Kumara are tropical plants that only grow outside when it’s warm, but you can give them a head start in a warm sunny room indoors. 

From just one kumara tuber, you can grow lots! The first step is to grow some baby kumara plants on the same kumara that we would normally eat. For fun you can grow it in a jar of water watch the roots grow. 

Once your kumara has sprouted you might want grow it in a pot as a houseplant. Or you can use the shoots to grow loads of kumara to eat. Here’s how… 

Grow your own kumara

1. Sit your kumara tuber in a jar of water, using toothpicks to hold it up.
2. Place it in a bright sunny place indoors, such as a sunny windowsill, and keep watch.
3. In about a week it should be sprouting roots and leafy shoots. Check the water each day. Replace the water if it gets slimy; tip it out and rinse the roots and wash the jar. Keep the water level above the roots.
4. When the shoots are 20cm or longer, gently remove the shoots to grow into new plants called ‘slips’ or ‘tipu’. If they don’t already have roots, new roots will soon grow!
5. Place your detached slips in a glass of water so you can watch the roots as they keep growing, or plant them straight into pots filled with potting mix.
6. When it’s warm enough outside, (about late October in the North Island), plant them out into sunny garden soil. The soil must be warm, at least 18°C, with no more frosts to come. In cooler climates with shorter winters, gardeners grow kumara in pots that are kept covered and protected from the cold.
7. Your kūmara will be ready to harvest and eat in late summer or autumn. 

A bumper crop

Olivia grows 12 little plants from one kumara tuber. In spring,she plants them out in the garden and all grow into healthy big plants. At the end of summer she digs up nine big kumara for every plant she planted. How many kumara did Olivia end up growing from that one she started with? If each big kumara was worth $3 at the supermarket, how much money did she save? 

Did you know?

Kumara first arrived in Aotearoa with Maori over a thousand years ago. They carried them over the sea in wakas from the Pacific Islands and worked out how to grow them in our much cooler climate.  

Kumara planting and harvest are special spiritual events for Maori.

In Hamilton Gardens there is a special traditional kumara patch. Kumara are planted in mounds with stones on top to keep them warm. Go to hamiltongardens.com to find out more and watch the harvest video.