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Regrow used and eaten vegetables

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Location: ZONE 5a Lindsay Ontario Canada

posted 16 years ago

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Jocelyn Campbell wrote:
Travis, when growing from the base or stem is the plant as robust, or perhaps more so, than starting from seed?

In my experience they tend to have rapid regrowth once they snap out of dormancy but the size of the harvest is usually smaller than the original plant. You''l probably want to take this with a grain of salt because my experience is limited and a better indoor environment and sun exposure could make a huge difference.

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Jennifer Smith

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posted 16 years ago

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Travis Philp wrote:
the size of the harvest is usually smaller than the original plant.
[/quote
Do you mean you get another carrot from a replanted top?

Travis Philp

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posted 16 years ago

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I've never been successful trying this with carrots but I think it's possible to get a new carrot root out of an old nub

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Joel Hollingsworth

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posted 16 years ago

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I completely forgot about garlic, but it's packaged in easy, single-serving (well, quarter-serving the way I eat it) parcels, but it's very easy to eat some of these and plant others of them.

"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.

Jennifer Smith

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Location: Zone 5

posted 16 years ago

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I spent this cold and sleety morning planting beets. I bought some at the grocery, gave the tops to the bunnies and planted the bottoms for cut and come again greens.

I ate some of them and planted parts of the tips of the roots to see how well they come back.

I like beets but wonder about the tops. The bunnies like the tops and I planted the whole beets for them. I want to try the greens and want to know, do I put them raw on a sandwich or cook them into my eggs?

I now have all these potted beet parts... and some more carrot tops too. They are easy, pretty, house plants. Is it right that the bunnies can also eat the carrot leaves?

I have one romaine heart planted too.

Travis Philp

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posted 16 years ago

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Maybe I've got it backwards but with beets isn't it, 'eat the bottoms and replant the tops' ?

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Rob Seagrist

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posted 16 years ago

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So for onion and garlic, do you just cut off most of the actual head and leave the bottom and roots in place? Or are you saying you dig them up, cut them up and replant them? I have garlic from store bought cloves, but I was curious if you can harvest in place without disturbing the roots...I think BM suggested that once.

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Jennifer Smith

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posted 16 years ago

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Well I planted the smallest beets for to grow greens. One I cut the top off of, one I trimmed all but 2 leaves, one beet I cut the bottem off of and planted the best of the top (kept just the middle best part to eat). One piece of root I planted this way and one that way. I am betting it will grow no matter what part I plant...we will see.

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posted 16 years ago

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You can eat half the potato and cut the rest into 'eyes' and replant. They do best in a well drained 'potato barrel'. This can be a 55 g drum. cover the potatoes with soil and when they start to grow cover some more until the whole barrel is filled. I learned this from friends in Alaska so it should work well in northern climates.

Im looking for Adarionkack blue potatoes to try this year.

Travis Philp

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posted 16 years ago

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blitz1976 wrote:
So for onion and garlic, do you just cut off most of the actual head and leave the bottom and roots in place? Or are you saying you dig them up, cut them up and replant them? I have garlic from store bought cloves, but I was curious if you can harvest in place without disturbing the roots...I think BM suggested that once.

If they are anything like onions you can replant the little hardened rootlet area and get greens at the very least but I haven't tried this one. I'll try and remember to give it a shot next time I have some garlic. As for harvesting in place without disturbing the roots...If I understand correctly, it can be done but I could see it being a delicate operation to really keep the remains undisturbed. I've pulled garlic which had gone wild and split apart but it was a touchy affair.

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Chelle Lewis

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posted 16 years ago

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larry korn wrote:
Chelle, So good to hear that you have an avacado from a toothpick planting! They usually need a pollinator to fruit

Didn't know that. Thanks. Guess I will have to get a few more going. What am I giong to do with the pips anyway.

Travis Philp

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posted 16 years ago

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I've tried the toothpick avocado method but had greater success with soaking the seed for 24 hours and then putting it in soil with the tip sticking out of the top of the soil just a bit.

It did take over a month for the seed to sprout and I even forgot about it for a few weeks and had let the soil completely dry out. One day I passed by the window that it was sitting on and noticed that a stem had shot up a few inches.

