shrivelled yacon tubers - help

[gardengoat]

Hi all,


Just joined this forum. I am excited!


Need some help and advice from any yacon experts out there.


I was able to salvage some yacon tubers that I had overwintered in the shed, but they have started to shrivel up. Would I be able to ´revive´ them by cutting them up and soaking them in water?


Any suggestions?


cheers!

[philagardener]

Welcome, @gardengoat ! Tell us a bit more about where are you growing and your interest in yacon.

You might try putting some of those shriveled tubers in damp sphagnum moss or potting soil to get them to rehydrate. A brief soak first might help as well, but I wouldn't leave them submerged for too long or they might run short of oxygen. Good luck!

[gardengoat]

Hello Phil,

Thanks for your reply. Will try that... will soak some in water and them pot them up. Fingers crossed.

We are living in Germany and it was our first time growing yacon. We discovered the plant while belonging to another gardening forum from the UK.

We absolutely love yacon! The storage part is somewhat tricky for us as we can encounter temperatures of below minus 15 degrees Celsius or even lower.

Will also be attempting to grow jicama from seed. Hopefully it pans out. Coz we love eating jicama too.

cheers!

[billw]

Is it the tubers or the crown that have shriveled? By now, you should be seeing some of the crown sprouting. A picture would make this much simpler.

[gardengoat]

Hey billw,

I broke the salvageable ´rhizomes/tubers´ off the main stem crown as it was starting to get mouldy. My mistake was to store them in damp compost over winter in the shed.

I soaked these tubers in water yesterday and I am so relieved to say that they have firmed up. (the power of osmosis I guess!) I think I will need to trim any unusable parts and look for the sprouting eye bits and start potting them up.