Yacon: Indoors/Outdoors Pots/Ground

[Paulieb]

Good Afternoon,

I have 3 Yacon plants complaining they want a bigger pots asap. I'm reluctant to sacrifice tomato space in my greenhouse so ideally they will go in a big pot outside. 40/50ltr and I can put them out at end of May.

So my question is, will they yield a worthwhile harvest in a pot outside if I water/feed them well. Or do I really need to be keeping them in the greenhouse? If outside I can try to overwinter them somewhere frost free, just trying to maximise my greenhouse space in the summer.

they're from Realseeds, and have been disappointed on 2 occasions with Oca in terms of yield and flavour so Yacon needs to be hassle free and good yielding for starters!!

[Jay-ell]

I've grown Yacon in the North East outdoors no problem so further south shouldn't be a problem. In fact the ones I grew outdoors were better than the ones in the greenhouse.

I've tried in pots but they didm't do that well. They do much better in the ground with a bit of organic matter worked in. Mulch them to conserve. You can wrap them in fleece at the start to give them a little extra protection as a frost will kill them off.

They are a herbaceous perennial so will die back at the end of the year. Once the frost has started to turn the leaves black it's time to lift them. You will get two different types of roots - the storage roots and the central crown.

The storage roots can be taken off and eaten - they don't grow if planted.

The central crown will have a lot of knobbley bits on it. Store the crown in dry compost over winter to replant next year. It can be split into smaller sections as long as each section has it's own growing tip. I split 3 into about 50 plants so you might want to keep the sections larger so the plants start off stronger and giving you more space in the garden that isn't yacon.

I've not had a problem with oca - the yield is lower than potatoes but still reasonable and the taste is not bad either. I need to try and use up some more of the leaves though as I've only just nibbled on those.

[Guest]

I don't know about pots but they are fine outside once frost has gone. For once they do tend to be a cropper for an unknown/novelty food plant.

[Paulieb]

Thanks thats a good level of detail, exactly what I was looking for. I may try 2 of my plants in the ground, and a third in a big pot to see how they compare.

I'm intrigued to see how they overwinter. I've read they're a bit like Dahlias which I have a poor track record of overwintering.

Excited to see how they workout. If I get a good yield I'll be needing some interesting recipes next!!

[Guest]

Mine have survived left in the ground but then have been set back by slug attacks on new shoots. I have also dug them up and left them loosely potted in damp (not wet) soil in the the garage. I have failed miserably with the dry storage root like you are supposed to do with dahlias. I have also not managed division successfully like you are meant to be able to. I have to wait until they are physically shooting then hack them up.

[Snadger]

I grew my Yacon in an open cold frame last year.Although it grew really well I didn't harvest them (Lazy git that I am) and just covered them with glass once the frost had hit the tops.
It will be interesting to see how or if they have survived when I remove the glass cover from frame.
Watch this space!

[Snadger]

As promised,I checked my cold frame yesterday and just hand lifted one of the plants. The main edible tuber had been attacked by slugs etc but luckily the small seed tubers near the top were alive and starting to sprout.

Here's a piccie of the one plant I lifted, so looking at this I will have ample propagation material for this season.



On a tuber tangent I noticed that the shop bought Jerusalem Artichokes that I planted have also started to show above ground. I know from growing these in the past that once you have them you will never get rid of them so it bodes well for the future!

[Teds Mum]

My Yacon did really well in the ground out on the allotment, got a small potato sack of tubers from just 3 plants. However, despite being lifted and stored in the shed they didn't survive the winter to be replanted. On balance I won't bother growing them again as my family aren't that fond of them to eat and the plants take up quite a lot of space for the whole year.