How to properly grow Jerusalem artichoke to get a rich harvest?

Several decades ago, few people heard about this culture, but now the cultivation of Jerusalem artichoke is of interest to many gardeners. A hardy, unpretentious plant gives rich yields of useful and nutritious tubers, for which it was called the earthen pear, and a huge amount of green mass for compost and livestock feed. In a small dacha, where every piece of land counts, this beautiful giant can serve as an ornamental crop or a green hedge in the summer, and provide the whole family with vegetable supplies in the fall. Simple care allows you to grow Jerusalem artichoke and people who are contraindicated for prolonged physical activity.

Planting Jerusalem artichoke

Jerusalem artichoke is unpretentious, it will grow, even if you just bury the rhizomes in unprepared soil and forget about your planting and caring for them. Only the harvest will be proportionate to your zeal.

If you want to collect a large volume of large tubers from a small plantation in the country, start preparing the soil in the fall.

1. Dig up the ground with a full bayonet of the shovel.
2. If the soil is too wet, drain it.
3. Remove the roots of the weeds.
4. Add manure or compost to the soil. If the soil is too heavy, add sand.

During the winter, manure will be processed, the earth will become loose and fertile. In the spring, wait until the soil warms up to + 18⁰, and you can start planting. Dig up and loosen the beds again, make holes 15 cm deep. Keep in mind that the stems will stretch to a height of more than 2 m and if you plant the plants too often, real jungles will grow in the garden, which will be simply impossible to care for. Make gaps between the rows at least 70 cm, then you can freely approach any bush. Plant the plants about half a meter apart so that they can develop well.

It is known that small parents rarely give birth to large children, the same thing happens in the plant world. Throw small, unsuitable roots into the ground - despite good care, you will harvest the same crop. If you want to save money, it is better to cut the tubers into several pieces so that each piece has a good bud. Sprinkle the slices with crushed coal and plant the rhizomes in the ground. After planting, water the soil well, but it is too early to mulch it: without light, many sprouts will not be able to break through to the surface and will die.

When to plant if there is no time in spring?

Planting Jerusalem artichoke will not take much time, but in the spring in the country every minute is worth its weight in gold. A huge number of seeds and seedlings require urgent attention, perennial crops need care, and there are not enough hands for everything. Try an autumn planting, you may like this option. There is no need to rush anywhere, you can pay maximum attention to the future plantation.

Another disadvantage of spring planting: mice that are hungry after wintering will pounce on juicy tubers. If rhizomes are planted just before the frost, they will begin to sprout roots and shoots at the first sign of heat. When the rodents begin to dig new passages in the thawed ground, the plant will have time to take root and release shoots. Do not be afraid that the planting material will freeze, under the snow the tubers remain viable in severe frosts.

No matter how carefully you harvest the tubers in the fall, still something will remain in the ground. Any small pea will grow over time, occupy more and more area in the country. It is very difficult to cope with this process, but after a few years you will get rid of weeds, and Jerusalem artichoke thickets will grow in their place.Everything would be fine, but a plant that has become wild, forgot about leaving, will give very few small tubers, you will have to forget about a rich harvest. In order not to litter the entire garden, dig a half-meter trench around the earthen pear plantation. Insert sheets of old slate or other non-rotting material into the groove and fill the trenches. Now the roots will not go beyond the allotted territory.

Advice

In a fenced-off area after harvest, scatter unwanted tubers and release the pigs. In search of food, they will dig through the entire earth and find the remaining rhizomes.

Giant plant care

Jerusalem artichoke does not tolerate the lack of air in the soil. Until shoots appear, the soil must be carefully loosened after each rain or watering. No matter how carefully you collect the roots during the autumn digging, weeds will still appear. Destroy them immediately, because the green part produces food for the rhizomes, and they begin to develop at a tremendous rate. When Jerusalem artichoke shoots reach a height of 10 cm, cover the surface of the earth with a five-centimeter layer of compost or sawdust, and the need for loosening and weeding will disappear, plantation care will become much easier.

Plants need abundant watering. If there is not enough moisture, balls no larger than a small nut, densely covered with root processes, will appear on your table. As soon as the soil becomes dry at a depth of 10 cm, you need to supply the plants with moisture. Water abundantly: at least a bucket of water for each bush.

In the spring, you need to feed Jerusalem artichoke with nitrogen fertilizers so that the aboveground part develops actively. Top dressing should be done at least once a month. From the middle of summer, you need to switch to preparations with a predominance of phosphorus and potassium.

When the height of the stems approaches half a meter, they need to be piled up so that additional roots and tubers develop in the ground. Plants can fall under the weight of green matter or in strong winds. Tie them to sturdy, tall stakes, or purchase shrub accessories. In the second half of the summer, it will be useful to re-huddle the rows. If Jerusalem artichoke does not play a decorative role, but is grown only for tubers, cut off the buds that appear so that all efforts go to the development of tubers.

Harvesting and storage of crops

The tubers are ready for harvesting 4 months after sprouting. In August, stop feeding Jerusalem artichoke, and in 2 weeks you need to cut off the stems so that they rise 30 cm above the ground. Be sure to choose all parts of the rhizomes, do not leave even the smallest nodule. The plant is very tenacious, from a small shoot a dense growth can go, which is more difficult to control than weeds. You can only dig out tubers in a thick skin, then they will be suitable for storage. Eat unripe rhizomes immediately, and put the ones suitable for storage in the basement along with the potatoes. Pre-rhizomes must be thoroughly rinsed, removed damaged specimens and dried well in a place protected from the sun.

Tubers winter well in the country under the snow, but only if the air temperature does not drop below -40⁰. You can leave some of the crops in the ground for spring consumption, just don't be late - you need to dig them up until the buds begin to wake up. In areas of the far north, the rhizomes may not have time to mature for winter storage, and in the ground they will not withstand the fierce cold. If you want juicy fresh nodules on your table in spring, grow a few bushes in a greenhouse beyond the Arctic Circle and leave the underground part in the ground until spring. Care is the same as in the open field, only you will have to water more often.

Tubers in the winter in the country can be stored in a greenhouse covered with polycarbonate. Put them in a plastic container covered with a lid, bury them in the ground, and cover them with old rugs or blankets on top. Just do not bury the rhizomes directly into the ground, if you do not want the mice of all the surrounding dachas to gather for a feast.In winter, you do not have to dig a snowdrift in search of a crop buried in the garden bed, and at home, frozen tubers will quickly thaw in cold water.

Don't forget about another type of crop - green mass. Once the stems are 120 cm high, you can cut them in half. Such procedures can be performed up to 4 per season. You will have excellent feed for livestock and raw materials for compost in the country. Don't worry about the tubers: if the plant is well cared for, they won't get smaller.

So, Jerusalem artichoke is a real green pharmacy, it supplies healthy people with vitamins and microelements, helps to lose weight. It is useful for diseases associated with impaired salt metabolism: gout, urolithiasis, salt deposition. The components found in the tubers help to eliminate toxic substances, are useful for anemia. Inulin lowers blood sugar levels, improves the condition of diabetics.

Growing Jerusalem artichoke on the site is not a laborious task at all, it is more difficult to get rid of thickets. It gives good yields in one place for at least 5 years, no special care for the plants is required. Feed the bushes in time, water them in dry weather, and they will not ask for anything more from you. Get this wonderful plant in the country, and your diet will become even tastier and more varied.