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I planted a 10X15 plot of sunchokes this spring, and only got out about 10 freezer bags worth. The stalks were blooming, plenty of ground cover from grass, but still fairly green, with a lot of woody parts. Why did my sunchokes not produce like John Kohler's/et al do?

J. Musser
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black thumb
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  • Worst year for tomatoes in 25 years here. The few there were tasted like store-bought. Peppers were abnormal too. Sunchokes may have suffered the same fate - weather. – Wayfaring Stranger Oct 31 '16 at 12:02
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    If memory serves, didn't you keep flooding the area where they were growing in the belief it would promote a larger crop? Which it wouldn't, actually, but also , ground cover from grass? Do you mean grass clipping mulch, or actual growing grass? – Bamboo Oct 31 '16 at 22:49
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    John Kohler has been at this for many years. He has education, experience, the best equipment, weather-controlled environment, equipment, supplies and teams of people. I know how disappointing it is when something doesn't grow well, it happens to me all the time. Please don't beat yourself up. It's highly unlikely that anyone's first crop comes out like the experts, especially with a plant that's hard to grow. I'll bet your 10 bags worth are yummy, and next year's will be even better! – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Nov 01 '16 at 02:04
  • i mean grass growing in the garden to simulate the meadow they naturally grow in. I did water the sunchokes heavily, but they did very well in the growth cycle, but not the production cycle, even though I had to chop and harvest before a good freeze hit them. I boiled them with getting almost all the dirt off them that I could, then riced them, and throwing away the skins. they are sweet, and may be worth using the tops as fodder with the farm I'm looking at. – black thumb Nov 01 '16 at 05:40
  • Did the tops look healthy while growing? I suspect soil conditions. – J. Musser Nov 22 '16 at 00:30
  • yes, since the soil was fairly sandy, but turned a little red, and some leaves were eaten by animals. – black thumb Nov 23 '16 at 04:24
  • What are the units of measure here? Metres, feet? Did you weigh them? What size is a freezer bag? – Graham Chiu Dec 21 '16 at 17:51
  • I didn't weigh them, but they didn't look like the clumps I saw. I got about 10 buckets off of a 10X15 full of them. – black thumb Dec 21 '16 at 18:55

1 Answers1

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While wild sunchokes may grow from a meadow, they don't produce like John Kohler's do either. For production, I'd keep the soil soft, and all other plants away. Lots of compost would help a lot. Deep, organic topsoil (the kind I wish I had) is what these will produce best in. It won't take near as much energy to push through.

You can fertilize them, with a general purpose fertilizer. Unlike many root crops, these (in my experience) get a boost with some nitrogen. Just don't overdo it or you'll end up with them lodging (falling over due to high winds or heavy rain).

Also, they do put on some at the end of the season. You can harvest them any time, but I like to wait until the tops die back in fall.

Niall C.
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J. Musser
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    We always waited until after a hard freeze to dig these. Improved the palatability immensely. – Ecnerwal Dec 20 '16 at 19:23
  • In the cold, the inulin gets converted to fructose making them much sweeter. This happens in ground or in the fridge. – Graham Chiu Dec 21 '16 at 18:17