I did a few searches for this plant on the forum and got very few hits (I believe @Luisport posted a photo of it once and that’s about it), so I thought it might be worthwhile to have a thread dedicated to it in case anyone else has experiences to share. I’m hoping to harvest my first tubers from my test patch this fall, and then if I actually like the way they taste I’ll do more of a proper planting of them for next year.
Over a year ago, I bought some oca tubers on a whim from Wanderlust Nursery and planted them in neglected corner of my yard next to the greenhouse, mostly as a curiosity. They grew a bit last year but I never got around to digging them up, and expected that they would have been killed by that bad December freeze. However, this spring they sprouted vigorously, and they are now a nice little patch, despite poor sunlight, infrequent watering, and no fertilizing at all:
I did a bit of googling and it sounds like the traditional practice is to wait until freezing weather to harvest, then dig the tubers and leave them in the sun for awhile to sweeten them and convert the oxalic acid. Here’s OGW’s guide to growing them, which is pretty simple but has some good info:
I’d love to hear anyone’s firsthand experience with growing, harvesting, storing, or eating these tubers!