Andean Root Vegetables 2018

[billw]

I made some mauka crosses in 2015 and they are now starting to flower. This is the first one that I am confident actually represents a successful cross, as it was blanco x rojo. Blanco has white flowers and these are pink, so it is definitely a cross. The plants have not performed much differently than the parents, so I don't expect anything amazing from it, but it is cool to see that the cross worked.

[steev]

Yes, the cross working, so germane to the season.

[billw]

This is the biggest arracacha root I have ever gotten. The normal expectation would be that one plant produces a bunch of these, but I'm pretty happy with it.

[steev]

Can you break off and plant some of those crowns, or is it not worth it?

[billw]

Yep, that's how you propagate it. In fact, that was the main objective today. The root harvest was just a bonus.

[steev]

Sweet.

[billw]

Well, now I have seen an arracacha seedling. They look pretty much like what you would expect from a member of Apiaceae.

They are coming up in various colors from pale green to dark green to red/green, so that's encouraging. There should be some diversity to work with.

[rowan]

I wanted to wait at least another two weeks to harvest my oca as the plants had not died down yet, but substantial rodent damage meant that I had to harvest them early. I didn't get a lot due to a heat wave in January with record temperatures up to 47 C, but I was surprised that I only lost a couple of varieties. One even survived the heat without any protection (unfortunately it is not a great producer).

I learned that fertilising them later than I normally do creates a substantial increase in tuber size so I am happy about that. I usually fertilise them at planting (October) and then if I think they need it at Christmas, but this year I delayed that one till the temperatures started to cool down in late March.

[philagardener]

rowan , despite all those challenges those tubers look great! After 47C, its a worry they might have been precooked!

[billw]

Those look great. I think you are making some progress getting them adapted to your climate. Even the poor producer sounds like a good sources of valuable genes. Do they ever flower for you?

[rowan]

philagardener : The heat of summer is well before the tubers start developing, and the plants are kept under shadecloth until the weather cools down. The plants don't mind the heat as long as they are shaded.

billw : I will always get one or two, but it is only about once in every three years that enough varieties flower at once to think about pollinating them. I just can't seem to figure out the circumstances that make them flower, it is all over the place as far as timing and weather is concerned. Those pics only show a couple but most of them have good size tubers and are good producers at up to a kilo of tubers per plant, and two produce over a kilo.
I have three now that are relatively heat tolerant but this was an exceptional year so only one of those survived the higher than normal heat (though I had some plants of the others under shade so I still have them for next year).

[Gianna]

Any yacon people still around?

As a first time grower,  I was able to get some yacon starts last winter (Nov/Dec) and put them in pots. They were tissue culture starts, variety unknown, and were in sorry shape when I got them. I put them in pots and managed to salvage 16 out of 20. Eventually 10 got transferred into 15 gallon pots where they are flourishing. 6 into the soil where 4 survived (drought or gopher?)

Many of the ones in the large pots began to bloom around the solstice, though that was probably coincidence. I couldn't wait to taste yacon any longer so unpotted two of them. There were some good storage roots, but waiting longer would have been better. And was I pleasantly surprised when I tasted my first yacon. It was better than I could have imagined. And now I want more but will try to wait at least another month.

I'm now attempting to propagate them, and there are now many places around the yard where I could plant some. I've divided the crowns of the two harvested plants, and have also make a lot of cuttings from the tops. Also, 4 air-layers just to see what happens.

I'm in Southern California and want to grow and harvest these all year. We've had one light frost in the past 30 years.

I have no idea what variety I have, but if forced, I'd guess Bekya, or perhaps early white. I would like to grow more than one variety and found one on Amazon that is simply called 'purple yacon'. Does anyone have a clue what variety that might be?

[billw]

The TC variety appears to be Early White based on photos that I have seen of the flower. I have been told that the purple yacon that circulates on eBay and Amazon is the same variety, just with a picture of Morado yacon used to advertise it. Of course, it could be a different seller this time.

Seven months is about the minimum time to a full yield.

[Gianna]

Thanks for replying.

Hirt's is the current seller of the 'purple' yacon on ebay, Amazon, and even Walmart. I was a bit suspicious that they were not saying which variety it is - it's something they should know IMO, esp if it is TC... And even though they could ship immediately, I decided to not order yet.

I looked at the leaves of the yacon I currently have, and based on leaf profiles, they do look more like Early White than Bekya.

From your website, I read this:

Dodecaploid varieties have higher fructooligosaccharide content (Fernandez 2013) and therefore may taste sweeter than octoploid varieties.

I am most interested in the inulin/FOS aspects of yacon and would like to know if any of the varieties that you sell are dodecaploids.

Thanks.

[billw]

Hirt's is a totally shady outfit. I have had to repeatedly go after them for stealing my images and using them to try to sell varieties that aren't the same. I just looked at their Amazon product and they are no longer stealing my images, but the images that they are using are just lifted from Google. Who knows if what you get will match at all?

I think that the variety Late Red is dodecaploid, but I have had no luck counting yacon chromosomes - there are way too many jammed together and overlapping.