jerusalem artichokes

[NOG]

How do you keep them?

Last year I dug them up like spud and they went fury after a week. Should I dig them up as I need them?

[Dobby]

I have been told to keep them in the ground till you wont to eat them, make great chips
also that once they have flowerd to cut them down to 6" then you can start eating them

[mrskp]

Despite tying to supports, mine are still leaning at 40o and have now turned upwards towards the sky again, think I can just about see flower buds at the top - but no blooms yet! they're leaving it a bit late methinks.

[wellie]

I cut the tops out of mine (from the top of a stepladder!) about a month ago, because they looked as if they might try and produce a flower-head, and I'd read somewhere that it was best not to let them flower, so that they could put all of their energy into fattening up the underground crop. Who knows! Wait and See!

[Flummery]

Leave them until you need them. I find they go soft quickly. I've never bothered cutting them back. If they flower I have a nice vase of sunflowers but that's all. I leave them till after Christmas to eat - they're bigger then and of course a crop is more valuable at that time of year.

[Dobby]

I dont think we have a vase big enough for ours
I was thinking about trying to dry the stems out to use as pea suports next year
dont know if it will work but I think ill give it a go

[Two_Sheds]

I was thinking about trying to dry the stems out to use as pea suports next year
dont know if it will work but I think ill give it a go

I tried this with sunflower stalks, but they were too brittle and just snapped. Gone reluctantly back to (imported) boombams.

[SueA]

I think you are supposed to only dig them up as you need them & put them in water with a dash of lemon juice or vinegar in to stop them going brown when you're preparing them.

[chickenjane]

I tried this with sunflower stalks, but they were too brittle and just snapped. Gone reluctantly back to (imported) boombams.

No need . plant your own boombam. I've ogt a few different vasrieties. have been able to harvest stems from them after about 3 years. give em a ggod feed just before they go into action in the spring & they just keep getting thicker & thicker. Also produces a degree of smugness.

I think you are supposed to only dig them up as you need them & put them in water with a dash of lemon juice or vinegar in to stop them going brown when you're preparing them.

Ckokes DON'T store out of the ground. they have thin porpous skins & dry out v quickly.
my personal theory is this is why they've never taken off commercially.

the acid ( vinegar or lemon juice ) is only needed once you've begun to peel them. In their skins the fleh remains white.


PS flowering or no flowering makes no difference in my experience.
Harvested too early they are a bit insipid & watery.
V late in the season they cant be a bit soggy if either
a) been subject to frezing
b) are abput to start into growth again.

Other than that they are a totally fab-n-farty veg.
I think growing them shuld be made compulsory!

[terrier]

Don't make the mistake I made first time I grew them. I needed the space for some other plants in my flower garden so I dug up the Chokes ( a good crop and a goodly size), dug a hole in an unused corner of the garden and re-covered the chokes with soil. Late autumn I went to dig some up to start using them and there was nothing left, the whole lot had rotted away and disppeared into the soil.
The longer you leave them to mature, the more fab and less farty they become!

[chickenjane]

LESS Farty!
but surly that'll spoil the fun

[Flummery]

A dual purpose crop!