Oca disappointment

[bikermike]

Dug half my Oca up
reds were a total non-show - a few 5mm-dia pimples.

The yellows were better, but the majority were about marble size, and all were very tightly packed in a really matted rootball.

My theories are
1) they got taken down by the sudden frost a few weeks ago, and so were stopped early
2) I started them off in cardboard tubes which didn't encourage them to spread out
3) heavy and drought-struck soil was too much for them to grow out in
4) malevolent allotment pixies...

Everything has been below-par this year, my feeling is it's a combo of the dry weather and me not preparing the soil enough. I'm doing something about the latter (more mulch, new beds being made of 6-ish inches of compost on top of cardboard, more protection of the soli, use of green manure).

Does anyone have any advice/views?

Veggers - do you still want tubers?

[Trouvere]

They're good theories.

I cover my plants at night when frost is threatened until mid-November, after which ideally I want them to experience a couple of lightly damaging frosts. It's widely stated that tubers double in mass after a bit of frost damage as sugars are transported away from the leaves. I'm happy with a properly killing frost in December, and I usually lift tubers on Christmas Eve, just in time for Christmas dinner.

Different varieties seem to differ in the degree of stolon spread, but you can get quite large tubers right at the root ball. I'd guess compacted soil could be an issue with the more spreading types, but I've always grown either in bags or raised beds, so I don't know.

Malevolent allotment pixies that also go by the more common name of voles took most of my tubers last year, but I think it might have been a plague year, and I hope it won't be an issue this time around.

I find my red oca (I think this is RealSeeds' Scarlet with White Eyes) comes back from year to year from any tiny volunteer tubers that I miss. It's a bit of a weedy menace. The orange one seems less hardy, and I nearly lost my stocks to the voles. I only found about 4 or 5 intact tubers for this year. When it does well it tends to make bigger and longer tubers than the Scarlet. I also have a red oca with red eyes that a friend gave me, and a very pale pink or occasionally almost pure white variety derived from the Scarlet, which seems a lot less vigorous.

[bikermike]

ta for the pointers.

Do you leave them in the ground when the frost has got to the leaves? Mine seemed to have been pretty much carried off by one frost in November (all greenery drooping/flat on the floor the next day and haven't really recovered).

It will be a bit annoying if they need covering as that pretty much makes them a non-viable allotment plot.

What do you grow them in in bags? pure compost?

[Trouvere]

Yes, I leave them in the ground for about 2 weeks after the foliage is killed, unless there's going to be a really hard freeze that might reach the tubers. That said, they do seem to overwinter as volunteers routinely, so that might be over-cautious.

I just used regular compost when growing in bags. They're happier in the ground, because they can more easily do what I call the 'July flop' when the stems suddenly bend to the ground and some of them root in.

[veggiechicken]

Veggers - do you still want tubers?

Thanks Mike but you might like to replant yours and see if you can get bigger ones next year.

I learnt the hard way not to dig them up too soon but someone on here put me right. After that, I planted them in the ground.............and then forgot where they were. They made great ground cover for a year or two, then disappeared.

I'm hoping to grow some as edible edging around a bed. The colour doesn't matter.

[Jay-ell]

Mine are still in the ground You can see the state of it here
https://youtu.be/JSrLyWRRUQk?t=523

Once it's died downproperly I'll have to resist the urge to dig it up for a couple of weeks to soak in the goodness from the stems.

[bikermike]

most helpful all

mine look pretty much like the ones in Jay-ell's vid, so I'll leave the others in and see how they get on. When did yours start to look like that? mine have been like that since a snap frost at the start of this month

[Trouvere]

Mine have had the top 3 inches or so frosted but everything underneath is still green, if looking a bit sad and untidy. We might get another frost on Monday or Tuesday. I haven't had a furtle for tubers yet.

[Jay-ell]

most helpful all

mine look pretty much like the ones in Jay-ell's vid, so I'll leave the others in and see how they get on. When did yours start to look like that? mine have been like that since a snap frost at the start of this month

They started to drop over and die off a couple of weeks ago. Every time I go to the plot I keep wondering “are they dead yet?” But no, not quite dead as there’s still some green. Once that goes black the countdown begins

[Trouvere]

It's Christmas Eve, so I dug up my allotment oca. I had 19 plants in about 3.5 square metres of bed space. Total harvest was 1.86 kg, so the yield is pretty close to 0.5 kg/sq m - not wonderful, but I've more than recovered my stocks after last year's vole disaster. The orange variety made lots of pips; Scarlet with Red Eyes produced the nicest consistently large tubers. No pest damage at all.

[Teds Mum]

Not dug up my oca yet, they haven't fully died back yet so I decided to wait a few more weeks in the hope they will bulk up a bit more.

[Jay-ell]

Dug mine up on Thursday https://youtu.be/IPdhVp6diJg
Thats about five kilos in a 1.4m by 2.8m bed or about 1.25kg per square meter which is pretty good if you look at a cash per meter metric when you look at the price here
https://www.finefoodspecialist.co.uk...oaAiNlEALw_wcB

[Snadger]

Dug mine up on Thursday https://youtu.be/IPdhVp6diJg
Thats about five kilos in a 1.4m by 2.8m bed or about 1.25kg per square meter which is pretty good if you look at a cash per meter metric when you look at the price here
https://www.finefoodspecialist.co.uk...oaAiNlEALw_wcB

Hi Jason, hope you are well.I have been thinking of growing some Oca this year and you will be pleased to know I am not on the scrounge

I have looked at Real Seeds site and fancy growing Helens Red, partly because it bears the same name as OH and partly because it is one for the beginner.
I was wondering if they would be better grown in pots, say 1 tuber to a MFB? that way they could be moved indoors when frost threatens and hopefully give a better crop.
Have you grown Helens Red and what are your views on growing in containers?

[bikermike]

dug up the last of mine today.
same issue of not spreading out. interestingly, the red ones had taken advantage of the extra time in the ground to swell, bit no discernable difference on the whites.

I'll keep the biggest and try again next year. I'll pick the bed with the loosest soil.

[Trouvere]

Lack of spread was my issue as well, I think. But I don't have so very much space available (or at least, oca is a lower priority than other things), so this year my tubers went into pots early in the season and the plants only went into the ground when the first early potatoes made way for them. I don't think they like this method much. I used to average about 1 kg per bag when I grew them in potato planters. But I think I'm still doing better overall growing potatoes until June/July and then oca as a follow-on crop in the same area than setting aside a specific oca bed for the full year.