Jerusalem Artichokes

[Fruit&2veg]

Hi Everyone
I have grown Jerusalem artichokes for the first time this year, They are now in full flower and looking well.
My question is, When are they ready to dig? I understand you can leave in ground till ready to use, but as i only have a few, dont want to waste them by digging too soon!
Been Gardening since I was knee high so feel a bit embarressed asking really!

[Glutton4...]

One of my customers asked me to dig a load up for him on Friday. He wanted to 'heel them in' elsewhere, as they were growing in his bonfire patch, and he now wanted to use it!

I dug them up, and he decided to use them instead, as they were a good size. North Essex, sandy soil, sunny spot - if that helps. They were in flower, but beginning to fade.

He grows them as a windbreak in places, and a backdrop in other areas, and wherever there's space, as he uses the stalks as canes the following year. I've no idea what size they make elsewhere, but they're nearly 8' high in his garden! I was also given a big bag of them to bring home, too!

[Fruit&2veg]

Thanks for that, will try some at the weekend. Good idea about the Stalks, mine are Nearly 7ftTall, so get 2 crops in one-BONUS!!

[Shadylane]

I left em in for a bit then stored in boxes of compost. They go dry and wrinky if you don't store them in soil/compost. Never though of using the stalks. Suppose they'd have to be dried well though.

[chris]

One of my customers asked me to dig a load up for him on Friday. He wanted to 'heel them in' elsewhere, as they were growing in his bonfire patch, and he now wanted to use it!

I dug them up, and he decided to use them instead, as they were a good size. North Essex, sandy soil, sunny spot - if that helps. They were in flower, but beginning to fade.

He grows them as a windbreak in places, and a backdrop in other areas, and wherever there's space, as he uses the stalks as canes the following year. I've no idea what size they make elsewhere, but they're nearly 8' high in his garden! I was also given a big bag of them to bring home, too!

Remind me not to pop over for a week or so then. *parp*!

[planetologist]

I've read that they are a daylength sensitive crop, and therefor make most of their tuber mass toward the end of the season and that it's thus worthwhile to wait until the plants have died. I've never checked, though.

I've tried them as stakes, but they are not as strong as tree branches or bamboo, and I have a windy garden, so they break and are useless.

[alex-adam]

Yes, I agree, the tubers really don't bulk up until the foliage starts to die back. The received wisdom is that when the tops start to brown, cut off the stems about a foot from ground level and leave the tubers in the ground until you want to eat them. They are very hardy and should be OK over winter. Some gardeners lay the cut down top growth over the soil to protect from frost.
Regarding the 'canes', yes they are not very strong, but I have used them as alternates with bamboo canes for my bean wigwams, the beans find them much easier to clamber up due to the rough surface and the structure of the ww is held by the bamboo.

Anyway, enjoy this very much under-rated vegetable. !!

a-a

[Fruit&2veg]

Many thanks for all the tips-Very helpfull, Wont rush out to dig too many yet!

[BroadRipple]

b-b-b-but...will they keep growing if I've just chopped off most of the stalk? can't see how they could, but as I was told to do on a Reputable Gardening Website, I went for it, though it looked perfectly healthy, not fading yet,...and now I'm worrying that I may be the only person in the history of vegetables to FAIL with this apparently easy-peasy crop.

[ginger ninger]

I grew them last year in my raised bed and could swear blind I'd dug them ALL up...how wrong I was. The dam things were popping there heads up in-between mi squash, tomatoes and beans. Soooo, I've sieved all the dirt in mi raised bed to try and get them ALL out... hopefully. I love to eat them, but they can be a right pain in the backside if you don't dig them all up.

[snohare]

Like potatoes (and I daresay other tubers) even after the foliage is gone they continue to absorb energy from the roots, and therefore bulk up. I have dug up a few of mine already, but I reckon they will be best left until after Christmas. Year on year, they give a better crop each time, I have found.

[Bren In Pots]

Mine have just come into flower

[BroadRipple]

aha thanks snohare I didn't know that, v helpful

[snohare]

I wouldn't bed surprised to find that if you hack them so that the foliage can't grow, you will find you get a better crop because all the energy is going into bulking up the tubers.
I don't know what exactly the professional growers in France do, but I believe they do cut the stems to prevent windthrow - I do that as well, I've never yet seen them flower ! (I will someday though - I do a Johnny Appleseed with the spare tubers, so various places will have famine food popping up on verges and corners, and those I will leave to their own devices.)
Bulking up depends on the availability of water, so copious amounts of watering will probably help. I know tatties need a bucket a day at peak, I doubt if it is that bad as it is much cooler now, but worth thinking about though. Maybe a good liquid feed too - I use worm wee.

To dig them out, you need to dig as if b*stard digging. Two spits depth. ( At least !) This is because like crocosmia corms <spits> they grow downward by the same distance as they grow outwards from the stem. You also need to sieve the soil; to give you some idea, the 5mm x 2mm bits I cut off the ends of JAs when preparing them for cooking will easily sprout in the compost heap. Scarey, eh ! Funnily enough, the one thing I've heard of that really does away with them is flooding the ground. They will rot if left soaked for long enough. Stands to reason, they are a hot climate plant.

[gillian62]

I'm growing for the first time this year and they must be about 8ft tall with lovely little sunflowers on the top waving in the wind. Very impressed as they haven't taken any real looking after.