Tuberous pea

[ottawagardener]

Oh just so you know, it's not listed as poisoness or noxious anywhere else but is considered difficult in an agricultural setting because it propogates by vegatative means and is not controlled by most hericides... you could just eat it?

[extremegardener]

As you can see, mine go to 5 feet plus, and must be supported.



Frank - the tubers on yours look pretty good-sized, to me.

I have a hard time finding any tubers, the largest are about like the tip of my thumb. They are really good tasting. I think the voles and chipmunks may be eating them... (though the tubers look like mice I wonder if perhaps the "dutch mice" name was also because they attract rodents...) Or my season may not be long enough...

Stevil, how large do the tubers on yours get?

I started these from seed from JL Hudson about 20 years ago. It's a nice enough to keep for the flowers, but it sure would be great if the tuber production was improved... a project I find rather daunting, but interesting...

It is a bit messy and invasive, but not to hard to control. It seems to love cool and damp. Our last two summers had excessive rain and cold, and the Dutch Mice were at their best. I have it in a dryish spot, and may try it in a wetter location

[rhizowen]

An excellent plant, although yields are low. Take a look at a wild potato and compare it with an average spud. selection, selection, selection.

[robertb]

A rabbit raided mine the other night, but I'm hoping it didn't get them all!

[stevil]

I missed your post, Extreme - that's one impressive tuberous pea. Mine doesn't reach half that height, but it's not in the best position, rather dry, next to a Yew tree. You asked about size. The pictures should give you an idea:

[ottawagardener]

That's about the size of vine that I think I've seen around here.

[extremegardener]

Beautiful photos Stevil - thanks. Seeing your and Frank's good sized tubers makes me think I might play around with this plant after all...

[denninmi]

I tried to get Lathyrus tuberosa started last year. Ordered seeds from a company in France which shall remain nameless, along with seeds of a certain type of Euphorbia I was looking for. I spent about 30 Euros, close to $50 American, for these two types of seed.

NEITHER of them is what they were claimed to be. At least not to my eye. The plant that has grown out from the supposed Lathyrus tuberosa seeds looks to be some kind of winter vetch type plant to me. It hasn't bloomed yet, but the leaves look exactly like the purple vetch that is a common weed here.

The Euphorbia was supposed to be the red flowering E. heterophylla, Summer Poinsettia or Annual Poinsettia. Well, the foliage is more or less correct, albeit a bit elongated. Instead of red, it had ugly whitish bracts. My personal opinion was that it looked like the results of cross pollination between E. heterophylla and E. marginata, but I can't image that would happen so consistently as an accident, since all plants grew that way. Perhaps it was just a bad growing year or bad genetics.

Bummer, anyway.

[plantsnobin]

From the seed Stevil sent me, I only had one germinate. But I have it planted out and we'll see what happens. It has been very cool and rainy here the past month, and the weeds are growing like gangbusters.

[robertb]

Mine aren't up yet, but potatoes and Chinese artichokes are only just coming through, and oca isn't showing at all. Doubtless it'll emerge pretty soon now as the soil warms up.

[Penny]

Nice pics Stevil.

[plantsnobin]

JLHudson's spring supplement is now online, and he has it available now.

[plantsnobin]

My one plant has done very well. I hope to have a few seeds available at our swap. The weather here has turned brutally hot, and haven't had rain for a good while now. Many plants are drying up and going dormant, but this is looking great. Has been blooming for quite some time, and I have already saved a few seeds from it, but it is still blooming, with lots of flower buds still. So far though, there is only one seed per pod. The pods that Stevil sent me had 3 seeds each. I won't try any of the tubers yet this year, I want to have plenty of plants growing before I risk digging into it.

[Hristo]

For first year I dug some of the plants and was surprised by the size of the tubers. With some breeding I hope they could become even bigger.

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[extremegardener]

Nice photo Hristo - those are a worthwhile size to work with.