In article ,
"Colin Davidson" wrote:

Dear All,

I'm growing Jerusalem artichokes for the first time this year. They seem to
be doing really well, they're about a foot tall and showing no signs of
slowing. What do I need to do to them? Do I need to support the growing
plant with a cane like I would with a sunflower? Do I earth them up to
improve yield like with spuds? When do I harvest them, and how seriosuly do
I need to worry about them becoming a weed?

Don't worry about them becoming a weed - just live with it because
there's nothing you can do anyway! I grew them three years ago and I'm
still weeding out plants, but it's nowhere near as bad as people say, if
you're reasonably careful.

I didn't use canes - mine ended up much stronger than canes anyway. I
didn't earth mine up although I think you can from the support point of
view since they grow to 8 or 9 foot tall - not sure it does anything to
the yield though. I harvested in October, from memory and that's the
time to be careful if you want to avoid rogue plants next year... one
little sliver will become a healthy and vigorous plant if you let it.