Will Sunchokes take over my entire hugelkultur?

Hey everybody,

So I am about to plant my first hugelkultur beds and I planned on throwing Sunchokes on the top where it's dry.

That said, all of my research is leading me to believe that Sunchokes might get a little out of control and take over everything.

Should I try to separate these in a separate hugel, or will it be fine to just let them dominate the upper ridge?

I wouldn't do it unless you are up for weeding.

If you are worried about it, then plant just a few over in one corner.

They spread, but my experience is that they don't spread that much. When researching varieties, some varieties spread more than others.

I think this is can be said for almost all of the most excellent permaculture plants. They do really well with no further care.

As with nearly anything it can be controlled by bringing in a lot of pigs for a while. Or by layering on a lot of chop and drop all at once.

Out here in the desert, sunroots tend to grow in the wild in meadow areas that are just slightly dryer than what cattails like. I'd guess that the top of a hugel might be drier than their preferred habitat, so they might not grow all that robustly.

I have sunroot weed patches in my fields. I can kill them fairly easily if I pull them after the plants are about a foot tall, and before they start making new rhizomes. They don't travel around the garden, they pretty much stay where they got planted.

I think if you harvest heavily every season you should be able to keep the sunchokes somewhat under control. Just plant them in a sort of out of the way spot where they won't cause too much trouble and go for it. Worse comes to worse you can always just put a hot compost heap over the top of em and call it a day!