Topic: Yacon

[steveg1966]

I have managed to grow this quite successfully in large pots at home I am going to try it in the ground on my allotment to try to get a bigger crop any thoughts on this would be great

[winecap]

It grows quite happily in my heavy clay soil, without any attention, but yields last year were about 2.5kg/plant. Not easy to dig up without breaking the biggest ones.

[ed dibbles]

It grew happily on the lotty last year producing a crop despite the bad weather. Three plants last year and this year eighteen plants! That yacon syrup is delicious

[lottie lou]

How have you managed to split the caudices, mine were in a clump and wouldn't part from the main stem so I bunged them into a pot of damp compost for the winter.  They are just sitting there doing nowt and not showing any interest in growing.

[ed dibbles]

Like you mine were in clumps and they must have been stored in too warm a place so started sprouting early. After letting them grow a little I took a sharp knife and seperated off the sprouted caudices, a lot with roots and those without roots were all potted up where they soon began growing shoots and roots.

I would think it is best to try to seperate the clumps as the fear is that if planted the clumped plants will grow too crowded and reduce yield. (I could be proved wrong, of course )

As an aside the latin name for yacon - smallanthus sonchifolius. Sonchus = sow thistle, sonchifolius means with leaves like a sowthistle

[Ian Pearson]

lottie lou, leaving the caudices on the crown in a cool place overwinter is probably the safest option, as they are less likely to dry out or rot. They are slow to sprout, and need warm conditions before they start to move. And yes, dividing them can be hard work!
Stevege1966, they appreciate deep rich soil with plenty of organic matter added, wide spacing, and a warm site. Don't plant them out too early as they are slow and vulnerable to slug attack initially.
I tend to plant them out about the same time as courgettes. I've had 18lb of roots from one plant, (details here http://oca-testbed.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/all-tuber-polyculture-mound.html) but last year with the cool summer the crop was pretty disappointing

[Ian Pearson]

I've just posted this:
http://oca-testbed.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/yacon-storing-and-dividing-propagation.html
It should answer your questions about saving your own caudices. I'd be keen to hear of other successful methods of overwinter storage.

[manicscousers]

Thanks to ed dibbles, I'm growing this and oca this year. Mine are doing really well in pots, just waiting for the weather to cheer up so I can take them to the poly 

[ed dibbles]

Good to hear. Mine are looking good too tucked up in the G/H for the moment.

Plenty of time they will go out after hardening off sometime towards the end of april hopefully. Be ok earlier in a polytunnel I would have tought.

[Ian Pearson]

I've heard that plants can get 'substantial' in a polytunnel. They do appreciate some warmth.

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

I am confused between yacon and oca. Is there a connection to what James Wong calls dahlia yams?
 To make matters worse, last week in Gibraltar in a South American restaurant I ate yucca which resembled parsnips. Help!

[ed dibbles]

The only connection between yacon and oca is that they are both south american crops originating in the andies. Yacon grows large tubers very much like dahlia tubers while oca produce smaller well coloured waxy tubers, both delicious.

Yacon are in the daisy family, oca in the sorrel family. Both grow well in our climate.

Confusingly true dahlia tubers - those from dahlias we all grow as flowers - are edible although some taste much better than others apparently. These are what James Wong are using.

Flower shoots, flowers and  flower buds of Yucca, the spikey garden plant, are edible although the roots are said not to be.

While I'm not altogether ruling out that the roots you ate in Gibraltar weren't yucca ( the plants mentioned above) I suspect what you ate were cassava or Manihot esculenta. It is known as Yuca in many countries.

It's so interesting what is edible as well as palatable aside from the "basic" stuff we all like to grow.

[goodlife]

I am confused between yacon and oca. Is there a connection to what James Wong calls dahlia yams?

Dahlia Yam...nope, that is different thing. James Wong calls Yacon =Peruvian ground apple. Have you got his book about these different edibles?
Dahlia yam is literally a flowering dahlia..like the ones you would grow for their showy flowers...but some varieties are said to be better for eating than others.
Oca...well....Wong calls them New Zealand yam.. Very naughty of him!...why does he have to dig out less common names for 'his' unusuals. Oca grows little individual 'spud' like tubers ...where as yacon and dahlia has more of swollen roots that grow out of the stem.

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

 I suspect what you ate were cassava or Manihot esculenta. It is known as Yuca in many countries.

Yup, that's right. To many edible plants with similar names!


And thanks goodlife for linking to Wong's book. I have it and it confused me more.

[galina]

I've just posted this:
http://oca-testbed.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/yacon-storing-and-dividing-propagation.html
It should answer your questions about saving your own caudices. I'd be keen to hear of other successful methods of overwinter storage.

Thank you Ian.  Very helpful.  Mine were stuck into a double plastic bag with a bit of soil, the inner bag knotted to keep moisture in and put under the table in the conservatory (this is the same method I use to overwinter runnerbean roots).  Have looked into the inner bag and there are small green shoots on the caudices.  I have planted one up whole last week not knowing what to do really and it has 6 shoots, but clearly they will need to be separated or the plants will be too crowded.  The others haven't been touched yet.  All others look fine and ready to be planted up in the conservatory to be set out after last frost.  Now where is that sharp knife? ...........