Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: shaun on January 18, 2007, 21:49
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do you earth these up as you would with potatoes ?
or do you plant them deeper ?
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6 inches deep cover the roots and forget them mate . a really dug bit ground and manured is a bonus as you get loads according to the chap i got mine from
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so yoou dont earth em up then
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erm no? :wink:
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mind you mate if you treat some like spuds and i do , maybe we wil have hit on a new growing method?
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saying that ive seen folks plant on level ground 4-5" deep then ridge up straight away if you know what i meen :?
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they do grow the same though but the top growth is much taller isnt it
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Mmmm more high winds in the autumn then ! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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yeh mate 5ft +
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had enough of wind and gales to last me a life time
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I got mine from an organic site that basically just planted 'em...then harvested 'em. When they dug mine out (a quid for a couple of kilos) they were in beautifully cultured and weed free soil...about 6 inches under...so I've planted mine the same (only, without the beautifully cultured and weed free soil). Theirs were six or seven feet high... :o
:lol:
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The plants develop a thick ring of normal roots under the soil surface, the tubers develop beneath this. They will find their own depth.
Thing to bear in mind is the height they grow to. This can be 5 metres and they do get top heavy and blow over. For this reason it is best if they are grown in a permament bed with substantial post and wire supports. It is normal to reduce the height to 2 mtr in august/sept to improve stability.
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ty eristic matey i havent grown em but im sure gonna give em a big go .gratefull for all info on em :wink:
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5 metres high thats big eristic
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Where can i get Jerusalem Artichoke roots from -I haven't seen anywhere to buy em and i want to try
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I must confess that I've never grown them to 5 mtr but many old books talk about 16-17 ft. They are sunflowers don't forget. The tallest I've had them is around the 12ft mark, say 3.5 mtr but they have always had to be chopped to keep stable. I think 5 mtr is easily doable if you wanted to grow them tall.
After having the tops chopped off, they immediately make loads of side shoots with more leaves so this action may itself increase the yield.
The biggest problem is siting them so that they do not cast a heavy shadow across cultivated land.
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Where can i get Jerusalem Artichoke roots from -I haven't seen anywhere to buy em and i want to try
You can get them online at most places and ebay, ebay is a bit of a rip off for them mind you. Plus there are 2 different types of JA's
Fuseau = smooth and no nobbles = easy to peal
normal = nobbles and hard to peal.
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T&M are selling them for about £8 plus about £2 postage :D
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and what about the spacing eristic ?
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20 inches was what i was told mate as tyhey get a load of top growth and need the space to grow
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I plant mine 1 ft apart in the row and have 3 rows with 18" between. This is one crop I've never bothered to do any yield trials with. I just plant them, they grow. I dig them up, eat my fill, give some away, replant some and there is always some left over
The better the quality of the soil, the bigger and better the tubers.
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The better the quality of the soil, the bigger and better the tubers.
Absolutely, I treated mine well this year and the difference was staggering. If you save your smoothest and largest tubers from the most prolific plants for sowing, you'll gradually improve yield of smooth tubers too (choose smooth over large). I plant like squash, 1m apart each way.
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6 inches deep cover the roots and forget them mate . a really dug bit ground and manured is a bonus as you get loads according to the chap i got mine from
I give them a good mulch (8" of straw, layered with lawn mowings, raw compost etc.) so you don't have to weed them. Although I know lots of people who swear by them as windbreaks, I always need to stake mine. Cut them down to 3 ft 6 last year, had loads of flowers and shoots, and the crop was the best I've ever had. Still had to stake tho' :shock:
growmore, ask in the seed swap section and you might find someone who could send you some :)
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I am sure I saw some in wilkos the other day, will have a look when I next pop into town, actually might take a wonder down later. I will let you know. :)
Frey