Cutting down Jerusalems

[Barnowl]

The Jerusalems have started to die back but at what point should we actually cut them down?

[Barnowl]

[supersprout]

looks like now would be a good time barnowl! ;D

[Barnowl]

They don't look too happy do they? :D

[supersprout]

they're a lot neater than mine! they look very happy to me, just ready for the chop ;D

[buxton diggers]

I was waiting for mine to flower and die back but they haven't done either! Do I cut them back anyway and leave the tuvbers in the ground until needed or should I leave them be? They look pretty healthy and they're about 5' tall.

[Barnowl]

Apparently they don't always flower.

The book says to let them die back then cut, but doesn't give a description of how dead you let them get. One  of the people on our site says she lets them get black and so mouldy she has to burn them or take them off site, which sounded a bit extreme to me, hence my question.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Mine have produced a few flowers, but due to the drought they haven't done at all well this year. They'll die back when the cold weather arrives.

[artichoke]

I use mine as a low hedge in front of compost heap, so they don't flower, and I don't have a heavy job cutting them down now. The usual advice is to leave the tubers in the ground until you need them, and I find they shrivel and spoil if you dig them up too far ahead of using them.

I am not expecting much of a crop, as some of them withered and died during the drought. That's a first - I have NEVER known JAs to die before - they are normally impossible to get rid of.

[Mrs Ava]

My neighbour cut her's down a couple of weeks ago and digs them as she needs them.  That that she leaves behind grow again next year - and so the circle continues.

[supersprout]

The book says to let them die back then cut, but doesn't give a description of how dead you let them get.

IMO if leaves are green, the roots are still fattening up. When leaves turn yellow, cut down for Tidiness, but leave a stump so you know where the roots are ???

They will overwinter best in the soil like EJ says, worth lifting a few and clamping in a pot of earth in the greenhouse if a heavy frost is forecast.

[saddad]

Some books say you should cut at shoulder height to prevent them flowering to get the best tubers... I don't. Certainly need shortening to prevent root rock as the winter winds build up, but leave enough to find them under the snow... if we get any!
;D