[FRIAM] Sunchoke rhizomes

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

Ahhh, "sunchokes". 

Put in a bunch when we first moved to the Mosquito Infested Bog in 1970.  They thrived pretty much on their on for 20 years. Didn't much like the flavor, myself, so we didn't bother them much.  The sugar is a pentose, I think.  The flowers were nice.  My cousin liked them, and so we did always dig some for  Easter dinner, first crop of the season, along with the parsnips, if the voles would let us have some of those. 

Nick 

Nicholas Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
Clark University
ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
 


-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Steve Smith
Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2020 9:53 PM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: [FRIAM] Sunchoke rhizomes


On 8/5/20 8:37 PM, jon zingale wrote:
> Sunchokes are very tasty. Do they grow easily out where you are?

yes, they do particularly like water, but can suffer without too much...
my best bed is near my (leaky) water faucet.   The other bed I have going got (mostly) grazed out by my chickens who don't go after them harshly but have ultimately stopped them all excepting one which is about 7' tall with no leaves below about 3 feet... I caught one jumping up and grabbing a bite out of a lower leaf yesterday.

I've a friend who grows them commercially who got started by simply going to Sprouts and buying up the tiniest nodules from their organic bin to plant... he says "much cheaper than seed stock, and just as viable/clean".    I can't even remember where I got my first starts, they are very self-perpetuating...  even if/when I dig them wihtout intentional re-seeding(rhizoming), they do come back from the (tiny?) fragments I apparently miss/leave.   Not as dense as if I deliberately leave/break-off the smallest nodules to leave behind.

They don't start in a new bed as easily as an old one, so I'm guessing there is some mycorhizomial thing going on that takes a season to re-establish.

- Steve




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