Topic: Horseradish help please.......

[tilts]

Hello
As many of you know i am new to this venture, however, am very keen....i would like to make some horseradish sauce and also to have some horseradish plants on the allotment, i thought they could go along the hedge.  However, i have been given differing views on which plant on the (large) site is horseradish, I thought that it is similar leaf to dock, maybe abit more pointed, so before i go and make myself look pretty dumb wondered if anyone can help.... any help anyone please......ty.

[tim]

Yes - confusing! Just dig a root & you'll soon know?

If it's horseradish - when you grate it - preferably on a microplane - do do it in front of a fan or don't breath! And freeze roots for posterity.

And use mayo (with the vinegar), instead of cream so that it will keep.

[flowerlady]

Hi Tilts,

Unless you really,really do want to grow it your self ...  let someone else grow it, then beg a root. ;D

Once in, it comes up all over the place!!  I believe it can grow enormous.  I took out a whale of a stump and it's still pushing up plantlets every where >:(

[busy_lizzie]

Hi tilts, The lottie members opposite to us planted some in their plot last year.  They moved house recently so didn't come for a while and now the horseradish is about nine foot high and has spread extensively, so I would be very careful where you put it and perhaps consider putting it in some sort of container, so it doesn't go berserk.   :D busy_lizzie

[Rosa_Mundi]

And be careful with any container, too - I put mine on some soil over winter. Next year, it had rooted into it, and I'm STILL digging out plantlets.....

[tim]

Strange, isn't it? Ours has been in a metre square patch 'down there' & still respects its limits.

[jennym]

A good pic of the leaf is on this link:
http://www.eeb.uconn.edu/Courses/EEB271/Brassicaceae/horseradish.jpg

I wouldn't grow it except confined - it's a real menace on my plot, and I wish I hadn't planted it. Especially as I found out later that it grew wild alongside the edge of the road.

[Looby Loo]

A good pic of the leaf is on this link:
http://www.eeb.uconn.edu/Courses/EEB271/Brassicaceae/horseradish.jpg

I wouldn't grow it except confined - it's a real menace on my plot, and I wish I hadn't planted it. Especially as I found out later that it grew wild alongside the edge of the road.

We've a rake of similar looking plants growing on the otherside of the fence on our plot, they smell faintly of horseradish but when dug up have no real root to speak of. Any ideas what these could be?

[Alan_Y]

Hi Tilts

Its a real pain in the B*M.
Its allover the allotment all needs digging out and getting rid of.

You can tell the difference. Docks have long tall seed stems Horseradish doesn't (or not that Ive seen)

Good Luck

Alan

[jennym]

Looby loo - not sure what it could be if not horseradish. It may be that its too young, or too crowded to form a good root. I find that the best root is in the second year, so if you thin them out just in case, and wait until next year, you might have a nice surprise!

[Trenchboy]

Our allotment site is heavy with clumps of horseradish, all with extensive and well developed root systems.

As I am thinking of taking on the adjacent plot to the one I started this year, and it has 12 clumps of the stuff, how can I remove it?

I had a go at digging up one clump yesterday, but the roots kept breaking up and looked very imposing.

[jennym]

.....As I am thinking of taking on the adjacent plot to the one I started this year, and it has 12 clumps of the stuff, how can I remove it?....

Glyphosate or digging. Hoeing and covering don't work, as they just come up in another place.  :(