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root crops

Yacon plant - Smallanthus Sonchifolius

Posts: 16

Location: Winston Salem, NC

posted 2 months ago

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I have a nice tall plant growing in a container. I just measured it this morning and it was 7 feet tall.

This is my first year growing Yacon. I used a hinged growing container so that I can harvest the tubers easily.

They have been growing since mid March.

I had 2 other plants in the front of my house but the chipmunks ate the tubers about a month ago

Who else here grows Yacon?

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God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Joylynn Hardesty

master pollinator

Posts: 5252

Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee

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posted 1 month ago

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I do! Mine are in the ground, in two separate unfenced locations. The deer like the leaves. This is their 3rd year? They hover around 3 feet tall. This spring is the second year some overwintered here. I am still surprised about that!

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
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John Ludwig

Posts: 16

Location: Winston Salem, NC

posted 1 month ago

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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:This is their 3rd year? They hover around 3 feet tall. This spring is the second year some overwintered here. I am still surprised about that!

I’m surprised too. I didn’t think they were that hardy. I have one in the middle of the yard in the ground. It is about 4 feet tall.

God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Joylynn Hardesty

master pollinator

Posts: 5252

Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee

2224

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posted 1 month ago

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Well, they aren't supposed to be.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
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greg mosser

gardener

Posts: 1810

Location: the mountains of western nc

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posted 1 month ago

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i grow several hundred yacon plants every year. in their mulched beds in their current field, they top out at five or six feet but i’ve grown wider, denser plantings that ended up a bit more than 7 feet tall.

occasionally i’ve missed some harvesting and every now and then i’ll get a few that make it through the winter. it’s not too surprising, really. they’re perennial, just not freeze-hardy. if it doesn’t freeze deep enough to completely kill off the rhizomes, and some of the ones deep enough to avoid freezing don’t get destroyed by rodents, they can come back. i suspect john, being in a warmer zone than either of us, could get even better winter survival given some degree of rodent control. deep mulch can help protect from deeper freezing but also can invite the little chewers.

i do prefer the comfort of some degree of control over the circumstances of winter storage, all variables considered.

Ac Baker

pioneer

Posts: 305

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posted 1 month ago

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I do, as a replant perennial, as we usually get one deep freeze each winter. I have an attractive red variety my friend N shared with me.

In a good hear, they can too 6f high, and we get lovely orange 'daisy' flowers on them.

This year has been a drought from our early Spring at the start of March until it finally has broken at the start of September.

Despite watering as much as we sensibly can (with insufficient rainwater harvesting capacity over winter, and looming city water shortages), they're barely 3ft this year.

I am the only one who eats them, raw or lightly cooked. Tasty. But we don't like the leaves.

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Joylynn Hardesty

master pollinator

Posts: 5252

Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee

2224

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posted 1 month ago

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We haven't eaten any yet. I'm trying to build up a population before making meals from it. Maybe next year. I am not the best at doing timely harvest, storage.

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

Sam Shade

pollinator

Posts: 103

Location: Memphis (zone 7b/8a)

posted 1 month ago

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I couldn't get mine to survive overwinter in Memphis and the ones I tried to save in the basement to plant this year got eaten by rat invaders.

Really nice sweet flavor - like a carrot with the texture and juiciness of a pear - but I'm spoiled by the ease and hardiness of Jerusalem artichokes and Chinese yams as perennial root crops.

Hans Quistorff

gardener

Posts: 1970

Location: Longbranch, WA Mild wet winter dry climate change now hot summer

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posted 1 month ago

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One member of or food Co op offered them one year and I discovered that the sweet taste was good for diabetics because it doesn't digest into glucose. During the winter he decided not to grow them again so he sold the Corms. The part you eat is the energy storage tuber. In between will be one or more corms which will sprout in the spring. So this is a case of eating your cake and having it too. In fact the first year rodents ate all the storage roots but not the corms. So I brought them into the greenhouse and planned them with my winter potatoes. The corms will grow without the storage roots but if a small one is left attached it gives them a boost. They do well in the summer heat of the greenhouse.

