In article ,
Fran Farmer wrote:
On 31/05/2015 7:15 AM, Bob Hobden wrote:

I understand you have to let the plants get frosted at the end of the
season but wait two weeks before digging up the tubers as the goodness
from the top goes back into the tubers.

Hmmm. Not sure that I see any sense in that comment given my
experience. My crop got zapped in a -6C frost and given the instant
mush of the top growth, I can't see how any 'goodness' from the zapped
top could get back to the tubers.

I suspect that Bob Hobden was talking about a very mild ground frost,
not a real frost like that! My experience is that the tops are
killed by the former, and turned to mush by the latter (as you
say). And any serious frost also turns the surface tubers to mush,
too.

I liked them very much, but stopped because they didn't grow to
the size they should have done. I think that was precisely because
Cambridge gets light frosts fairly early, and the tubers bulk up
only as the days shorten.

In summary: I agree that any frost is bad news for Oca. They aren't
as hardy as potatoes.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.