Jerusalems flowering, I think.

[Eristic]

Can anyone lend me a 4 metre stepladder? I want to take a picture of the flowers. Some people earlier in the year thought that the 4 inch fenceposts were a bit over the top, but maybe scaffolding might be a better idea.

[Eristic]

[saddad]

Well the posts have stopped them blowing over.. several of mine are at about 45 degrees...
:-[

[isbister]

Mine are like that too. The wind got them the other day and they'd keeled over and lifted a bit - it looked like they were getting ready to walk off somewhere like triffids.

[Barnowl]

I used bamboo railings and one of them actually snapped!

[cambourne7]

mine are in 2 big tubs and leaning on the shed :)

[cleo]

Not just me then?-I planted mine in holes full of bin compost and they must be at 10+ft now.

The `topical tip` on GQT was to lift them now-can`t say I agree-leave them at least another month

[artichoke]

Strange advice to lift them now. They store much better in the ground, lifted as needed, in my experience. They might get a little slug damage, but there are always more good ones than I need.

Also, I don't let them grow tall and flower, but cut them back about twice into a hedge along the front of the compost heap. I have to be able to throw weeds over them, and it doesn't seem to affect the crop.

[caroline7758]

Having grown for the first time and got a fantastic show of flowers, I could never cut them down before flowering! Having sid that, my supports were also woefully inadequate and they are semi-horizontal now, but at least that means I can reach the flowers for cutting. An enclosure like yours looks like a good solution,Eristic. I've got two metal washing line poles at the ready for next year- just need two more, now!

[torquil]

    this is strange was just going to post about Jerusalems to ask advice when to lift then saw this. this is also my first time and they would be about 10ft tall if they were upright.  This must be the best site to have answers to questions we ask  ;D

[cornykev]

Even before you ask them Torquil, mind readers some of these lot you know. :o ;D ;D ;D

[Eristic]

Regarding digging them up my advice is to leave well alone while they still have green tops. There should be plenty of other food to be eaten now so why dip into the winter reserves. If tops are still green, the tubers are still developing. In fact I believe they continue to develop even after the leaves die, by recycling the energy stored in the stems.

As for slugs, these seem to be a problem only where the plants have rocked themselves loose in the soil exposing the treasure. Once dug up the tubers need to be eaten within a few days or they spoil. As said earlier, best left in the ground and dig as required.

[cleo]

Re my post about lifting now and me saying leave them another month.

I didn`t mean to say lift the crop,as said,it`s best to leave them-I meant I don`t think they will be ready to start harvesing yet

[caroline7758]

Some of the leaves on mine are going yellow, but I'm not sure if it's due to the plants being blown over.

[mc55]

my supports have also been woefully inadequate, but at least I know for next year.  The flowers are very delicate.

[cambourne7]

Mine did not flower, do they need to?

[Robert_Brenchley]

No. The varieties we used to have didn't flower; I've only seen blooms on these modern smooth-tubered varieties, which I suspect have been crossed with another species.

[Barnowl]

When/if they flower (it doesn't matter if they don't), the accepted advice round us is to cut them down to about 5-6 ft (you can always use the flowers for display at home) then wait for the the stems to die back then cut off at or just below ground level.  Make sure none of the tubers are exposed. Dig up as required: they do not store well once out of the ground.  We harvested from November until March last year.

The rationale is that the flowers would use up energy that could be redirected to the tubers. The die back is part of the process of drawing resources back down into the tubers.

In late March we dug in some compost then replanted some new and some of the best shaped that we'd saved.

NB if peeling them put them straight into water, otherwise they have a tendency to go black.

[saddad]

Acidulated water, (with a bit of vinegar or lemon juice) is best for reducing discolouration. If you want to store them out of the ground they can be kept in a large tub of soil/compost...
;D

[longlad]

I cut mine down by a third but there seems to be a lot of new growth as well at least it stopped the wind rock

[louise stella]

A lot of mine were blown over - so I had to eat them!!!  The rest I reduced in height so's they can fatten up some more!!  Oh - and mine flowered!

Louise
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