John writes from from the Philippines to share his success with growing cassava from single node cuttings:

It is amazing how cassava will still germinate despite how poorly they are planted. 

I had previously planted 12″ long sticks and pounded them into the ground and they still survived.

I now cut individual nodes and throw them in a grocery sack. This method is nearly 100% germination.

Or I also put them in 6″ deep trays. When they start showing sprouts I plant them.

I get faster TUBER development and a shorter harvest also.

They are investing their growing efforts into tubers instead of leaves.

Thank you for the pictures and the success stories, John!

I wrote about speeding cassava harvests via single-node propagation in a post back in December. 

If this method both increases the amount of plantable material while also shortening the time to harvest, it’s very much worth trying.

We’ll see how it works in our 2024 gardens. I think we’ll cut single-node pieces from the cuttings we saved from the 2023 crop, then plant them in flats to germinate some time in March, followed by transplanting into beds in April.

This could make cassava much more viable as a crop here in Zone 8b. We usually get over seven months of frost-free weather – if we can get harvests in six months or so, we’ll be able to rely on cassava as a regular staple crop rather than just as a novelty.

At the very least, propagating cassava from single-node cuttings requires a lot less planting material.