[icbradley]

Hi,

My oca have been frosted and I have belatedly mulched them with some coir I had.  I have not had a look to see if there are any decent sized tubers.  Anyone had a crop of oca yet?  I have a family of squeaky residents at the plot so I want to get some before they find them.

[Deborah1]

Mine have been frosted too, unexpectedly. It was about 2 weeks ago. All the top growth was killed and I thought they'd had it. It was frustrating as they'd been looking great. Anyway I have covered them with fleece ever since when the temperature has dropped and underneath the frosted leaves/mush there were still some green, living ones that have carried on.
The tubers have just started forming - about marble sized at the moment - and I have the same rodent problems to contend with as you. I'm just going to hang on as long as possible and hope that, even if there isn't a proper crop, there will still be enough to plant again for next year. Hope yours make it!

[robinahood]

The advice is to leave them at least 2 weeks after a hard frost as that is when the tubers grow. Mine are still going strong, its not often I am hoping for frost, but would like to put them in with my roast root veg for Christmas dinner!!

[Audy70]

I've harvested one plant after the first frost but have another 2 plants to harvest, hoping that they would get a bit bigger. Saying this the first harvest produced enough for a meal for one and some for planting next year.

[icbradley]

OK.  I decided to have a look as the tops had died down completely.  The good news is that there are lots of them, more than ever before. My sqeaky friends seem to have left them alone as well.  The bad news is that they are all small. Lots of pea sized oca this year! 

We had some roasted and they are tasty.
Ian

[New shoot]

Less is more with oca cooking.  They are nice raw or quickly stir fried as well.

They really don't like my heavy clay plot soil, so I've had to give up on them, but they are a tasty crop if they do well for you 

[Deborah1]

I got loads of pea-sized ones too this year. My own set of squeaky 'friends' have completely eaten the crop from some plants, but have left enough alone to show me what might have been. Does anyone know if the pea-sized ones will be any good for planting next spring or should I save the few biggest ones for that?