Containing sunchokes

So, I’m really interested in starting a sunchoke patch at our house. I hear they spread like wildfire and are near impossible to get rid of once they’re established. Instead of letting them spread and just mowing them for control, I’m trying to come up with a way to actually contain them. Here are my two ideas:

1. Bury an old bathtub up to the rim in our yard, fill it in and plant in that.

2. Dig a shallow pit, line it with several inches of gravel, backfill it and plant in that.

I think the bathtub could be more work and like the idea of using gravel instead, but does anyone know if the roots would be contained by gravel or would they grow straight through it into our yard?

Thank you!
-Brody

Brody Ekberg wrote:So, I’m really interested in starting a sunchoke patch at our house. I hear they spread like wildfire and are near impossible to get rid of once they’re established. Instead of letting them spread and just mowing them for control, I’m trying to come up with a way to actually contain them. Here are my two ideas:

1. Bury an old bathtub up to the rim in our yard, fill it in and plant in that.

2. Dig a shallow pit, line it with several inches of gravel, backfill it and plant in that.

I think the bathtub could be more work and like the idea of using gravel instead, but does anyone know if the roots would be contained by gravel or would they grow straight through it into our yard?

Thank you!
-Brody

Your bathtub idea would work.  I'm not really understanding the gravel idea.  The roots of sunchokes aren't real deep, but they spread sideways.  You could maybe try making a wall of gravel all the way around the sunchoke growing area, but unless is was 6 inches or more thick, I don't think it would stop them.  

They can be difficult to get rid of in an area, but I have done it.  What worked best for me was waiting until they got a foot tall or so and pulling them out.  I can't remember how long I did that, 3 or 4 years anyway, but that got rid of them in one area.  

Sunroots are persistent at my place, but they don't spread much. They pretty much stay where I plant them. (Unless I do dumb things like yank up a plant and fling it across the field, or toss it onto the compost pile.

Getting rid of them in an area is about persistence in weeding. There is that sweet spot that Trace mentioned where the plants have exhausted last year's tuber, and haven't yet started growing this year's.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:Sunroots are persistent at my place, but they don't spread much. They pretty much stay where I plant them. (Unless I do dumb things like yank up a plant and fling it across the field, or toss it onto the compost pile.

Getting rid of them in an area is about persistence in weeding. There is that sweet spot that Trace mentioned where the plants have exhausted last year's tuber, and haven't yet started growing this year's.

Ok maybe I dont have to worry too much about them getting out of control. My bathtub idea seems like it could be overkill. Do you know if deer eat them at all? Also, roughly how deep are the tubers?

I don't have deer in the field where I grow sunroots, so deer don't eat my sunroots. Bwah ha ha!

I grow genetically diverse varieties. Most of the tubers tend to form in the top 6 inches of soil.

Rabbits are more of a problem for me.  They'll eat the small plants they can get to in the spring, usually nibbling the leaves off so I have a nice patch of dead sun choke stalks and no roots. Once the plants get over a couple of feet tall, they are in the clear, though.  The deer will nibble them, but won't eat them down to the ground, so they survive pretty well and produce some tubers.  The deer seem to prefer other plants in my garden...

Mark Griffin wrote:Rabbits are more of a problem for me.  They'll eat the small plants they can get to in the spring, usually nibbling the leaves off so I have a nice patch of dead sun choke stalks and no roots. Once the plants get over a couple of feet tall, they are in the clear, though.  The deer will nibble them, but won't eat them down to the ground, so they survive pretty well and produce some tubers.  The deer seem to prefer other plants in my garden...

Good to know! We have plenty of rabbits here and I never even considered them being a problem. I thought planting sunchokes inside my main garden would probably be a bad idea considering their spreading nature but I may have to reconsider now that I think about the rabbits. I’m running out of time to get it figured out for this year but maybe I’ll just go pick some tubers for a meal and throw some in a pot of soil for winter. Assuming they survive, I can plant them in the spring.