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Zone 5a in Central Ontario, Canada

Joel Hollingsworth

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posted 16 years ago

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Little stubs of leeks are sprouting in my garden! I don't think any of them have produced a new leaf tip, and slugs got one, but the inner half has turned green and grown a lot taller than when they were planted.

The sprouted ginger hasn't shown me much, but I'll wait for summer before digging it up to see.

bunkie weir

Posts: 112

Location: eastern washington

posted 16 years ago

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Jennifer Smith "listenstohorses" wrote:.... They are easy, pretty, house plants. Is it right that the bunnies can also eat the carrot leaves?.......

jennifer, we eat the carrot tops all the time. they're great in salads and soups or stews, etc...

i haven't tried growing the beet tops. will be interested in how they come out.

one other veggie that works like the beets and carrots and lettuces is celery.

Jennifer Smith

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Location: Zone 5

posted 16 years ago

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My beets are doing good. I was thinking just yesterday to ge a photo to post. I will do that in a bit.

Thank you for the carrot information. So far my little garden is supplying supplimental feed to 2 bunnies is all...but it is still winter here.

I am thinking to haerden off and plant some kale out before the frost is over, I hear then they are good for people as well as bunnies then.

Jennifer Smith

Posts: 721

Location: Zone 5

posted 16 years ago

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First photo;

Beets to the far right. My suggestion, as I planted each one a little differantly, is to cut most the root off leaving the "neck" and trimming off the big ugly leaves but leaving the uneveloped and developing leaves in place.

To the left of that is store bought romaine we are harvesting for the bunnies. I put one head in dirt to compare it to it's mates in the fridge...what do you think?

Next is kale from seed, and a marigold/sweet potatoe...nothing from the tater yet.

second photo

Kale and marigold to right, then in front an onion bottom from the grocery. Behind that is another romaine heart that was planted a while back and went from white yellow and small to a bit bigger and dark green. It was spreading too much to I wrapped string around it.

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bunkie weir

Posts: 112

Location: eastern washington

posted 16 years ago

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looks like a yummy inside winter garden to me jennifer!

just wanted to mention that in my starters, in water, i have cut the plants right down to an inch or so of the base.

Jennifer Smith

Posts: 721

Location: Zone 5

posted 16 years ago

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Joel Hollingsworth wrote:
The sprouted ginger hasn't shown me much, but I'll wait for summer before digging it up to see.

My ginger also has done nothing. Too cold I think so I moved it to above the water heater. There is a cabinant above the water heater cabinant in my kitchen, next to my kitchen sink.
ou serve leeks?

How do you prepare and serve leeks?

Tim Eastham

Posts: 53

Location: USDA Climate Zone 9, Central Florida

posted 14 years ago

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Jennifer Smith wrote:I have never gotten anything to grow that way, with toothpicks in water.

I have, I think, 3 perenniel beds of sweet potatoes in Alabama (zone 7) but will have to winter (roots and/or vine) indoors over the winter here in zone 5.

I have a sweet potato in soil in my front window now. It has not sprouted yet. We will see how it goes. It is from grocery. If it does not sprout I will get a start from down south.

This is an old post but I thought I would chime in. Some grocery potatoes are sprayed with budnip (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorpropham or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exBEFCiWyW0), to inhibit eye sprouting. This would of course be bad if you actually want to sprout it.

Brenda Groth

pollinator

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posted 14 years ago

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i hadn't seen this post before thanks for bringing it back up..why am I throwing those things out in the garden when I could be "planting" them in the garden or house..right now the only one I have I can restart would be celery and maybe an onion..but this is a great idea.

One other thing to mention is cuttings from plants that will die when winter sets in..like tomatoes, they are easy from cuttings, you can take cuttings in summer too from them and multiply your tomato plants right away.

