Where are you located?

I have one but mine is dormant right now and it's very young so the caudex is still buried. Even when dormant, I give about a tablespoon of water every 10 - 14 days. While actively growing, I water about once a week as I water all of my cacti & succulents - thoroughly until water is running out of the drainage hole.

Also, the medium I have is more inorganic. About 40/60 cactus & succulent mix/pumice. The caudex is not buried in that but covered with a top dressing of gravel.

Why have you not watered?

my plant is at london. I think I may not have the correct soil mix. when I bought it. it is already root bound. and the soil the root grasp are mostly organic material.

I can't tell if the caudex is rotten or dried out from over watering. The pale pink bugs kind of sound like aphid larvae. Are they worm like or do they have legs? Do you see foliage damage?

isde, you think over watered...? So rotted & dried out then?

:( I do not know what to do with it. If I should keep it or cut the stem out and grow root of it. the pale pink bug I saw really looks like a mealy bug. they kinda looks like a tiny tooth brush shape. I don't see foliage damage. but I see the elephantipes caudex has a cut open and some white stuff come out from it. I don't know if they bug did it. other than that. I don't see any damange.

what do the roots look like?

When you say white stuff is it solid like the interior of the caudex showing through the cut? Or is it mushy & oozing?

How sad:(

Does look like a mealy bug. There are so many different Genus’, would not surprise if there were pink meallies out there. Regardless it isn’t good.

I think you may need to dig it up to check the roots. The way the caudex is sounding I have a feeling something is wrong below the soil. It shouldn’t be soft. My D. elephantipes is about the same size as yours. I would guess yours is no older than 1.5-2 years old, and when actively growing at it’s small size 3 weeks is long time to go without a drink.

When a plant is dehydrated it is much more susceptible to mealy bugs.

I think it's thirsty... how much of those roots pull away when you tug gently? I'd clean it up (remove the dead roots) and plant it, and uh water.

I have the same question about the roots Gabby. The second pic the roots look pretty dry and not all that lively, but who knows;).

I had a D. mexicana that I killed, my guess not enough water during growth. It was small, the roots just came off as I gently went through them. These new pics the plant doesn’t look as bad. In the first pics the Dioscorea looked worse. I was thinking the plant had root mealybugs or the roots had just become completely desiccated.

The only thing you can do is repot and water in a couple days. The vine probably should have been left on because I think that helps with caudex growth. Goodluck:). Keep us updated regardless of the outcome because we can all learn from your experience.

If it is not soft and mushy (you didn't answer that question) then it may be fine, just dehydrated. I keep my young plants mostly moist rather than leaving them dry for weeks. When you repot it, pot it deeper than you show in the original photos as part of the root system appears to be exposed. Advice that I follow means the caudex is slowly exposed more as you repot it over the first 5 years, not all at once like your one appears to be.

Soft and mushy or rubbery?

Mushy could mean rot while rubbery could mean dehydrated.

It rotted -right? Too much of a peaty/organic mix in a cool low light situation.

So the oozing red stuff was from the bugs not the plant?

Ms houhouland, it looks like this thread was revived after roughly 8 months. How is your little Dioscorea elephantipes doing? Did it survive? If so, may we see a pic or 2, please?

Hi my dioscorea feels squishy is that normal?

it was just dehydrated. I had one that got banished to our basement when I moved. the planter it was in cracked unfortunately so It dried out. the entire caudex shriveled up and I almost cried because I thought I lost it. well, I gave it a watering just in case and it bounced right back after a week. it is now growing again this year. I know this thread is about 7 years old but I thought I'd add my 2 cents.