Planting oca

[ameno]

Anyone here have experience growing oca?
I ask because every year I diligently plant my seed tubers in pots of compost in mid-March (I would do it a bit later, but even stored in the fridge they are usually already sprouting by then), bring them on indoors, then plant them out in late April or early May. I do this because that's what most sources seem to recommend.
But the large number of volunteer plants I've had sprouting in my allotment bed this spring (over a dozen of them) made me wonder whether this is really necessary. Why could I not just plant direct? Oca is no more tender than the potato (both are frost-tender but otherwise pretty cold-tolerant), and yet we happily plant those direct in April or even March. And oca doesn't even start making its tubers until about mid-September, so I don't imagine it would really benefit from the longer growing season it gets from being pot-raised, either.

So, does anyone have any experience of planting it direct, specifically whether the yields are comparable to pot-raised?
I have also already translated half a dozen of the stronger volunteer plants to this year's oca bed, so I can perform an experiment of my own to an extent.

[Nicos]

I'd be interested in seeing your results tbh.
I've only ever grown in pots but it's just more one pot to have to water....

[ameno]

I will try and do a proper experiment next year, and plant half in pots to start with and the other half direct in mid-ish April, when I plant maincrop potatoes.

[ameno]

An update to this:
Last year (2021), I decided to just plant all of my oca direct in early April. I gave them the same spacing I usually would, I earthed them up once when they first emerged, then just left them to grow.
I didn't do a side-by-side experiment in the end, but the crop was perfectly successful, and indeed seems to have yielded noticeably more than starting it in pots did in previous years (and certainly there are more larger-sized tubers).
I shan't be bothering with pots again, and I'd recommend others do them same. Just plant them direct in April.

[bikermike]

Interesting.
i've had better yields from pot- planted oca than volunteers.

how do the tuber sizes compare for you. I find my volunteer oca tends to be smaller in size than the saved stuff.

How big are your pots? In my first year I grew them in loo rolls and I think the roots didn't spread out as well.

I may try direct planting this year though, as I could do.with the greenhouse space.

[ameno]

The saved tubers were what I would call "medium". Probably around 1.5-2 inches long, by 3/4-1 inch diameter.

When I started them in pots I used 1 litre pots.

I think volunteers would give a smaller crop. They tend to be quite small tubers (that's usually why they were missed), and they are often planted at a less than ideal depth (either too deep or too shallow).

[Teds Mum]

I have been growing Oca for several years now and direct sowing is a good idea because the plants seem to hate root disturbance, they do best when left to get on with it. The only catch with that is the possibility of frost damage, hence why people tend to grow in pots first. It will also depend how many seed tubers you have to start with as if you only have a handful to plant you want to make absolutely sure they all grow. You will get bigger tubers if grown in the ground but cleaner ones if grown in pots, a large shallow tub or planter is ideal as they don’t root very deeply.

[bikermike]

This is the first year I have ever had some of my Oca not sprout in pots.

i think one may have beem snailed, but after some seriously duff (home-made compost), I am struggling with stuff this year.