Growing sunchokes

The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) is also known by the names sunroot, wild sunflower or earth apple.
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Danoost
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We've been growing this earthy tasting, tuberous plant for years. It's easy to grow. Here are some things to know about sunchokes:

1) Tough plant and cold tolerant. It can easily withstand the coldest winters in our area. If you live in colder climates protect with thick mulch layer.
2) Tuberous root is the edible part. Harvest in October -- March. Stores well underground and harvest as needed.
3) You can plant a single chunk of root in the spring and it'll grow up to 4 meters tall by the fall.
4) It falls over in the wind so we grow it along a fence line and tie it up.
5) Loves to be mulched thickly with woodchips and compost. Tuber can push through 6" of mulch.
6) It can get away on you so I recommend harvesting the entire plant every year and replanting a single piece to keep it contained.
7) If you can buy it at a local market, plant it in your garden.
8) Plant sunchokes along weedy fence lines and you'll discover that it'll quickly shade out weeds.
tylerandsarah
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Wonderful.

Thanks for all this info.

So the sunchokes that I bought last week at Local Harvest - I can store and put them in the ground this spring and they will grow? Any specific storage instructions?

Thanks
Danoost
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Yes, they can be planted directly into the garden anytime. Mulch heavily.

Storage: Put in a container with wood mulch or soil and keep cool and moist.
Trixi Agrios
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I have sun chokes in my garden which i harvest every year but a few always seem ro come up again the next spring. I planted them mainly for the flowers but they’ve never flowered. They’ll grow 12’ tall but not a bud or bloom on them.
What am I doing wrong?
jack oostenbrink
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We grew them years ago on a very sunny south facing wall. They grew to about 6 feet and flowered reliably in September HAve you got them in a full sun location?
Trixi Agrios
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Yes, southern exposure against a tool shed. Warm enough to grow peaches in the same location. The sunchokes are very prolific but if they don’t bloom again this year i am going to deter them from growing next year. I don’t understand why they won’t flower, we used to grow them in a inner-city school garden, in very little soil and no irrigations and they flowered for three months.
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