If you are looking for a sunroot that is slower to spread, try White Dwarf, Dwarf Sunray, or Supercluster as they are smaller, less invasive plants than the average sunroot cultivar. You can find them at Oikos.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Oh, but "earth pear" is so much more poetic and romantic

kadence blevins wrote:I'm curious if some peas or beans might do well growing with/near them? like a three sisters type deal going. you would have to plant them after the chokes are up a bit to make sure they have something there ready to climb on.

Gerbert Thorne wrote:Anyone knows which other plants grow well around them?

Becky Mundt wrote:What is an Oikos?

kadence blevins wrote:I'm curious if some peas or beans might do well growing with/near them? like a three sisters type deal going. you would have to plant them after the chokes are up a bit to make sure they have something there ready to climb on.

Lucy Gabzdyl wrote:I grew sunchokes for the first time this year - Red Fuseau - I'm in Zone 10B in southern Spain and I had huge problems with powdery mildew so I had to cut down the plants very early and as a result have not had a very good yield. Has anyone else had PM problems?

Hi, Lucy. My parents grew sun chokes for years, and sometimes they did get quite a bit of PM on the leaves. They were often pretty crowded ( thinning was never Dad's strong suit), which of course probably contributed. But in the autumn, we just went ahead and dug the tubers up anyway, and always had plenty. They weren't grown near anything which we were worried about sharing the PM, so just didn't worry too much about it. I don't know what to do to limit it, but I suppose that I may get more experience soon, as I am planting some sun chokes here at my place this year, and here we do have a tendency for PM on curcurbit crops. I will let you know how it goes. Did you cut down your sunchoke plants to avoid the PM spreading to other crops? Is there a space on your land that is far enough from other PM susceptible crops that you can afford to just let them finish out the season, even with the PM on their leaves?

Donna Kolaetis wrote:

Lucy Gabzdyl wrote:
Hi, Lucy. My parents grew sun chokes for years, and sometimes they did get quite a bit of PM on the leaves. They were often pretty crowded ( thinning was never Dad's strong suit), which of course probably contributed. But in the autumn, we just went ahead and dug the tubers up anyway, and always had plenty. They weren't grown near anything which we were worried about sharing the PM, so just didn't worry too much about it. I don't know what to do to limit it, but I suppose that I may get more experience soon, as I am planting some sun chokes here at my place this year, and here we do have a tendency for PM on curcurbit crops. I will let you know how it goes. Did you cut down your sunchoke plants to avoid the PM spreading to other crops? Is there a space on your land that is far enough from other PM susceptible crops that you can afford to just let them finish out the season, even with the PM on their leaves?

Thanks for getting back to me, yes I cut them down to avoid the PM spreading - it affected my brusselssprouts But I'm moving this year and will be taking my sunchokes with me, so hopefully won't have the same problem.

Aaron Festa wrote:Anyone have a bad experience with mice/voles/moles eating their tubers?

Aaron Festa wrote:Anyone have a bad experience with mice/voles/moles eating their tubers?

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:

Aaron Festa wrote:Anyone have a bad experience with mice/voles/moles eating their tubers?

To me that would be a good experience!!! Even a great experience.

Tyler Ludens wrote:My original planting of sunroots has almost completely died, proving that I can kill virtually anything considered "invasive."