Allotments 4 All

Jayb kindly supplied some of these for me to try... ;D Now they have about 10" tops and they are growing in black flower buckets..one per bucket...now what..?
How large these grow..? I think they still fine in these buckets but eventually they must?..go something larger?...ground?..inside/outside?..

They can go inside or out, but the leaves need to be protected from frost if we have a late one and again in the autumn. They don't get very high but will start to flop and trail a bit. Nothing much seems to bother them. I'd be tempted to get them planted in the soil as they produce tubers from thin wispy shoots produced along their stems, which find their way into the soil. Tubers won't be produced until the end of the year, hopefully  ;D

Oh Jayb.. ;D..have you grown these in tubs? I've been thinking to try couple in ground outside..and maybe some in large buckets like I crop my early potatoes in? ..then if the autumn turns out to be cold etc. I could eventually lift the buckets in GH. Are these hungry crop like potatoes are?

I've not grown them in tubs. I keep meaning to try them in pots to see, if I did I think I would want a short stocky type pot. In the autumn I think placing the pots on a vacant soil border in the poly or greenhouse would help them crop.

[attachment=1][attachment=2]
pictures showing them in the autumn just starting to form tubers.

I haven't noticed them to be heavy feeders, I do mine when I remember. Its all a bit trial and error really, crops aren't brilliant by any means, but enough to keep me intrested. Tubers are formed close to the surface and sometimes above ground, they are just so colourful to harvest, I can't resist  ;D

Great..thanks for that... ;D Well..experiment it will be then..some out..some in..some in, out and back in... ::) It will all be revealed... ;D
Oh..one other thing...you said that 'some are formed close to surface'...do these tuber 'green up' like potato does?..are they ok left to surface?
How/where do you store yours?
Sorry being pain like this..but there is so little practical advice in net..it is all about plant and its history, use etc. but not much about growing it... ::)

I've found Ulluco usually produce tubers just below the surface so you don't need to look far, plus they are fairly brightly coloured so stand out well. Yes tubers will green up if exposed to light, but are still edible. You can earth them up as day length decreases, tubers form only with less than 13hours daylight.

The easy bit is they just get on and grow, producing a large harvest is another matter  ;D so I'll be intrested to know how they do with you and your different growing condiditons. I've not planted mine out yet but they are fairly forgiving, I've notice mine will be flowering soon.

I store mine in a paper sack, in the spare room (no heating) It's never a huge harvest so they don't last very long!

I found that slugs just lurved the foliage! Protect them from the easties if you can...

Do you grow them like potatoes - I found that mine are quite slow to germinate.  I grew oca successfully last year in those flower buckets approx 3 -4 per bucket and earthed up over the summer.  Moved them into unheated greenhouse after first frost and harvested at Christmas

Please can you tell me what Ulluco is, I have never heard of it :)
and how do you cook it.
Sorry to be such a pain. :-[
   June.

http://radix4roots.blogspot.com/2009/01/crap-crops-of-incas-my-on-off-on-affair_22.html

Quote from: lottie lou on May 29, 2010, 12:07:31
Do you grow them like potatoes - I found that mine are quite slow to germinate.  I grew oca successfully last year in those flower buckets approx 3 -4 per bucket and earthed up over the summer.  Moved them into unheated greenhouse after first frost and harvested at Christmas

When did you start them lottie lou? I would have thought they should be growing strongly now  :)

Quote from: bridgehouse on May 29, 2010, 15:03:53


Please can you tell me what Ulluco is, I have never heard of it :)
and how do you cook it.
Sorry to be such a pain. :-[
   June.

I like them raw or boiled/steamed like new potatoes.

I must have started them around early March - however they were miscule - I've seen seeds bigger than them.  I have just potted them on i3 -4 to the 3 inchpot and will move them on when they are a bit bigger.  I am planning on growing them like I did the oca. 

They still have quite a long growing period so I think they have time to develop. I usually plant mine in the polytunnel about 15'' apart and leave them get on with it.

I know I sent you some tubers earlier on but can't remember what, were they from me?

I received mashua and yacon from you.  You had been so kind in the past that I didn't have the nerve to scrounge ulluco from you.  I got them off Ebay. Extremely small and refused to chit.  Like I said I was happy with my oca crop so I will try growing the ulloco the same way and see what happens.

Thank you Robert, and Jayb,
May try them next year.
    June.

Lottie, dormancy period does seem to vary with some tubers, although once started into growth they should make good progress. Small tubers can produce, I left a few volunteers to grow last year and they produced some lovely tubers. If they don't do well for you let me know and as long as I have a harvest I'll save you some.