Eliminating Air Potato Vines
Eradicating Exotic Invasive Plant Dioscorea Bulbifera in Florida
Oct 25, 2009
The air potato plant is considered by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council to be one of Florida's most invasive plant species and can be removed and destroyed from all public and private properties without the need of a permit. It was introduced into Florida from Asia in 1905 and can be found from the panhandle to the Florida Keys.
Corine Burgess, Natural Resource Specialist at Highlands Soil and Water Conservation District in Highlands County, Florida, talked with Suite during a 2009 interview about this damaging vine, and why Florida homeowners and residents are urged to dispose of it immediately wherever it is found.
Impact of Air Potato on Native Vegetation
"The air potato grows eight inches per day," Burgess told Suite. The plant easily covers native vegetation and grows up into tree canopies, sometimes blanketing entire lots. This aggressive type of growth shades or chokes out indigenous plant life and also disrupts natural processes such as fire and water flow in pinelands and hammock areas.
Air potato can be extremely difficult to eliminate due to its reproduction method, which involves aerial tubers of varying sizes that fall to the ground. Each bulbil produces a new vine.
What Air Potato Looks Like
Air potato can be recognized by its shiny, green heart-shaped leaves with leaf veins all originating from a single point. Its bulbils can be of varying sizes and shapes, but are usually round, tan, and smooth. The tubers can be dark and rough as well. Air potato vines are often found climbing into tree canopies or up light poles along highways or on treed lots.
Air potato does not typically flower in Florida. The potatoes are more easily found in the winter months and drop during the cool season as well.
How to Remove Air Potato
"Hand removal (picking up the potato) is the best thing you can do," said Burgess. She admitted that pulling down the vines is important, too, though quite labor-intensive.
“If you get the bottom and the root, it’s going to die,” Burgess assured. Vines should be burned if local restrictions permit, or sent to a landfill that incinerates waste.
As for disposing of the bulbils, Burgess recommends freezing them overnight to kill the potato, then wrapping them in plastic bags and throwing them in the trash. Burgess is currently using a grant from the Florida Exotic Pest and Plant Council to offer Highlands County residents a native Florida plant for each bag of air potatoes they bring on January 9, 2010.
Glyphosate (Round Up) is recommended as a chemical control for killing air potato. Follow the instructions on the label. This herbicide will cause many of the bulbils to die, but any remaining potatoes should be hand removed to prevent them from reproducing.
Florida residents should keep a lookout for this widespread invasive vine and remove it wherever it is found. Air potato is a danger to Florida’s natural habitat and the plants and animals living there. For more information on air potato, visit The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences or a local county extension office.
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