Probably lots of plants can be grown from stem or root cuttings..besides the ones listed..adventures in food recycling..woo hoo

Brenda

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Bob Dobbs

Posts: 145

posted 14 years ago

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I'm quite interested in a vegetable known as chaya, variety specifically known as chayamansa (no stinging hairs). It grows like a weed in hot climates, similarly to its relative, manihot grahamii, in my climate. Supposedly it is the richest vegetable known in vitamins/minerals, and has a bit of a cyanogenic thing going on like lima beans, e.g it would deter deer with threat of cyanide poisoning, but with a bit of boiling in an open pot, would be deliciosly edible. The only thing is that I live in zone 7b/8a, and it's only hardy to 8b. I've gotten plenty of 8b/9a plants to live in my climate (satsumas, etc) so I think keeping the roots alive in my area would be trivial. I most likely would just take cuttings before a killing freeze and bring em in the house.

Brenda Groth

pollinator

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Location: North Central Michigan

posted 14 years ago

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I was reminded about this thread....when I started a new one on having my way with celery.....where I learned about the celery and the sweet potato. I have 4 sweet potato sprouts started to put outside when it gets warm enough here in zone 4b..and I planted a celery bottom out by my pond and it is growing beautifully, right through a month of 24 degree freezes...haven't tried the other things yet, but do get onions regrowing all the time in my garden where they get forgotten..

I also have left all the ends of my garden in last year, things didn't get pulled out, and a few things have regrown that are not supposed to be hardy here, so I'm attempting to perennialize a lot of new crops in my garden..saves a lot of spring planting

Brenda

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Susanna de Villareal-Quintela

Posts: 143

posted 14 years ago

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Garlic. A many years ago, I decided to plant 2 cloves from every bulb I used. It takes a year or two (depending on your needs) but in the end I have plenty of garlic to harvest for my home and to make gifts for friends. Now, I plant all the small interior cloves from a garlic bulb.

Nick Garbarino

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Location: west central Florida

posted 14 years ago

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It sure would be nice if somebody could put togather a list of perennial vegetables that included what Hardiness zones they are perennial in. Anybody got the time to do that? I'm too tired from planting and tending our food forest.

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Mike Hopkins

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Location: Grants Pass, Oregon

posted 14 years ago

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I can't believe how fast growth shows after planting a celery bottom in my straw bale garden. Showed new growth in the center within 3 days.
Will try cutting off leaves of lettuce for that evenings salad and see if there's a problem with the plant afterwards.

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dj niels

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posted 13 years ago

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Nice discussion. Thanks for all the ideas.

I have grown onions from other onions. What I usually do is take onions that are starting to sprout, cut off the outside layers until I get down to the center that is starting to grow, then use a knife to cut the center into sections that appear to be separate, and plant them into my garden. I don't know if they would make bulbs, I usually just trim the green leaves to use in cooking, and leave the roots in the ground to regrow.

I have not had much success trying to get carrots to grow roots, but do sometimes plant beets into a large pot and use the greens that sprout to add to a green smoothy. I love beet greens, even better than spinach, and with a much longer season of availability.

I read on another thread about sprouting celery bottoms, and have 1/2 dozen in a small container of water but only 2 of them have started to form roots, even though the leaves are sprouting on all of them.

Tom Davis

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posted 13 years ago

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I have rooted basil by sticking the stems in a glass jar.
I have heard of people rooting tomatoes by burying broken limbs -- it hasn't worked for me.
But maybe these aren't vegetables.

A lot of things come out of nowhere, so look everywhere.

Rachell Koenig

Posts: 71

posted 13 years ago

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This is an awesome thread! I have wanted to save seed from my carrots, but I havent because I learned that carrots cross pollinate with queen anne's lace. We have plenty of that for beneficial insects.
Now I'll bring in some of my carrot tops! The celery picture was very inspiring! I started my tomatoes indoors too early this year, and have been having to prune them back. I took the prunings, and stuck the bottom ends in water. They've sprouted lots of roots. So I assume a person could bring in a cutting in fall.. grow it to a good height, and be taking prunings from it to make lots of plants for the next year. That would be a good way to keep things from cross pollinating. I've heard that peppers can be grown from cuttings too.
I WILL STOP THROWING TOPS OR ROOTS OUT TO MY PIGS, AND PLANT THEM INDOORS OR OUTSIDE!

carsten eng

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Location: Tilburg, the Netherlands

posted 13 years ago

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Carrots
I saw something on youtube about leaving them in an bowl of water, but mine just started to rot. I have not tried with wet paper.

