North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[John S <swim_at_svc@yahoo.com>]

Naomi,

I have never seen yacon bloom and mine only got to be about 3' this year as well.  I've had them get to 6' in previous years.  Minor frost is OK, but you want to harvest before a hard freeze.  When you do, you will see two kinds of tubers, storage and vegetative.  The storage tubers will not grow next year and have no "eye" or buds.  They are the edible roots of the plant and are typically much larger than vegetative tubers, which are closer to the crown and smaller.  (vegetative tubers are also edible, but typically preserved for planting next year)  After removing the storage tubers, clean the crown of the plant by rinsing in water.  Pack the crown in a clean medium such as sterile peat (normal peat will also work) and seal in a zip lock bag and place in a cool dark place for use in the spring.  I put mine in the produce area of the fridge.  Don't store them too wet (they will start to mold), but do not store them with dry storage (they need to be in the plastic).  Once winter breaks, give the crowns more warmth and some light.  I typically remove the peat and place the crowns back in the zip bag and leave out in the house to get ambient light.  The crowns will start to develop plants at which point you can divide the crowns with a sharp knife (to separate shoots) and increase the number of plants for the spring.  I find it helps to divide the new plants and pot them up in preparation for spring planting out.

The edible tubers should be cleaned, and if weather permits, dried in the sun a few days.  Put them in dry storage (a net bag works) and eat as you want.  The edible tubers typically store a few months for me, but usually get eaten before we get to the end of their storage life.

John



--- On Sat, 10/11/08, Naomi Counides <naomi@oznayim.us> wrote:

From: Naomi Counides <naomi@oznayim.us>
Subject: [NAFEX] Yacon???
To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Saturday, October 11, 2008, 9:32 AM

I planted Yacon for the first time this year.  We have had enough of a frost to burn the tips.  It has not flowered yet.  It did get 3 feet high.  Will tubers be mature enough to plant next year? I have not dug it up yet.

Naomi

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