Author Topic: Anyone harvesting yacon?  (Read 5742 times)

FlyingFoxFruits

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Anyone harvesting yacon?
« on: November 23, 2012, 11:43:36 PM »
wondering if anyone is harvesting yacon, and when is a good time to harvest??

thanks!
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Bananimal

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2012, 12:16:31 AM »
I have a buddy in Cali that will be sending me some yacon tubers.  Soon as cold weather kills back the planting a bit.   Yacon has many health benefits --- boosts immune system, lowers cholesterol and is a super duper colon cleanser (especially important during holiday season).

Check it out --- http://voices.yahoo.com/benefits-yacon-5425805.html
Dan

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2012, 12:23:06 AM »
I have a buddy in Cali that will be sending me some yacon tubers.  Soon as cold weather kills back the planting a bit.   Yacon has many health benefits --- boosts immune system, lowers cholesterol and is a super duper colon cleanser (especially important during holiday season).

Check it out --- http://voices.yahoo.com/benefits-yacon-5425805.html

Dan,

thanks for the info!  that's what my good buddy from CA told me as well!

I'm getting impatient...I wanna taste this one!

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Ethan

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2012, 01:44:54 AM »
A good buddy of mine from CA let me try some last Spring and it was nice and crisp, mildly sweet maybe w/a hint of parsnip?  Very enjoyable and big enough tubers to easily juice.  Same buddy also shared some sun choke/Jerusalem artichoke that produce beautiful giant plants covered in flowers and after they die very nice slightly sweet tubers.

Heck of a guy!

FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2012, 01:59:31 AM »
it would be funny if we were all taking about the same buddy.  Even funnier if we each had a separate buddy with yacon in CA.

I like the anonymity factor.  it's like playing "guess who", but with plants.  :)
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Ethan

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2012, 02:55:20 AM »
Same friend shared oca and cacti too. ;)

Bananimal

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2012, 07:59:11 AM »
The Calibuddy wouldn't be Mitchel in west LA --- would it?
Dan

siafu

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2012, 08:51:01 AM »

 Hi,

 I have a nicely sized yacon clump, but I don't expect it to start to
 die back until late January, give or take a couple of weeks.

 Last year, I harvested quite a few tubers, but they mostly went to waste.
 They are indeed crunchy but they are a bit bland and, to me, kind of disapointing. :-(
 
 I have read that with proper storage, sweetness can be improved, but I find it very difficult
 to harvest the tubers whole and they spoil easily due to the cracks...

 
   
Sérgio Duarte
Algarve, Portugal

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TriangleJohn

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2012, 10:44:01 AM »
I have some in my garden. I don't plan to dig any up until we get a hard freeze. I can mail you some if and when that happens. Last year was my first year growing it and the roots tasted like sweet carrots to me. Other people were not impressed. I could not get the roots to cure and store for more than a month. I grow a lot of sweet potato and treated them the same way but it didn't work. Other people do get the roots to cure and they can store them all winter. Most of my gardening friends say that theirs had no great flavor but a few of them know one person that has roots that taste like a sweet apple - so maybe it is all about the soil they are grown in or the age of the plants.

The plants suffered in full sun so I moved them to part sun this year and they did not get as big. I have no idea how big the roots are - last year they were huge. They are easy to grow but they do like water every day during the dry part of summer.

I like to add the leaf to tea - easier to do than dig up and process roots, you get the same health benefits from either leaves or roots.

If you have never eaten yacon or sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes) expect to have some digestive distress the first week. The chemicals in either plant have a big effect on the bacteria and protozoans living in your digestive tract - think of it as a mega pro biotic. You won't want to be spending a lot of time near other people.

I also grow oca. They don't get harvested until mid winter for me. They are tiny and cute and taste like new potatoes with a lot of lemon juice added.

nullzero

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2012, 09:49:38 PM »
Adam,

Can you post a picture of the top foliage of the Yacon? I can determine by the looks of it, if it would be a good time to harvest.
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FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2012, 12:06:43 AM »
Hey NZ,

here is a pic from a few minutes ago.

I had some time to take the photo during my nightly inspection of my greenhouse (to make sure there are no gaping holes from wind ripping down the plastic) 

kind of funny to think that this plant is growing in almost pure manure (from Disney Animal Kingdom).

I'll make sure to wash the roots really good before I eat them!! HAHA.

BTW, the concrete planter they are in weighs like 80lbs! I got it for $20 because it had a small defect.  I'm starting to like concrete containers!





 
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nullzero

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2012, 01:22:09 AM »
You can do a few things.

Cut off the stems and work on rooting them in warm spot over the winter. Harvesting the tubers by pulling out the by clipped stalk and separating the red stumpy tubers with the white long tubers.

Or

Wait until the cold causes die back to the stalks and harvest a few days after.

Personally, I think you will only gain very little mass to the tubers from now until spring. If you harvest now,you can root the stalks and use them for an expanded crop next year. Taste may be slightly sweeter with cold die back (theory is the sap moves down to the roots and sweetens up). Its hard to tell if it makes much difference trying both.

Or

You could pull out the plant like a repot. Then just separate some of the white long tubers and pot back up. Do this if you just want to try a taste and have the plant continue growing. I would lean more toward this option unless you want to expand the crop for the spring, then option 1 is good. Option 2 is better if you have multiple plants going and don't have the room to place them in frost free area for the winter.
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Caesar

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Re: Anyone harvesting yacon?
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2017, 01:17:30 PM »
Old post, but I'm bumping it up, to move it to the vegetable forum.