So I have replanted the tops of carrots. From 4 replants straight in the earth, 2 rotted away and 2 grew roots during 2 very wet weeks. Unfortunately, because I pulled them from the earth to check, I might have demaged them. I will just have to be patient and wait for the green leaves to show.

What got me interested in this was a story of someone who claimed to be eating the same carrots for 9 years (!) in a permaculture book. I forgot which book and can not find it anymore, sorry.

Unions

jeremiah bailey wrote:I learned about doing this with onions when I was a boy. Has anyone tried taking the stub that you'd replant and cut it radially into pieces like a pizza? I have sneaking suspicion that it'd propagate this way. Make sure you have some rootlets on each piece.

Actually, after looking around, I found this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Grow-Onions-from-Discarded-Onion-Bottoms/ Which describes sprouting the bottom and then cutting the separate stalks away from the root section. I think I'm going to try both ways with the next batch of onions we cook with.

That made my day

Thank you very much.

Would be interesting to see if it will regrow if you just cut the union off and leaving the root in. Will be tricky to do without disturbing the roots. I guess it will as there are many union species that can be used by cutting of the top leaves to be used as unions.

@jeremiah bailey
Any follow up on the experiment of cutting the bottom of the union to replant?

carsten eng

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Location: Tilburg, the Netherlands

posted 13 years ago

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Onions
I did some searching and found this http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/growing-spring-onions-from-onion-stumps-an-experiment about someone who unsuccessfully tried this. Loads of comments under that. Some claiming she did it wrong, and how to do better like http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/growing-spring-onions-from-onion-stumps-an-experiment/#comment-33346

From what I gather, it seems really hard (if not impossible) to regrow onion bulbs, but if you are using the greens from onion, you can just cut that of and it will grow back, using the onion bulb's energy to regrow the green.

There are some onion species which deal with this better then others, like these perrenial Allium http://www.perennialveg.org.uk/onionfamily.htm. Getting off topic. (where is that 'cut and regrow' topic some mentioned? I can't find that.)

Nancy Reading

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I merged your stuff with the following thread. I hope that is okay by you.

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Dave Burton

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posted 12 years ago

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I found a cool infographic online about regrowing plants that have been used or eaten and thought you all might enjoy this!

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John Elliott

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posted 12 years ago

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They make it look so easy.

Dan Boone

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I have some funky garlic chives in a glass of water right now, hoping they will root. They were at the Asian store, an unfamiliar variety, no label, very nice flavor and succulent stalks (not hollow). Fingers crossed for rooting!

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Dave Burton

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posted 12 years ago

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The same thing with potatoes can be done with other root crops, too. I have successfully gotten a cassava root to regrow, and it gave off many shoots which I cut off and rooted in honey. I left the mother shoot in the original pot and gave the cuttings their own pots; most of them died from the flash frosts caused by the lovely polar vortex, but the mother sapling and one youngling survived.

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Dan Boone

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posted 12 years ago

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I have a pineapple plant growing happily after I buried the cut-off top, but of course it's purely ornamental and for fun in this zone, I'll wave goodbye to it come winter. Likewise the very happy mango plant that I grew from a seed this spring. And I'm told that the lemongrass I grew from a supermarket bunch will not survive my winters, but at least I'm using it now.

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John Alabarr

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posted 12 years ago

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Dan Boone wrote:I have a pineapple plant growing happily after I buried the cut-off top, but of course it's purely ornamental and for fun in this zone, I'll wave goodbye to it come winter. Likewise the very happy mango plant that I grew from a seed this spring. And I'm told that the lemongrass I grew from a supermarket bunch will not survive my winters, but at least I'm using it now.

Dan, your lemongrass might still not survive, but try this: Before the first frost, cut the above ground growth down as far as you can. Then cover with a foot of leaves or straw and add to it if needed over winter.

Dan Boone

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I do plan to try that! But anecdotal reports on my local gardening forums are not hopefull. But winters here are highly variable, so we'll see.

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