Oca and ulluco

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'm going to have a couple of each from Jeannine's parcel; I don't have ulluco, most of my oca was scoffed by a rabbit, and I want as many varieties as possible anyway for breeding. What's the best way of getting them through to next season, if I'm planting now?

[Robert_Brenchley]

[goodlife]

Oh..Robert..I'm new to this too..but already I have notice few differences with growing methods...Jayb sent me some ulloco earlier on and as there was plenty I gave couple for my neighbour to try..
now he put his into large containers to grow from start to finish..
I put mine into small pots and re-potted to larger as required..

And now mine are (well the top growth is) twice as large as his.. ;D
So if it is anything to go by it may well be better option to catch up with a season.
I got my Oca last week..and did same with those..potted up into 6" pots(shallow type)..and first leaves have just popped up...and my plan is to re-plant those into larger containers as soon as they are able to 'hold the root ball'
I'm doing it this way as many ornamentals can be forced this way to flower a bit earlier..root restriction does it..but it must not get too far .. ;)..

[lottie lou]

I grew my oca last year in buckets - approx 3 per flower bucket type or 5 to a builders bucket. manure in bottom, some soil/compost and earthed them up as they grew.  Moved them into greenhouse in late autumn and harvested at Xmas.  Was happy with harvest.  Am doing same to recently purchased ulluco this year.

[Jayb]

I think they will, with the current weather, grow very quickly, protect them from early autumn frost to give them as long a season as possible and they should do well. I've got some Ulluco shoots in water that I accidently knocked off and they root suprisingly quickly, I think these will crop later on.

[aj]

The trick with Oca is to wait until the frosts die back. Then wait another 4-6 weeks before even thinking of harvesting. They double in size in that last 3-6 weeks. I'd dig slug pellets in though as the main issue is slug damage, but for breeding they will still grow next year with a little slug damage on them.