Grow Your Own Magazine

How do you know if your jerusalem artichokes are ready to harvest. I'm pretty sure mine are not, but not sure how to tell whem they are.

Steven

Dont' you leave them in till they die back, then dig them up as needed? Mine are still green so not been paying them any attention, but now you've got me wondering. Coem on wise people what do we do?

It's my first go with them and OH is insisting he doesn't like them. sigh. I reckon he's never tried them and I can sneak them through pretending they're something else. Just like I do with parsnips in soup

I think you do leave them until they start to die back, sometimes they flower too & you can cut the flowers off so that their energy goes into the tubers. You could always have a scrabble around the roots of one & see if you can find any tubers. I dug mine up too early last year & they were quite small but I was impatient to try them!

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Not sure if it was because I stored them incorrectly(paper sack)But mine didn't store very well at all,so this year I'm going to dig them up as I need them!
I also wait until the foliage starts to die off.
FHG~mine love them mashed with spuds~gives quite a nutty taste.

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

That reminds me of my firstest foray into GYO - I grew Jerusalem Artichokes, but thought they were like globe ones. They grew brilliantly, but (obviously) didn't produce little lovely globes. So in the end I gave up, and when it died back, I just composted binned the lot. It was only a year later that I realised I probably had had loads of lovely knobbly fellas waiting to be discovered in the soil, that I had just thrown away...

What a durr-brain.

Just leave them in the ground Nerobot. They're ready when the top growth has died off . Just lift them and use them over the winter as required.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Thanks for all the replies. Just going to wait till they die back and then have a little look.

Steven

How big do the plants grow? Mine are tiny!!!!

Most of mine seem to be over 10 feet tall (or prehaps just 8, it's hard to tell).

Steven

You can cut them back when the leaves have died down - leave a foot or so of stem behind or you'll forget where to dig! I usually leave them till after Christmas when fresh stuff is more restricted. It's nice to have something that's not a cabbage or near relation!

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Updated November 30th - Mr Stinky's Excellent Adventure (and a Christmas Cake)

One of mine blew down in the wind the other week, so I dug it up and there was hardly any knobbly bits. The other one is about 8ft tall - I've staked it now so when it dies back I'll have a rummage around. Glad someone asked this, I was wondering how I'd know when they are ready