Suzanne D. said:


I have eight globe artichoke plants. I bought them last year, and they
grew
all summer but never got any buds.

This year, they have grown quite well, but there is still no sign of buds.

I live in zone 8-9 (southwestern Utah). Should the artichokes be getting
buds by now, or am I just too impatient? If they ARE supposed to be
budding, then do you know what I am doing wrong and how I might fix it?

Do your plants get enough winter chilling?

It's my understanding that artichokes need a sufficient amount of chilling
for the plants to initiate buds. (They aren't particularly happy about very
hot temperatures, either.) Standard varieties like 'green Globe' need as
much as 1300 hours of sub- 50 deg F temperatures (55 days), although
there are some cultivars that require less. ('Imperial Star' needs only
around 200 hours.)

I can (and have) grown 'Imperial Star' as an annual here, but it required
starting indoors very early, and planting out before the last frost date (to
get the chilling needed to set buds). It was interesting to try a couple of
times, and the artichokes I harvested were far superior to anything available
in the stores, but the amount of time, effort, and space needed plus the
fact that would always be a gamble that the plants would experience enough
cold weather to set buds make it unpractical as a regular crop. (I wasn't
able to winter over the plants, even under cover.)


--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"So, it was all a dream."
"No dear, this is the dream, you're still in the cell."

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