to stay on top of it or they take control again.

Frank, air potatoes are a real pain! As for the edibility, yes particular varieties have been used as food, but NOT the one that grows wild down here. I have read several places that this one is toxic. The ones you hear of people eating are a different type that grow up north.

I wish I could tell you an easy way to be rid of them, but I don't know one.

Marcia

I got some that have been hard to find in my yard with underground bulbs bigger than basketballs and really gross. Every year I clear all of them out and every year there are thousands more.....

Lots and lots of Roundup and throwing out any bulbs we found.

in boyd nature park in st. pete, they are asking for volunteers to clean them out. also providing free lunch. just hope lunch isn't the plants(lol).

Hi Frank,
You can eat the underground tubers but not the smaller ones on the vine. I and my family eats them. it is
sold in the grocery stores that carries other tropical root crops. It is a starchy bland kind of like potatoes. I like them boiled and then salt them and with butter. It is also used in stews and fried chips. I know them as name. There is conflicting information on the web concerning that they are poisonous. Just sell them to farmer markets.LOL.
Felix

I found something that you folks might want to try. Now it's something simple. Something even the best minds have never tried. So if it doesn't grow around salt water maybe by giving them high loads of salt or salt water it may kill them off. Or if they hate cold maybe something as simple as dry ice over their roots might work. Try and see what works for you and sell that on ebay
IV. PHYSICAL TOLERANCES

Temperature:
Cold intolerance appears to be the key factor limiting expansion of the U.S. introduced range of Dioscorea bulbifera beyond the tropical/subtropical to warm-temperate areas it now occurs in.

Salinity:
Air potato is not salt tolerant and is an unsuccessful invader of marine and estuarine shorelines

Certainly I would have more interest in raking up all the air potatos if I thought at least I could eat it!

Maybe have an air potato hunt for Easter and give the kid who fills his basket with the most a great prize!LOL

I think you would have to be very hungry to even want to try to eat air potatos.
thea

What does it taste like?

What is the difference between the potatos in the ground and the ones on the surface - only the hair! (roots)