Kūmara Paukena – Coming Soon for 2023
$17.00
SHIPMENT DATE: Available to order soon! Send out starts in October but the actual timing varies from season to season. Orders are then sent out each week, mostly in the order received, but the actual send out time of any particular order depends on multiple factors including availability of tupu and speed of growth. Please read ordering information below.
Family: CONVOLVULACEAE
Genus & Species: Ipomoea batatas
Out of stock
Description
Heritage Status: Aotearoa/New Zealand
Bio-Region of Origin: Unknown
Quantity: 15 tupu
Description: An old one from the East Coast, orange coloured and very sweet to taste. A reliably good cropper. This one contains more water than most others and was traditionally used to make Kūmara kao, a traditional or dried kumara. Kumara kao was made by cooking them in a special hangi built for the purpose including the leaves of papa and karamu, (to flavour and to blacken) and then the kūmara were left in the hangi for two days and nights, before either eating or drying for storage. This was one of the traditional foods of the hunters and bush food gatherers. They were regarded as sweet treats by many.
Planting Instructions: Kūmara need light/ sandy soils (Māori carried sand long distances to improve heavy soils) with a hard pan about a foot under the surface. We plant our kūmara in beds that are about 1 metre wide. We shape the bed so a mound runs length ways along it. We then plant the kūmara in two rows one on each side of the mound at a spacing of about 12 inches along each row. We stagger them so that the tupu on one side are positioned opposite the middle of the space between two on the other side. Bend the roots of the tupu under into a J -shape when planting so the roots face up to the top again under the ridge of soil, facing east or, in some traditions, north. Traditional additions to the soil were baked ground shell, seaweed, and woodash. We also use compost and Nature’s Garden fertiliser.
If you want to find out more about growing kūmara there is information in our website knowledge base
Important information on ordering:
Due to the need to juggle different varieties being ready and their regrowth rate, tupu will be made available to order after each pick (usually Friday).
We will make what we have that week available but there will be more coming so if you miss out don’t worry – if you were on the waiting list we’ll put your name back on for the following pick.
Initially they will be available to members only but this will change as the season progresses.
If you are not on the waiting list then choose the varieties you are interested in, open the product and add your e-mail address.
On send out customers will receive an order note with tracking number to let them know their parcel is posted and to provide planting information
