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Post by billw on Jun 1, 2013 22:15:06 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about the poor yield, Richard. It seems like you have to be even more prepared for disappointment with the Andean crops than most vegetables.
How high did the temperature get?
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Post by richardw on Jun 2, 2013 0:58:42 GMT -5
We had over 40days over 30Cdeg with one day reaching 39Cdeg. Oca have been a reliable cropper every year till this one,the only other thing it could have been was i gave them a feed of- www.tuigarden.co.nz/product/tui-nitrophoska-blue-fertiliser which ive never done before,so next growing season i wont feed them and see if they preform like they have in past years. |
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Post by ilex on Jun 2, 2013 2:38:01 GMT -5
My experience is that it doesn't like hot temperatures, specially hot nights. It's even worse with ulluco and mashua. After some hot weather they rot.
I've tried for many years as I have a virtually frost free area with some shade. Managed to perenialize one white one for 3 years. I gave up.
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Post by rowan on Jun 2, 2013 2:38:53 GMT -5
My oca did just as bad because we had the hottest and dryest summer on record for here - most of the summer was around 40C. I haven't harvested them all but I doubt I will get a single edible size tuber. Last year I had a good harvest of huge tubers.
I am making shadecloth cloches for as many of my beds (including all the oca beds)that I can afford for the coming summer to avoid a repeat. I hope I don't have a problem with mould though.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jun 10, 2013 21:44:57 GMT -5
Anyone know if oca cuttings will root? I have these three little oca tubers up and growing and I was wondering if I could do the "pull sprouts" thing like wingnut does with his potatoes to get a few more plants going.
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Post by rowan on Jun 11, 2013 0:09:31 GMT -5
oca cuttings root with no trouble. You don't even have to care for them, just cut them and poke them in the ground where you want them.
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Post by billw on Jun 11, 2013 0:29:31 GMT -5
In my experience, you can root almost any piece of an oca plant just by putting it in contact with soil. Any section with a node will produce a new plant. I have a new variety this year for which I had only two tubers. I let each produce a stem and when it got to ten nodes, I cut each stem into sections with a single node. 17/20 survived and the original two sent up new stems, so I now have 19 plants of that variety. Some things about oca are difficult, but propagation is about as easy as it gets.
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Post by wingnut on Jun 23, 2013 12:27:20 GMT -5
As Rowan and Bill said, they are incredibly easy to root.
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Post by raymondo on Jun 23, 2013 17:17:29 GMT -5
Would oca grow in a warm-temperate/sub-tropical climate? My son lives in just such a place so it may be worth trying some at his place.
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Post by richardw on Jun 23, 2013 17:32:09 GMT -5
Only one way to find out Ray,though he would have to reduce the sunshine hours they get towards the end of the season though
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Post by raymondo on Jun 24, 2013 4:04:41 GMT -5
My son is at just over 27°S so his shortest day is about 10.5 hours long. Is that short enough for oca to grow tubers?
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Post by khoomeizhi on Jul 3, 2013 5:04:21 GMT -5
orflo was recommending two weeks of 9 hour days in mid-august (might should be february in the southern hemisphere?) to encourage tuberizing...
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Post by richardw on Jul 4, 2013 5:10:51 GMT -5
My son is at just over 27°S so his shortest day is about 10.5 hours long. Is that short enough for oca to grow tubers? That looks about level with Brisbane somewhere is it Ray?,maybe hard pressed to grow them that far north ,i think its when the day/night reaches 12-12 is when they start |
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Post by richardw on Jul 4, 2013 5:12:46 GMT -5
orflo was recommending two weeks of 9 hour days in mid-august (might should be february in the southern hemisphere?) to encourage tuberizing... By that you mean covering morning and evening to shorten the amount of sunlight they get? |
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Post by khoomeizhi on Jul 5, 2013 4:46:08 GMT -5
yep. there was some discussion in a thread called 'fooling the oca' last year. seems like it's actually more important to have 15 or more hours of darkness each day than 9 hours of light, if that makes sense. in this case, i was thinking about how easily (or not) they might start making tubers in a place where daylength never gets down to nine, unassisted by such a technique, since oca does seem to be pretty daylength-sensitive...don't know how far ray's son is willing to go to grow oca where he is...
i agree, my understanding is that they start tuberizing naturally around equinox, or 12 on / 12 off, the 9-hours thing is to trick them to start early so they can get to decent size before frost, in frostier climes...might work in more long-day places closer to the tropics, too, i guess...
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