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Post by khoomeizhi on Sept 1, 2013 14:57:32 GMT -5
 need to have another person come out next time to use a person for scale. the tallest plants are already taller than me, with probably at least another month before frost. they like wet years, it seems. spacing between plants is pretty tight in all directions with periodic open spaces for little nursery beds for young grafted fruit trees. spaced close mostly as an experiment, to see if they'd keep the weeds down in a close canopy (answer:yes), to see if they'd hold each other up (have had lodging in higher winds)(answer: so far), and to see if they'd produce as well when all up in each other's business. already assuming i'll break a lot of tubers during harvest because of this experiment. we'll see. i've never grown quite this many before - this field is 250+ plants. |
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Post by richardw on Sept 1, 2013 15:25:57 GMT -5
Looking good,no flowers yet?
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Post by khoomeizhi on Sept 1, 2013 15:36:26 GMT -5
i've never had flowers on this variety in the five years i've grown it.
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Post by billw on Sept 1, 2013 17:34:28 GMT -5
Wow - that's a ton of yacon! Actually, more like three or four tons, I guess.
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Post by richardw on Sept 1, 2013 20:11:27 GMT -5
i've never had flowers on this variety in the five years i've grown it. Well thats interesting,do some not flower i wonder?,certainly mine does |
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Post by billw on Sept 1, 2013 20:17:23 GMT -5
I have two varieties - a white one and more of a red/purple one and neither has flowered in four years. Yacon doesn't seem to like our climate much though; it tends to mildew in the summer and get snapped by wind in the fall.
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Post by khoomeizhi on Sept 1, 2013 20:23:21 GMT -5
i'm guessing a ton or ton and a half. some plants went in fairly late so they'll pull the average yield per plant down...but this year may be productive beyond my calculations because of favorable weather, who knows? may you be the one who's right.  i wonder if we could work out a trade involving the red/purple variety, bill? i'd love to get more diversity out there. even if they don't flower. |
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Post by khoomeizhi on Sept 1, 2013 20:28:43 GMT -5
how long is your season, richard? how many days?
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Post by billw on Sept 1, 2013 21:13:46 GMT -5
i wonder if we could work out a trade involving the red/purple variety, bill? i'd love to get more diversity out there. even if they don't flower. Sure thing. Check in around mid-December. |
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Post by khoomeizhi on Sept 8, 2013 14:20:09 GMT -5
one more with a body in it for scale (i'm about 5'10")...  |
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Post by richardw on Sept 8, 2013 22:14:01 GMT -5
Looking good,I saw a patch last summer(not mine damn it all) that was a meter taller than that again
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Post by khoomeizhi on Sept 9, 2013 15:57:39 GMT -5
may make another foot before it's all over, but i doubt it'll get farther than that.
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Post by khoomeizhi on Nov 19, 2013 18:30:56 GMT -5
these days it looks more like this:   i haven't had much issue with breaking tubers from close-planting as i expected. pleasantly surprised. maybe my technique is improving. you always break a few big beautiful ones, though, always. here's a relatively modest yield from one plant...  the bin of rhizome chunks at the field, not real easy to see. i store them in the basement for the winter, packed in soil in lidded plastic bins.  also did a small experimental batch of yacon syrup this past weekend, limited by the size of my biggest pot: my pressure cooker. here's the juice starting to warm on the stove, PARDON THE CRUMBS:  the end result was 12oz of syrup, but i couldn't get the data i would want to really know what to expect for the ratio of (pounds of tubers):(oz of finished syrup)...i don't have a scale at home these days, so i sadly don't know the weight of the tubers i started with (it was maybe 3/4 of a 5-gallon bucket of small and broken [otherwise 'unsaleable'] tubers)...i also need to get a refractometer that goes higher than the one i have to know better when to stop the cooking-down. the cipotato pdf on yacon syrup production i searched out in the ethers suggests stopping at 73 deg. brix, but i might have gone farther than i should. i'm working out details to borrow the certified kitchen at the local food coop for a night to do a bigger production run of syrup, but i need, like i said, a few tools first. and a good source for inexpensive jars, etc...i definitely grew enough yacon this year to try some things, though. i think i'll do a batch of yacon hard cider this year, too, cooked down to appropriate sugar content and fermented. the previous effort, a yacon cyser (yacon juice + honey), started christmas day 2011, is still going. /yacondoings |
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