Some of you may recall that last year I moved. I took along
the 4-5 piddly JA corms I'd missed in harvesting. Unsure where to site them they went into a temporary(or so I thought) soil depression (a scuff) near a downspout under about an inch of dirt. Forgotten, until they sprouted.
Over this summer these buggers grew higher than the roof.
(had the same problem with the tomato plants too).
Maybe 5 wimpy, limp corms of JA had to have used all their energy for such above ground growth so in digging up the stalks for the mulch pile..
Well, true to JA's those 5 have become 50 (hope I got them all out).
So, moral of the story is if you want to plant Jerusalem artichokes choose your site knowing they spread as fast and as widely as running bamboo (well, almost) and to enjoy the small, sunflower type blossoms you need to site them well below your viewing point.
From what I understand, most of the blossoms are sterile although the bumblebees don't care. No seed to speak of for the perching gymnastic birds to feed on. Cut the stalks back after the first good frost that droops the leaves. By Dec they should be easy to harvest after a light rainfall and start digging about 18" away from the stalk. Most of the corms will be in the top 2-3" of soil but the escapees are deeper and worth searching for or you'll never get rid of them from a bad site.
Store them cleaned of soil in a net bag in the fridge. Over the months there they'll get limp but still be viable to plant elsewhere as I found out.
Just do a better job siting them than I did. Good eating!
dottie_in_charlotteOriginal Author
trianglejohn
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