Oca, ulluco or yacon, anyone?

[Seahorse]

I've planted some oca and ulluco in pots in the greenhouse this afternoon. It's probably still a bit cold but I thought it was worth a shot, as ulluco in particular seem to need a long season.

When I was Googling for info, I saw Real Seeds have yacon as well now, so I've ordered some of those too.

Vegetable Seeds : Unusual Tubers: Oca, Ulluco etc

Anyone else growing any of them this year? Or grown them in the past? I'd be interested to hear what others are doing and what has or hasn't worked for you in the past.

[zazen999]

Oca; will be going out on Friday along with my first earlies not sure where yet tho'...will look into the yacon.

[crichmond]

Ive got oca and ulluco chitting on the window sill they have 1cm shoots at the moment so I might plant them tomorrow.

[muckdiva]

Grew Oca last year. Had an ok crop which I harvested in December. They do taste a lot like potatoes, but slightly different texture. I read somewhere that they are good roasted, but I had them boiled with a bit of butter. Not too bad - I will give them another go this year.

[King Carrot]

I grew Oca from real seeds last year, I planted with 1-2" chitted shoots just below the surface and waited, but nothing happened for a couple of weeks -after looking at the tops of the shoots I guessed slugs had had a go and put some slug bait down - shoots then appeared and the plants carried through to late autumn - got a good crop of tubers, sunned them for a couple of weeks and tried them, I quite liked them but the missus was not impressed, so I'm planning to take them along to a seed swap. Once they got going they were very low maintenance.

KC

[AllieB]

Having never heard of any before today, no I am not growing any this year but having read up on them I might very well try some next year. I will be wanting regular updates on progress / success please Seahorse.

[zazen999]

Doh!!! Didn't buy yacon but spent another tenner at the RS website. Must stop visiting that site!

[Woofster]

I have bought some yacon to try from a company called Edulis which was at our local Seedy Saturday. They tell me they will post it to me in April. I am looking forward to growing it and to hearing how others get on with it. As I have mentioned in previous threads I grew up in Peru and we ate ulluco (or olluco as we called it) regularly. The favourite dish was a sort of stir fry with beef although traditionally the Andean people have it with "charqui" which is dried llama meat.

[Jardiniere]

there was a guy on gardeners whirled last night who grew yacon and he dug it up washed it and ate it straight from the ground said it tasted of pears

[zazen999]

Hi
The guy from GW was the guy from Edulis; I have noted the address and when next in Berks [my main client is based in Maidenhead]; I'll pop over and see if the nursery is open.

Yacon; will be growing if once I have a lottie; looks fab.

[esrikandan]

Ooo - where is the nursery in Maidenhead - just up the road from me.

[zazen999]

Edulis, Nursery & Landscape Design

[crichmond]

Havent got round to planting my oca and ulluco yet, but is it ok to grow them in a barrel or are they better in the ground? I would prefer to use a couple of barrells as I have just the spot for them.

PS where did you get the yakon from?

Cheers Chris

[BarleySugar]

I saw the yacon last night on GW. Real seeds do 5 for £12.50, so I ordered some today. I've always thought it a shame the dahlia tubers weren't edible, so hopefully these will grow as big as they do. Looks useful that as long as you can store them frost free over the winter you get to plant the 'growing' tubers and eat the 'storing' ones, no tossing up between immediate satisfaction and looking to the future! The only pest that one website talked about was whole plants being nabbed by gophers. As they are in short supply in Iwade I reckon the yacon should be safe!

[bugs]

Havent got round to planting my oca and ulluco yet, but is it ok to grow them in a barrel or are they better in the ground? I would prefer to use a couple of barrells as I have just the spot for them.

PS where did you get the yakon from?

Cheers Chris

I think you'll get a better crop in the ground (judging by what Real Seeds said their best plants did, and what we got - about 1/4 of their yield, I think) but they will produce plenty for you to try and replant next year in containers. We planted ours in black builders buckets and those florists containers. We did this partly for space reasons and partly to make sure we could protect them and get enough planting stock, so this year we've enough to experiment with a bit more (seeing how hardy they are, and putting some in the ground).

Hope that helps...

We're having a go with yacon, too...it's sprouting well now, so it looks promising!