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greg mosser

gardener

Posts: 1810

Location: the mountains of western nc

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posted 1 month ago

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pic from yesterday at my (absolute jungle of a) main yacon field, squash, iron weed, and all.

52D39D87-13CB-4715-A83C-A720B0D52608.jpeg

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 11397

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

5560

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posted 1 month ago

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Hans Quistorff wrote:They do well in the summer heat of the greenhouse.

Yes I find that they will survive outside here, but only just and not always - I have one hanging on in a pot which I hope will over winter. In the warmth of my polytunnel they reached 4 -5 ft and flowered, whereas outside only maybe 18 inches.

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greg mosser

gardener

Posts: 1810

Location: the mountains of western nc

579

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posted 1 month ago

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it’s interesting hearing about how they fare in various places! here, they sag and suffer a bit during the hotter parts of summer days (~85+°F or ~30+°C), and i wouldn’t want them in a hoop house.

Hans Quistorff

gardener

Posts: 1970

Location: Longbranch, WA Mild wet winter dry climate change now hot summer

477

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posted 1 month ago

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Corms were planted in sand on compost on 12 inch deep wicking bed that runs the length of front. Ring was topped with leaves when planted in January. Tops froze in hard freeze in December and tubers harvested.
Leaves drupe in heat but refresh over night from the wicking reservoir.
Fig to the left will be moving to the right where the heat storage barrel and seed starting rack is to a larger wicking barrel.

yacon.jpg

Yacon in greenhouse SW corner in upper 90F

Hans Albert Quistorff, LMT projects on permies Hans Massage Qberry Farm magnet therapy gmail hquistorff

John Ludwig

Posts: 16

Location: Winston Salem, NC

posted 4 weeks ago

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The one in the center of the yard is just over 4 feet tall. The rodents haven’t touched it. I lost two at ground level in the front yard to rodents. The one in the crate with a hinged front is well over 7 feet tall now and I took a picture of my first flower. Here in Winston Salem I hope it grows for at least 6 more weeks.

I hope to plant a long row in the spring if I can get enough propagules overwintered.

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God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

John Ludwig

Posts: 16

Location: Winston Salem, NC

posted 1 week ago

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greg mosser wrote:i grow several hundred yacon
i do prefer the comfort of some degree of control over the circumstances of winter storage, all variables considered.

I plan on harvesting my grow box next weekend. They are forecasting back to back hard freezes.

I plan to leave some tubers in the soil and put a blanket over this grow box that opens in the front for easy harvesting

IMG_7070.jpeg

God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

greg mosser

gardener

Posts: 1810

Location: the mountains of western nc

579

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posted 1 week ago

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one small bit of warning: you really don’t want the tubers to freeze. they can’t survive it, and they smell unholy when they start rotting afterwards.

John Ludwig

Posts: 16

Location: Winston Salem, NC

posted 1 week ago

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greg mosser wrote:one small bit of warning: you really don’t want the tubers to freeze. they can’t survive it, and they smell unholy when they start rotting afterwards.

Thank you Greg. I will bring them in and store them in my unheated garage where I overwinter my tender plants that also can’t survive freezing.

God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

R Tran

Posts: 3

posted 3 days ago

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I am in the PNW, and my winters are not very harsh- usually. Last year I took a chance and put a few small yacon crowns in my coldframe and they made it! I was pleased to discover this. I won't be leaving all my crowns out in the weather though, just in case.
I have yet to harvest my yacon this year, but I am particularly excited to see how a volunteer plant (on its second year) will produce and how it tastes. The other varieties (three types) I put into the regular vegetable garden this season in mounded beds. Nowhere near as good of growth, at least size-wise.

The seed grown yacon is there by my chicken coop in a makeshift, hopefully easy-to-harvest "planter". 2x4 mesh metal fence stuff? Made into a circle. Inside- lined with cardboard and filled with compost, old potting soil and such.
Just pull away fence and hopefully most of the good eating bits won't be too stuck in the ground!

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