Yacon.
 

Anyone grown these? Are they worth growing in the UK and do they become Keel
Slug bait like Oka.

Bob Hobden
about 17 miles West of London

Yacon.
 

I've grown it for the last two years. Last year the yield was low but enough to give me enough material to plant a bit more this year. I now have three healthy looking plants which I hope to harvest just before the first frost. So I don't yet know how substantial the tubers will be.
I don't recall any slug damage last year but generally I'd say the jury is out as to whether the yield justifies the effort (which isn't great) and the space taken.
Janet G

Yacon.
 

On 05/10/2016 14:21, Janet G wrote:
I've grown it for the last two years. Last year the yield was low but enough to give me enough material to plant a bit more this year. I now have three healthy looking plants which I hope to harvest just before the first frost. So I don't yet know how substantial the tubers will be.
I don't recall any slug damage last year but generally I'd say the jury is out as to whether the yield justifies the effort (which isn't great) and the space taken.
Janet G

I grew it in 2014, started it in pots then planted out, did quite well
and I had 2 buckets of tubers from 5 plants, last year I split it up and
planted out 2 40 ft rows, but didn't pot start any, poor growth so I
left it in, around 30% survived the winter, but it's really struggled
this year probably to our very wet and cool summer(?)
I'll lift the survivors this winter and pot grow before planting next year.
No great slug damage even when sitting in the buckets in the glasshouse.
David@ what has been aver wet side of Swansea Bay

Yacon.
 

I grew it, and it did well, producing some huge roots (up to 1'
long and 6" thick); this was on sandy soil in (dryish for the UK)
Cambridge. However, it is very frost-sensitive and so a b*gg*r for
me to overwinter. But the real problem is that I found it useless.

Its roots are not for energy storage, so much as water storage, and
are an extremely pleasant, sweetish, crunchy vegetable in salads.
That would be fine, except that they mature in the autumn and are
so frost-sensitive. My wife didn't like it much, because of its
slight taste of raw Jerusalem artichoke (surprise, surprise). The
roots are also extremely brittle and VERY hard to dig up intact.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Yacon.
 

"Nick Maclaren" wrote

I grew it, and it did well, producing some huge roots (up to 1'
long and 6" thick); this was on sandy soil in (dryish for the UK)
Cambridge. However, it is very frost-sensitive and so a b*gg*r for
me to overwinter. But the real problem is that I found it useless.

Its roots are not for energy storage, so much as water storage, and
are an extremely pleasant, sweetish, crunchy vegetable in salads.
That would be fine, except that they mature in the autumn and are
so frost-sensitive. My wife didn't like it much, because of its
slight taste of raw Jerusalem artichoke (surprise, surprise). The
roots are also extremely brittle and VERY hard to dig up intact.

Thanks everyone, interesting comments, I suspect in my heavy very acid
clay/silt they would not do well. Sweet Potatoes are a disaster because one
heavy rain and the ground turns to concrete despite years of manure/compost.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK