And, we have flowers! Towering.
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Question- one back of JA is dying. Not quite sure whyā¦my other one is still flowering. Harvest the dying back bag?
my tubers are coming in soon, what time of year do you think is best to plant? before frost?
I am only on my second season with JA but i let the top of the plant die completely to brown and crunchy.
My idea is i want all the energy and essence to return to the tubers. This may or may not be the case.
I also dont harvest the tubers but dig up only whats needed as i need them.
I have a 2x3 bed of JA and two straggler plants in a different part of the yard. The two stragglers produced more tubers than i could use last year.
You should have fun with your harvest.
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Thanks for sharing what you do. Iām in no rush, so Iāll wait to dig some up. Do yours start to die though before frost?
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They die back some after blooming but (from memory) die slowly over fall.
Did the soil in your bags crack?
What do you plan to make with them?
about half of my patch flowered then the got zapped by a hard frost. the white tuber ones flowered not the red.
The soil in the bag dries out quite easily, but I donāt see a distinct crack. Is that a sign there is enough tuber production? My other ones are in a plastic container and while sightly smaller, Iāve learned thatās better for moisture retention because these started to wilt the moment the soil dried!
I cut them into little chunks, drizzle avocado oil, salt and roast at 400 for 35 minutes (I use convection 375) usually on a tray with sweet potatoes many nights a week. Iāve had them purĆ©ed into soup, but prefer roasted. What do you do with them? We always get them from the store; this is my first year growing them.
When you say you only harvest what you need, how late into fall/winter do you leave them? Will they go soggy and rot after a deep freeze?
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Are they still good to dig up and eat? I didnāt even know there were red skinned ones! How do you describe the flavor difference?
The soil underneath my plants lifts and cracks in early fall. Since yours are in containers i wondered if it would do something similar.
I have eaten them both roasted and mashed. I made a few batches as a ferment. I cut thick slices and lacto-fermented them with garlic, onion, pepper, etc.
I left them in the ground. I dug them up whenever the ground was workable about 5 times. The last time i dug them up was in april when i attempted to eliminate the straggler patch.
I tried storing some in sawdust but they only kept for awile.
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mine have all survived -40 no problem in ground. i havent even tried to eat them yet. more of a backup food store as most people dont even know what they are.started off with 2 white and 2 red tubers from cultivariable 5 years ago. now the patch is 6ā x 12ā. someday ill dig some up to try. also got a good patch ( 6 x 8") of kennebec ground nuts from oikios which spread pretty aggressively also. i plan to spread both into my woods hedgerow, where they wont take up as much space in my garden areas.
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Would they still be readily diggable with all the woody roots around them in a hedgerow?
I wait till they get crispy brown then cut the base and leave them in the ground until I need them. I have them in separate beds but they shade too much of the raised bed gardens so Iām gonna put them in my wildflower meadow. If I ever need them they will be there but Iāll get the real estate back in my kitchen garden
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at least here, they stay in the top 3in.of the soil. might be different if you have loose sandy loam. they dont seem to like growing through our clay.
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i leave mine alone until Iām hungry. then i wait for the soil to be a little diggable. usually end of November time, before the ground fully freezes.
i let the tops die back until i hate looking at them then cut, leaving 6 inches or so of stem so i can find them later. mine didnāt flower this year but i bet still have tubers.
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Weāre getting our first frost tonight and I expect they plants to be toast tomorrow or soon. Iāll cut them off about a foot from the ground so I know where to dig later, since Im pretty busy with other stuff and I want to store them for later.
But I recently saw a video with someone saying it was best to leave them out at room temperature for about a week to 10 days to allow much of the inulin to convert to regular starch. Does anyone do this? Or do you have other tricks to make them less āboisterousā?
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Just chop them up and simmer them in water with lemon juice or vinegar for about 25 minutes. Heat + acid converts inulin to fructose. This is enough to convert the majority of the inulin, but while still maintaining a small percentage which will promote gut health without causing gassiness. I prefer this method over long slow cook times cause the short cook time results in a nice pleasantly firm texture.
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Ive eaten them a few times and never had any stomach issues but i also eat a lot of fiber
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I left mine out for 5 days at room temp and they got squishy and smelled off.
Iāve always boiled them for 10 minutes first before frying and Iāve never had a stomach issue after eating them. I also eat a lot of fiber in my regular diet.
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We have been eyeing this frost with anticipation to harvest some of ours as well! One container the plants are fully dead, just tips alive in the other.
Iām surprised to hear they went bad so quickly on the counter. Are commercial sunchokes put straight into cold storage? I know I get them from the refrigerated produce section of my grocery store and keep them in the fridge for a long time. But, we donāt have the gut disruption from them I see people complain about. I was planning on roasting them same day and harvesting as needed.
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