Sunchokes from seed

General Discussions
41

Oh, those are a lovely pale pink color! What variety are they?

I’d say they’re pretty knobby; all the phenotypes I have grow into footballs, often with several small footballs sticking out of the big footballs. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I don’t see a lot of tiny knobs like that. Maybe a few on every fifth tuber or so. I wonder if that’s a typical level of knobbiness? If so, that would explain why people talk about difficulty cleaning them — that does look more difficult to clean!

Heh, I tried one sunchoke phenotype once that was a total pain in the neck. It grew a bunch of long, thick, ribbonlike roots that wrapped all around each other in a big clump near the base of the plant. Unwinding them from each other was annoying. I think it was a wild one that nobody had named — I’m not sure, though. In any case, I’m pretty sure I didn’t bother to replant it. All the others were far better.

I started out with Beaver Valley Purple, which continues to produce well for me every year, even when I can’t be bothered to water it, uh, more than once a month . . . :laughing: They flower in September and produce the most seeds.

After that, I bought ten sunchokes from Joseph Lofthouse. They’re all great! They flower in August and produce nearly as many seeds.

I got some tubers from Fruitwood Nursery to see what their selected variety is like. It has a really nice shape: the tubers grow into big, smooth, cross-like forms. No little knobs at all, just two or three huge ones that are easy to snap off and clean. And all the tubers are near the base of the plant, so it’s easy to harvest them all and not have stray little ones wander off. Really nice phenotype. Sadly, I haven’t seen that one flower yet, so it’s possible it’s infertile.

I’m also planning to try Stampede, Supernova, and Clearwater this year. So that’ll bring me up to, what, fifteen different genotypes? (It would’ve been sixteen if I had kept the wild type that was annoying to clean, but nah, didn’t need it.) I’m excited to see what kinds of tubers I can get from my own seeds.

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42

To me thinning the sunroots includes—

  • Tilling with a big tractor on either side of the rows.
  • Running a small tiller along the rows.
  • Zig-zagging the small tiller through the rows.
  • Pulling by hand.
  • Chopping with a hoe.
  • Giving up.
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43

Oops, sorry for such a late reply! I have absolutely no idea what kind of variety these sunchokes are but i was pretty pleased with the shape, as i have nothing to compare them to! So far cleaning wasnt a huge issue but then again i didnt have a giant harvest so i will see how my opinion changes next year.

Sounds like ya got a good collection going on! Ive seen stampede and beaver valley purple for sale online but i cant bring myself to pay $30-50 on a couple of tubers so im just gonna work with what i got for now. I’ll keep the beavery valley in mind though. Perhaps they would bear me lots of seeds as well, just like yours :smiley: I had my eye on one really pretty ruby coloured sunroot variety that was totally smooth. if i do eventually order more types think that is my next go to.

Im very intrigued to see what the tubers will be like from the seeds i ordered and planted outdoors!

Ribbon like wild roots, eh? I do not blame you at all for getting that nuisance outta the way! Good riddance.

Im excited for you as well and hope you are pleased with the tuber shapes you end up with from your seeds!

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44

“Giving up” :joy:

Noted!

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45

A couple thoughts as I read through this thread:

  1. Here’s a Canadian source for sunchokes that may be more affordable if you are interested.

    Grow A Gazillion Mix • Garden Faerie Botanicals

  2. If your yard is naturally boggy and wet and you want to grow a ground crop you might consider chufa or groundnuts. The website I sited above has some left in stock. I know she’s in BC so a little more “local” for you but here’s another Canadian source if she sells out. CHUFA NUT – The Superior Gardener

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46

Hey, thanks for your suggestions!

I love garden faerie botanicals and ive ordered quite a variety of seeds from her. Susan is very helpful and generous, with great customer service and i couldnt recommend her enough! It was actually her store where i found the ruby jerusalem artichoke i was interested in. But $22 for the chokes plus another $25 for shipping adds up! Totally absolutely worth it when i have the extra cash to spend but for now im glad i was able to find a couple $5 baggies of nameless variety sunchokes at the local garden centre. But yes, i love garden faery botanicals as well! Found her shop through etsy.

Ooh, ill have to check out the superior garden link, thanks! I do actually have ground nut (ordered from garden faery. Ha!) I planted them last summer in pots and was actually thinking the same thing in regards to planting them in my boggy area! Only one out of four sprouted but im hoping to see them come back this spring.

Cicada seeds and metchosin farms are a couple other sites i like. Ive ordered a wack load of interesting perennial seeds from cicada seeds, including potato onions of which i was on the hunt for a long! Michalina is so kind, understanding and friendly, with such an awesome selection! And i found local painted mountain corn along with true potato seeds through metchosin farms. Good stuff

I appreciate some local recommendations. Everyone is so helpful on here and it is nice to find new Canadian shops!

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47

That’s awesome, sounds like we shop in the same circles lol! Yeah totally, even seeds have gotten a lot more expensive recently and shipping has gone up as well.

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48

Oh, and the prices will just keep goin up! That’s why im all gung-ho about stocking up now then seed saving every crop i can, adding resilience along the way. Though, im pretty sure just about all of us are on that same wavelength, eh? :wink:

Have you grown chufa before? I was curious about it but ive aquired such a crazy variety of seeds that i need to balance out trying everything vs mastering key survival crops.

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49

I actually did a “no-buy” seed year this year. I utilized the GTS seed share and some swapping but that’s it. I’m making myself use up my existing seed collection. I usually really enjoy getting experimental seeds but I’m in the same boat as you I have to scale back this year and focus on production.

No I haven’t grown chufa. I’m really interested and I read about it a lot but I think my yard is too dry to grow it well. I would like to grow it though, nut trees take forever to grow and my kid loves nuts as snacks so it seems like a great alternative. Let me know how yours does!

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50

Ooh brilliant! Smart way to include diversity without going too over board. And a good way to focus on what seeds you already have! I plant on sorting through some of my old seeds and chuckin em into a corner somewhere, see what grows, then save seed from the survivors hahaha

I’ll let you know if i ever do decide on planting chufa! For now im pretty content with what i have. Super excited. Plus i have wild hazenut and black walnut trees growing everywhere near me and around town/forest. I totally understand picking certain crops for your kiddos though, i do the same with my little one!

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51

My sunchokes set loads of seed last summer. Assuming they wouldn’t be fertile, I scattered them all around. I’m interested to see if any come up – I might regret the scattering!

I’d love to try chufa, but I suspect my garden is just too dry in summer for them.

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52

Oh boy, I am both equally excited and nervous for you! If you remember, id love to see an update as to how that seed scattering went for you. Hope the results are what you’re after :grin:

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It will be interesting, for sure!

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