Anyone growing the Asian water chestnut? I very much enjoy them and was thinking about getting some next year. I heard you could grow them in 5 gallon buckets and in mucky stagnant water.
Wondered if anyone had any experience growing them.
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I believe Mark, a youtuber… channel “Self Sufficient Me” grew them and had a pretty comprehensive video. If I recall correctly he did grow them in tubs. He lives in a pretty warm climate in Australia. It was an interesting process.
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I’ll check it out thanks! Self Sufficent Me’s climate looks very similar to mine. Love his stuff.
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I checked it out. They need a long season to grow nice sized tubers, but they are usually a perennial in my climate (which is basically the same as his). Looks like you just grow them in some fertile soil/mud in stagnant water. From some researching, it seems they don’t like flowing water all that much, so I won’t hook them up to my aquaponics system.
Now the real hard part, finding a source that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Apperently they are big in the freshwater aquarium/pond scene, so they cost alot for a plant you need a bunch of. Probably give my extension office (both the ag and aquaculture guys) a call to see if they know a place I can source.
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Do you have an Asian supermarket near you? Sometimes you can find fresh water chestnuts for sale. Fresh tubers will grow when planted. The trick is storing them over the winter without them rotting.
I grew them one year when I lived in the Central Valley. Didn’t start the tubers until June and harvested in January, long after the leaves had died off. I could have harvested earlier, but I didn’t have the time, and I figured they would store better in the ground than in my fridge. I got maybe 5 pounds from three 5 gallon tubs. Very low maintenance plants, but I would strongly recommend planting them in pots small enough to tip over and rinse off the dirt to harvest. The tubers are produced on runners and digging through freezing mud trying to figure out if the hard object you’re feeling is a rock or a tuber isn’t very fun.
They will probably do even better for you since your nights are much warmer later into the season. You don’t need that many tubers for a good crop. I started 3-4 per tub, but I think if they’re happy they will spread to fill the space given to them.
In early July, about a month after planting:
I got three sizes of tubers. Most were medium-sized. The small ones are a pain to peel.
These were my largest:
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Please post updates if you grow them out.
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We have some small markets, but I’ve never been. I’ll check them out. Thanks for the tip.
That seems like a good harvest. How well do they keep? I heard you can freeze them and they keep the crunch.
I didn’t try freezing them, but they kept for a couple months in sealed freezer bags in the fridge. They can be processed into starch for long-term storage as well, though I have not tried that either.
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