Thanks so uch for this! Super helpful & well produced! i can tell you put quit a bit of effort in to this & I really value the knowledge and sharing of these super unique crops! Thanks for the inspiration!
When I grow tiger nuts I grow them in a large plastic pot, I fill it with a 50:50 mix of sand and soil. Then at harvest time I just dump the pot on my driveway, makes it super quick for harvesting! Before I learned to mix in the sand it took me 1-2hours just to sift through one pot lol
Great video thank you. I just grudgingly harvested my Oca a few weeks earlier than planned because the local wildlife had dug a big burrow through the bed, stashing huge Oca at the entrance for easy delivery to their nest 😅
Good video, but sunchoke are native to North America, it is a South Carolina wild flower, which you may not know because you are not from here. That a lot of flower in you home state I do not know. Still a good video. For Chufa nut could you put down chick wire or hardware cloth to foil the rodents? Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans cultivated H. tuberosus as a food source. The tubers persist for years after being planted, so that the species expanded its range from central North America to the eastern and western regions.[citation needed] Early European colonists learned of this, and sent tubers back to Europe, where it became a popular crop and naturalized there. It later gradually fell into obscurity in North America, but attempts to market it commercially have been successful in the late 1900s and early 2000s.[6][8
Sunchokes are native to the Midwest USA, not the Andes. They die out after about 2 years in north Florida because the winter is too short and pest pressure (grubs of click beetles were what I saw) also escalates over time. Since they store energy as indigestible insulin, I don't think I'd want to grow them except as a biomass and wildlife crop now that I am in more suitable (upper Midwest) climate. They are called "fartichokes" for a reason.
I keep getting told that air potatoes are toxic! They are invasive in my yard and I can't seem to get rid of all of them. As soon as hurricane season hits and we start getting rain they grow faster than we can control them. So, would you please tell me are there two different types?
Depends on the species. D. bulbifera is usually toxic. The USA native Dioscorea are processed to make steroidal hormones (birth control etc) and are toxic. Chinese yam (for those in colder areas), Dioscorea alata (ube, winged yam; for those in/near the subtopics), and a few other tropical species are edible cooked. I use tubers from grocery stores (Latin American, African, and Filipino are good places to check; n~ame [n with a tilda over it, the Spanish letter /enyae/, pronounced /ny/; I can't type that on my gringo phone). His "cinnamon vine" is the Chinese yam. Alternate foliage in Dioscorea is usually toxic; most edible species have opposite (paired) leaves, but I would start with either a known variety or something from the grocer, to be safe.
Joe Hewitt That is cool to know. I live in the Bay Area as well. I came across your tropical plant experiment from the other year, it peaked my curiosity. Good job and good luck. Looking forward to the update.
Sunchokes, for what they are worth, are native to Zone 5. Chinese yams (but not other Dioscorea) should also be hardy, and of course there are potatoes. Many of the Andean crops are daylength sensitive and only set tubers in shorter fall days, just before frost up here. That makes the crop small and worthless. Potatoes were like that hundreds of years ago, so perhaps it will in time be bred out. "Ken Aslet" mashua (available as a "summer bulb" from big mail order bulb merchants like McClure & Zimmerman) is day-neutral as far as flowering is concerned, so you might try that one (tuber behavior isn't reported; not many people like mashua and the bulb brokers market them as ornamentals).
I liked your videos. You are really a true gardener. In fact, you looked like explorers of 17th century.
Thanks so uch for this! Super helpful & well produced! i can tell you put quit a bit of effort in to this & I really value the knowledge and sharing of these super unique crops! Thanks for the inspiration!
Great video! Thanks for sharing. Now I know to cure yacons after picking them.
When I grow tiger nuts I grow them in a large plastic pot, I fill it with a 50:50 mix of sand and soil. Then at harvest time I just dump the pot on my driveway, makes it super quick for harvesting! Before I learned to mix in the sand it took me 1-2hours just to sift through one pot lol
Thankyou! I will try this sand and soil mix.
Very nice Joe! Some great plants to spotlight.
Nice to see you back! I hope we'll get to see how the tropical section is doing after its second winter!
