Multiplied Jerusalem Artichokes - 4 turned into 100!

Anyone know where to get some seeds (not tubers), actual seeds?

They do go to seed right, they are in the sunflower/daisy family.....

Mosiah, I'm pretty sure I've only seen JAs propagate from tubers. Hard to tell though, I may have attributed spread to the wrong thing...
Considering how prolifically they increase that way, the idea of them producing viable seed freaks me out ! A bit like comfrey: my cultivar only propagates from root dividions, and that's fine by me!
It's easy to get tubers over here; considering how many permies have JAs, you could well do a deal.
i just saw Brenda's post: you're not in Mchigan by any chance?

No, I am not in the US currently, although I am American. I am in Thailand, at least for the next couple more years.
Have not seen anyone who grows this around here, thought it would be nice to get, and shipping tubers is expensive.
Seeds are best in my book, since I can keep them, and the genetics will improve naturally.

Speaking of Comfrey Seeds, I did buy a few and they have proven difficult to sprout. I am going to try again soon after longer refrigeration period, hopefully a few will sprout next time.
I don't like the idea of buying bulbs from big plant merchants who basically clone the same plant a million times. This makes for very narrow genetic variation, so if there is something like potato blithe or Tobacco Mosaic Virus, the plants have no immunity and all will die at the same time.. This is probably what caused the potato famine in Ireland: poor genetic variation due to continuous vegetative propagation methods. I like Mr. Sepp Holter's idea of propagating potatoes from actual seed, guess that's why he calls himself the Rebel Farmer...LOL.

Ahh, Thailand. My first thought was "do they grow in the tropics?" Quickly followed by "of course they do". http://www.kmitl.ac.th/ejkmitl/vol7nos2/P1.pdf
It seems that some strains of JA set seed, as some comfrey does.
My comfrey and JAs came from my mum, who got them from who-knows where. I agree cloning isn't ideal re genetic diversity, but chasing down rogue plants 24/7 isn't either!

Well around here the only "Rouge" plants are weeds, and they will out-compete almost any domestic plant (including Comfrey I'll bet).
I started using a new method of gardening Not weeding...LOL, so far during the dry season currently it is working OK. I cut most of the weeds with a weed whacker then spread some mulch around as much as possible and planted rye-grass, alfalfa, and clover in the paths. So far it is suppressing most of the typical weeds we get, but I still have some weeds in the beds.

it is likely that in the tropics they would set seed, here in Michigan we are lucky with a long growing season if we get a few flowers, but that is cause they get frosted before seed sets here, but in the tropics that wouldn't be a problem.

people here in the Michigan area are free to come and get tubers from me, of course I can't send them to Thailand

Matt Armstrong wrote:

I have found some information about lacto-fermented Jerusalem artichokes and it indeed make them fartless and boost the calories. Yay !

http://heinfamilyenterprises.com/tag/lacto-fermented-jerusalem-artichokes/

This was great! Jerusalem artichokes grow so fast, and now no drawbacks??
I can't believe I have been missing this information for years!

In the blog, I wonder how fermenting raw tubers failed. I wonder if they smashed them up a bit so the juices come out, like in sauerkraut.

Reminds me when I planted mine in my backyard in the city. They grew all the way to the second story window! That's when I realized why they call them sunchokes. They don't do so well in warmer climates. They like the colder weather and early planting, as I recall. Let them get killed by frost and you'll have them year after year. You'll be surprised how many one plant can yield, and then how that one plant multiplies the year after. I love them pickled!

I never thought about lacto-fermenting my Jerusalem artichokes. I'm going to have to try that this winter. I bought my first tubers from an Earth Fare super market. I believe I have seen them at Whole Foods also. I have bought alot of various foods at supermarkets and planted them instead, like ginger roots etc. My chokes are about eight feet tall right now. They should be getting flowers soon. As far as the gas, they are not any worse than beans for me. But I do like the lacto-fermenting idea. I love to try new things. They work great as a privacy barrier from my neighbor in the summer. The kids also like to sit under it's shade.

I'm really interested to try the fermentation recipe. We love them for their flavour and ease of growing, but even though we eat a really good diet and have fermented foods with every meal, we definitely suffer the effects of the inulin! And they're not exactly a 'high calorie' crop if you can't actually digest the energy in them! I am going to be trying the ferment out in a few months or so. Unfortunately that recipe posted above uses a branded inoculant, which I don't have, I always do wild ferments, so I guess I will try inoculating with some brine from a previous batch of something or other...