I've been working to expand my production of sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus) for the last 5 years. What started as a small patch expanded exponentially. I bought a few packages from a grower and then kept expanding the bed and my harvest. Last year, I hit my peak at 56 lbs in about a 8x18 bed, which I thought was outstanding. I have also over the years experimented with a
polyculture of groundnuts or beans, both of which did pretty well.
What I did was dig them each spring, in mid March once the soil can be worked, but before anything was returning or sprouting. Then I'd divide them, eat some,
feed some to my animals, and then add a new layer of
compost to the bed, and replant them thickly, adding a thin layer of
wood chips on top as mulch. This worked great!
But this year, I had a significant decline in the crops, coming in at only 18 lbs. They did fall over during the growing season, which may have contributed to the decline (we had a severe wind storm). There were almost none in the center of the bed, which normally would have been just loaded, where the richest soil was. But there were plants thickly throughout the whole bed last season. Instead, I found them in abundance under my mulched paths, like they were seeking the less fertile soil--which is mostly rocky clay.
So this year, I'm going to move them to two new spots that are pretty much rocky clay soil that hasn't been planted in. I'll turn it and then add a little compost and do what I've done before. We'll see what happens!
I'm wondering if others have experienced this--do sunchokes seem to thrive better in less-developed soil? Or maybe I just harvested too much out and needed to rotate them elsewhere? LIke strawberries, maybe they start to travel? Maybe I can then use them to break up new bed areas, plant them for a few years using my methods above, and then plant other things?
Wondering if anyone has experiences to share.
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