Finally a new video. Great stuff as usual, Joe.
Great video thank you. I just grudgingly harvested my Oca a few weeks earlier than planned because the local wildlife had dug a big burrow through the bed, stashing huge Oca at the entrance for easy delivery to their nest 😅
You have Tigernuts?! I love these! I grind them and make cookies out of them. They are excellent!
Good video, but sunchoke are native to North America, it is a South Carolina wild flower, which you may not know because you are not from here. That a lot of flower in you home state I do not know. Still a good video. For Chufa nut could you put down chick wire or hardware cloth to foil the rodents?
Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans cultivated H. tuberosus as a food source. The tubers persist for years after being planted, so that the species expanded its range from central North America to the eastern and western regions.[citation needed] Early European colonists learned of this, and sent tubers back to Europe, where it became a popular crop and naturalized there. It later gradually fell into obscurity in North America, but attempts to market it commercially have been successful in the late 1900s and early 2000s.[6][8
What a great video.
Loving your new videos!
Have you ever tried growing mashua up sunchokes? I'm curious if this would work.
Sunchokes are native to the Midwest USA, not the Andes. They die out after about 2 years in north Florida because the winter is too short and pest pressure (grubs of click beetles were what I saw) also escalates over time. Since they store energy as indigestible insulin, I don't think I'd want to grow them except as a biomass and wildlife crop now that I am in more suitable (upper Midwest) climate. They are called "fartichokes" for a reason.
Ok interesante
Sunchoke is also native to the West Coast.
Air potato usually grows much bigger. Here, it grows 4-5 inches in diameter.
Do u want to do an update on how ur tropical fruits are doing????
You live in a to hot climate to grow oca, thats why you get so little
Hey are you from the states? How do you safely harvest and purchase mashua?
Hey joe:) hows the Lucuma tree doing? will it fruit in northern california?
I keep getting told that air potatoes are toxic! They are invasive in my yard and I can't seem to get rid of all of them. As soon as hurricane season hits and we start getting rain they grow faster than we can control them. So, would you please tell me are there two different types?
Depends on the species. D. bulbifera is usually toxic. The USA native Dioscorea are processed to make steroidal hormones (birth control etc) and are toxic. Chinese yam (for those in colder areas), Dioscorea alata (ube, winged yam; for those in/near the subtopics), and a few other tropical species are edible cooked. I use tubers from grocery stores (Latin American, African, and Filipino are good places to check; n~ame [n with a tilda over it, the Spanish letter /enyae/, pronounced /ny/; I can't type that on my gringo phone). His "cinnamon vine" is the Chinese yam. Alternate foliage in Dioscorea is usually toxic; most edible species have opposite (paired) leaves, but I would start with either a known variety or something from the grocer, to be safe.
There are probably about 100 species in this genus, some edible, some toxic.
Hey Joe, I was wondering how your tropical fruit trees are doing? Any success?
Joe Hewitt That is cool to know. I live in the Bay Area as well. I came across your tropical plant experiment from the other year, it peaked my curiosity. Good job and good luck. Looking forward to the update.
ok I wonder if I can start them indoors then transplant since I live in zone 5 with only 5 months growing season.
Sunchokes, for what they are worth, are native to Zone 5. Chinese yams (but not other Dioscorea) should also be hardy, and of course there are potatoes. Many of the Andean crops are daylength sensitive and only set tubers in shorter fall days, just before frost up here. That makes the crop small and worthless. Potatoes were like that hundreds of years ago, so perhaps it will in time be bred out. "Ken Aslet" mashua (available as a "summer bulb" from big mail order bulb merchants like McClure & Zimmerman) is day-neutral as far as flowering is concerned, so you might try that one (tuber behavior isn't reported; not many people like mashua and the bulb brokers market them as ornamentals).
where can i pick up some Oca
The Mashua plant had the "worm like tubers"? Any toxic look alikes?
fredisnotaboy Oca
Hi do you sell your oca?
Be careful with the Air Potato some are poisonous
Is that a Kurdish flag ?
Talk n talk too much for this just do it