Ar3e these tropical crop or can they be also grown in the North. I live near the 43rd parallel in Zone 5 in Michigan and am always trying new crops.
Ar3e these tropical crop or can they be also grown in the North. I live near the 43rd parallel in Zone 5 in Michigan and am always trying new crops.
Hi Stephen, yacon's ideal range of temperature is 15 - 20 deg C, so won't grow unfortunately in Michigan unless in a greenhouse. It would want to be a tall one, they grow to over 6 foot when mature.
A similar crop you could grow though is Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus, or sunchoke). The taste is different, more nutty, less sweet and apple like than yacon, but it has all the functional food qualities of yacon, and like yacon, grows tall and isn't too hard to grow. Tall above ground stems are good ways to keep the organic matter cycling in your garden - lots for the compost or worm farm there. You would want to plant end of March to beginning of May. I'm in Australia though, so your planting times may be a little different than ours - I planted the tubers at the end of winter for a late winter harvest.