Yes Goldhills, I have always believed that Kumara and sweet potato are the same and it appears that the confusion may be caused by different varieties. I have just checked in the "What Food is That" book. The botanical name is Ipomoea batatas and it points out that they are botanically different to ordinary potatoes. Under varieties, it states that the "red variety has red skin with orange flesh, the New Zealand red-skinned variety, called Kumara, has yellow flesh. The so-called white sweet potato has yellow skin with yellow flesh and is smaller than the red variety".
The "Food Bible" also states that there are a number of sweet potato varieties and the colour may be white, yellow or purple. And finally, in Botanica, the entry for Ipomoea batatas has for the common name - sweet potato, kumara.

I've also heard oca (aka NZ yam, botanical name Oxalis tuberosa) referred to as kumara. I must admit though that I've always thought kumara was just sweet potato.
If the kumara referred to is in fact oca, then it would have to have been grown in the PNG highlands because it's a temperate plant, not tropical.
There's a picture here.

I think that the best person to answer your question is Wally Bergman who was curator of Sweet potatoes for SSN. He has (had?) a large collection of varieties collected in Nth Qld (with old varieties from PNG, Sth Pacific etc...) and he was offering cuttings and very detailed growing details.
Here is a link (hopefully still valid):

Here is a link that might be useful: sweet potatoes

Thanks.

I was talking to this person again yesterday and she said that it is illegal to bring kumara into Australia now which is why it is hard to get. Apparently not much is grown here. She had a couple of pieces of the plant yesterday and they look just like ordinary sweet potato. I haven't seen a tuber though so have no idea what colour it is.

When I did a google the other day the only references I could find mentioned Ipomoea batatas. I've had a look at the oca site (and a couple of others) but didn't see any leaves to compare.

I'm wondering whether kumara is just a name for one of the colours.

Goldhils,
Oca is an oxalis so the leaves are small and rather clover-like, though fleshier. Nothing at all like the leaves of sweet potato. I'm with you. Kumara is just a particular colour of sweet potato - orange-red flesh as far as I know, and delicious!

GH, does this look like the leaves you have, if it is plant it where it doesn't matter how far you want it to grow as , like all sweet potatoes, they like to take over.

The fruit from these is large and lovely orangy colour inside and it was given as a Kumara, but it grows and looks like a sweet potato.
Marion
{{gwi:2115689}}

Similar if I remember right but as I said before they look just like any other. I don't really want to plant more sweet potato in the school garden as we have just finished digging out a huge area after someone planted it in the wrong spot last year. At least this year I have more say in what is planted and where so I told them to plant them in the very bottom corner. Someone else has offered us more sweet potato to plant too but I politely declined (with gritted teeth) :)

Hi,
I've always wondered if it was possible to grow kumara in South Australia? Does anyone know where I could get a plant from??
Cheryl

Hi guys,

Long time no post! Moved up to Toowoomba last year and it's been the first time that I've tried sweet potato (thought I'd add here instead of a new thread) I have beautifully healthy sweet potato plants at present, first flower today. As we all know they despise frost, and with minimum temperatures heading down towards zero I'm wondering what I should do!

The slips were planted around late February. I have no idea where the actual tubers form, whether it's around the source slip or further down the vines like some other crops. My main questions are:

1) Can I use a frost cover to prolong the life of the crop? We don't get severe frosts, only got -1 and -3 last year and tomatoes survived under the frost cover.

2) Should I harvest now or wait until the tops die down?

Hopefully I haven't been too wordy and you'll be able to shed some light!

Cheers,

Albi.

I am keen to try growing sweet potato and was thrilled to find some small pots of ipomea batatas in the garden section at Kmart but the planting guide says they grow 2 metres high! I thought they would ramp all over the ground. Should I grow them on a frame? Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

Hi,I grow sweet potaoes herein tweed all year,they like warm growing conditions,go to vege shop and buy one good fruit cut it in half and put cut side down in a glass of water,water just touching base of kumera...in a few days new shoots will grow from top,when they get to about 8-10 inches break them off carefully,I usually take a smaal piece of the fruit with the shoot, plant in good garden soil in full sun and stand back,shoots will keep coming and you will see when all the eyes on the potato are used up then plant what is left of the fruit.They have a long growing season, I trim if they go where they are not welcome.I hope this helps,good growing.

There was at least 3 varieties of sweet potato grown in NZ prior to european arrival. Larger types were introduced in the 1800's by American Whalers. All are the same species, and all go by the Maori name kumara.