Author Topic: oca, yacon and ulluco growers i got a question for you guys :) (Read 6594 times)

thifasmom · « **on:** April 11, 2009, 18:19:16 »

Now that you incorrigible gardeners have peeked my interest in these and some of you have kindly donated the tubers to start growing my own i have a small dilemma as in no bed pace to grow them ::) :-\. so plan to grow in containers, my question is which tuber for which size container?

the picture below shows the sizes i have available at this time, so i was thinking one ulluca plant per flower buckets (the black ones), one oca plant to the 40cm pots and one yukon to the 50cm pots.

does this sound OK ???

all advice welcome :)

Twoflower · « **Reply #1 on:** April 11, 2009, 18:22:30 »

Ok i've heard of the first two but whats the third one? ???

thifasmom · « **Reply #2 on:** April 11, 2009, 18:29:52 »

Quote from: Twoflower on April 11, 2009, 18:22:30

Ok i've heard of the first two but whats the third one? ???

http://downtheplot.com/ullucus.php

thifasmom · « **Reply #3 on:** April 11, 2009, 22:38:23 »

bump!!

thifasmom · « **Reply #4 on:** April 12, 2009, 14:41:09 »

there must be a reason I'm being ignored not sure why though, come on i know there are a few of you out there that have grown these a few years in a row I'm just after a little guidance :-\.

pleeaassee :-*

gwynleg · « **Reply #5 on:** April 12, 2009, 15:42:27 »

Hi - I havent answered as I dont feel at all expert! I grew Oca last year in the ground - got a fair amount (not anywhere near what Eristic got) but each Oca was quite small. I would be tempted to use the largest for the oca too (dont know about others) - it does say to earth them up like potatoes for best yield. Also you will need to protect the pots from cold as oca needs to stay as long as possible in the soil and then you leave it two weeks after the frost has killed the plan. Hope someone more expert comes along in a minute.....!

Eristic · « **Reply #6 on:** April 12, 2009, 21:15:06 »

My experience has been that oca, while growing into nice plants in pots produces a very poor yield if at all. We are all still learning the secrets of this plant but I can say that over all it is quite a toughie. It has crossed my mind that the early chilling and light frosts the plants get when planted outside is actually a vital trigger for the production of the stolons and tubers.

Yacon grows well in a large container, the larger the better I think, but must be kept frost free.

For advice on ulluco ask JayB as I am still failing to get a reasonable quantity of tubers or large tubers. Plants grow well but are adored by slugs.

thifasmom · « **Reply #7 on:** April 12, 2009, 23:13:29 »

thanks for the replies guys so thats two for a larger container for the oca. i look foward to more opinions from others with some experience as well.

chriscross1966 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 13, 2009, 18:21:31 »

Thanks to Jayb my three whites and three red went in yesterday..... annoyingly the stuff I sent Jayb ion return (wierdo east european black beefsteak toms and french cornichon gherkins seem to have gone astray in the post..... >:(

chrisc

Jayb · « **Reply #9 on:** April 14, 2009, 09:00:30 »

I've not had much experience of growing any of these in tubs, I have grown a few Yacon in large pots and agree with Eristic that they do well, crop is not as large but still good. A wide base might be useful as they make quite a tall plant

I’ve only grown Oca in a pot once (one I forgot about) it did produce a limited crop although the container was too small, so again if your only choice is a pot, make it as large as possible and don’t overcrowd.

Ulluco, I think would be better off in the ground. However to grow in a pot, I think surface area would be key (bearing in mind I’ve not tried this) they are quite a sprawling plant and I’ve found they can produce quite a few tubers away from the centre of the plant. Little fragile shoots grow down from the stems into the earth where tubers then form. Perhaps a deep growbag or similar with soil exposed might be worthwhile trying.

To be honest I’ve got loads to learn about growing all of these, I think it is certainly worth trying different methods to see how they do.

thifasmom · « **Reply #10 on:** April 14, 2009, 10:09:33 »

oh bugger i am in a quandry now, where can i find enough large pots/ containers cheaply :-\

thanks for all the advice guys :)

Dadnlad · « **Reply #11 on:** April 14, 2009, 23:11:01 »

How about reusing compost sacks ?

We're trying some of Jayb's oca and ulluco(ta very muchly ;)), one per bag, in old hop sacks

thifasmom · « **Reply #12 on:** April 15, 2009, 00:29:33 »

Quote from: Dadnlad on April 14, 2009, 23:11:01

How about reusing compost sacks ?

We're trying some of Jayb's oca and ulluco(ta very muchly ;)), one per bag, in old hop sacks

of course i certainly got a few of those around, now why didn't i think of that :) tah.

saddad · « **Reply #13 on:** April 15, 2009, 12:07:08 »

You could use cheap dustbins from Wilko's about £5 a time... I wasn't ignoring you I was in Ireland... and you had dropped off by the time I got back!! ;D

thifasmom · « **Reply #14 on:** April 16, 2009, 01:12:19 »

Quote from: saddad on April 15, 2009, 12:07:08

You could use cheap dustbins from Wilko's about £5 a time... I wasn't ignoring you I was in Ireland... and you had dropped off by the time I got back!! ;D

thanks for another idea i was thinking of those storage bins at wilkos for about £4 ea.

longjohn · « **Reply #15 on:** July 01, 2009, 22:52:57 »

Glad someone got there before me! Yes, oca grow great in used tomato growbags. IE bags used one year for tomatoes and then the next year for oca.

Oca like lots of sun, moist soil, rich soil. I have two in a fresh commercial gro-bag for testing purposes and they are putting on leaf like mad. Oca seem to take any amount of watering but are much less happy with under-watering.

By contrast, yacon and ulloco are able to get by on much drier soil. I'm not sure they should be in dry soil but they sure seem to be OK with it. Based on some observations last year, this year I deliberately let a yacon, an ulloco and a sweet potato sit in more or less bone-dry soil for a few days and they were fine with it. The sweet potato has its mother ship full of reserves of course but the yacon and ulloco just seem able to stand it. The yacon is doing better now that it is in compost in a self-watering planter. The ulloco has hardly noticed that it now has similarly luxurious conditions. Make of that what you will.

Hope that helps

chriscross1966 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 01, 2009, 23:04:58 »

My Oca are now roughly football sized.... I've been using ferric slug pellets (though it's been less of a problem recently from what I can tell) but I have had to net them against rabbits which are a bit of plague on our site (they've even had a go at my onions ??? Anyway the Oca seems to be growing but is that sort of size typical at this time of year?.... I put a fair amount of compost and some leafmould plus chicken pellets and BFB in there.... with the weather recently I don't think they've gone more than four days without a good watering and as they're in the flat I can't see that they should be short of water.....

Eristic · « **Reply #17 on:** July 01, 2009, 23:19:20 »

I'll try to get a picture of current state of play tomorrow. As there are no rabbits near my site I cannot comment on them but slugs do not seem to be bothered to eat oca except very early in the season when the new shoots first emerge.

longjohn · « **Reply #18 on:** July 02, 2009, 06:00:36 »

Yeah, rabbits do like them. They are problem on my site too. I've netted against them but as they are such crafty blighters I'm now working on a motion-detecting scarer device hacked from Maplin bits.

Mine have gone fine in the ground with no watering. But my experience is that your tubers will be approx double the size if the plants are pampered along the lines of water-loving plants. Maybe not quite so much as squash etc but towards them on the continuum of watering.

saddad · « **Reply #19 on:** July 02, 2009, 07:44:09 »

Welcome to A4A Longjohn... :)

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Author Topic: oca, yacon and ulluco growers i got a question for you guys :) (Read 6594 times)