22/10/2026
Kumara tipu are ready to purchase!
$2 each or $15/10.
When planting, place about 1 m apart on a raised mound (approx 40cm high) of soft soil
Make a trench approx 5cm deep
Lay seedling so root is lying parallel in trench, with the end of the root laying to the North or to the East.
Bend the seedling gently so the leaves stick out of the top of the soil (a J shape).
I grow the varieties all here in Mangatoki, they all produce good fat tubers even in our cool mountain climate.I am keeping my tipu in water until mid November to avoid frost, and it will strengthen the roots.
I harvest in mid April to May, depending on frosts, I like there to have been one to sweeten the starches at least prior to harvest.
We have plenty of the typical red skinned and cream flesh that everyone grew up with and much smaller number of the other varieties available.
First in, best dressed, as the saying goes!
Varieties available:
Candy - A beautiful kumara with smooth candy pink skin with a thin, streaky yellow underlayer and sweet pink flesh. Great flavour and retains its pink colour when cooked.
Hawaiian Blue - An unusual kūmara with pale skin and veined purple flesh. When cooked the flesh looks bluey purple and is firm with a good flavour. Has a bushy growth habit with short runners.
Honey Red - A good cropping kūmara with light coloured skin and pale light yellow flesh with some darker orangey patches. When cooked the flesh is firm and yellow with a good flavour.
Kōwhai Candy - A chance mutation of Candy, these have smooth skin which is more yellow than pink with flesh that is also more yellow than the Candy but still with some purple flecks. The texture is slightly dryer than Candy.
Matakauri - Large dark purple tubers from healthy bushy plants. Reliable producer of tubers with dry flesh which roasts beautifully and is firm when boiled.
Owairaka - This variety of kumara is the most well-known in New Zealand. It has a distinctive red skin and a creamy white, firm, textured flesh.
Parapara - A special old kumara that came from around Parapara in the Far North and is said to be an old medicinal kumara that was used to feed the elderly and babies as it has soft, easily digested flesh. It has mottled pink and yellow skin, yellow and pinkish flesh and the tubers tend to be large and often irregular shaped. Nice sweet flavour.
Paukena - This variety has a distinctive leaf shape and medium to long runners which lie flat to the ground. Tubers have orange skin and yellow flesh streaked with orange. The soft, sweet flesh is patchy orange and yellow when cooked.
Raumanawa - A beautiful, rare old kūmara with gold skin and yellow flesh with orange markings. Nice texture and nice sweet flesh. Has an upright growth habit with medium length runners.
Tokatoka Gold - This one is a good productive keeper. Tends to produce both long thin and short round fat tubers from each plant. Consistently produces a good weight of crop and is a fantastic, sweet variety.
