Experienced Horseradish growers....

[playground]

Hi there,

I'm pretty focused on horseradish at the  moment.
I've fallen in love with the spiciness of them and i'm
eating them with lots of my meals right now.

So my recent enthusiasm for horseradish has prompted me
to start making plans for growing them.  I had originally
thought i might start them off in the garden, but my researches
so far makes me think this isn't a good idea...  they're invasive
and almost impossible to remove from the garden.

So ...  and this is the point of this thread ...
What's the very best way of growing horseradish ?
Do people normally resort to  growing them in big tubs or buckets ?

The roots can go down literally 2 or 3 feet down.
And of-course, the root _is_ the harvest.
So  what kind of container would be best for growing horseradish ?
A 12" or 15" diameter plastic pipe ? 
Presumably a sewage or water pipe.
Or something like a slender kitchen bin...
or even a plastic dustbin ?

How are you growing yours ?
How do you wish you were growing yours ?
What would you do differently, if you were going to start again ?

Thanks to anyone that takes the time to reply

playground :-)

[playground]

[pumkinlover]

I have grown some in a pot but not deep enough to do well. It has however survived so at least if you try in something deeper it stands a chance. I am inspired by your post to try it in a bin that is free now.

[squeezyjohn]

Horseradish, as I'm sure you know, is a real weed and once in place is very hard to get rid of!  I planted some on my allotment and it quickly made a largish patch of dense large leaves.  However - on digging it up I was surprised and disappointed that the roots were only about 1cm wide and instead of a nice long straight bit of horseradish root like you get in a shop, I had a kind of tangle of roots that were too thin to peel and be left with anything!  By waiting for several years I managed to get roots that were much wider and fleshy, but again only at the top part and they soon tailed off in to wispy little root hairs.

This year I placed an open-bottomed dustbin a few feet away from the horseradish and filled it with compost in order to grow carrots away from the rabbits and root-flies ... and blow me if the horseradish didn't send a shoot that came all the way through this dustbin of compost (about 3 foot) and ended up sprouting amongst the carrots.  I pulled it out as I didn't want the huge leaves to shade out the carrot crop ... however it was a long, slender and perfectly straight root that emerged.  If left to grow for another season or so then it would have made a perfect horseradish root for harvesting.

So my advice - plant a clump somewhere in a corner that nothing else will grow in - maybe a boundary with a hedge or footpath.  Allow the clump to establish - and then start placing things over the top (like a dustbin with the bottom cut off) that are filled with soil or compost.  Do this in early spring before the leaves grow ... and then just leave it for several years.  The horseradish will continue to grow in the bins and around it at ground level ... you may have to dig the edge up to stop it spreading further in to your other beds.  But it should give you nice easily harvestable long thick horseradish roots.  If the compost is loose enough you should be able to get your hand right to the bottom to cut it off and it will re-grow there.

Just a thought ... I haven't actually seen this experiment through yet!  Whatever you do - don't plant it in a bed you may wish to use for something else - it will be there forever!

[sparrow]

If you're anywhere near South London it grows wild near the river in huge clumps.

I take my mattock out with me and lever up a root or two when I want some.

[playground]

I've been looking around the internet for information about
weird and wonderful horseradish (HR) varieties.

I stumbled into quite a lot of interesting information about HR.
But not really the information i was looking for.

What was i looking for ?
I wanted to find out if there was a dwarf HR cultivar that would
grow comfortably and easily in a regular (deep) pot.
(And that might produce roots of a similar size and shape
carrots or parsnips)

The rationale is... maybe there's no need to plant HR in huge
containers that accommodate roots of 2 or 3 feet in length.
If there's a dwarf variety, maybe they can be grown conveniently
in (larger) regular pots.    But no luck... alas...

I only managed to find this on HR varieties:
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/horseradish-varieties-25804.html
(but...It's a start)

I thought about using a kitchen "bullet" (circular) swing bin
as a container for a single HR plant. 
The ones i looked at are 50 Litres
(and 80cm high.. 100cm would have been better).
On ebay they're £12 or more. 
On the wilko website they're only £5.
On amazon they are £10.

The advantage with using these is that, if you use a heavy duty
plastic dustbin liner inside the swing bin, add compost and
plant directly into the dustbin liner... then harvesting your HR
wont require pneumatic equipment from the local construction site.
Instead, you can simply tip over the bin and open out the dustbin liner.
(No need to dig down 3 feet through root-knitted soil)
If you cut a slit down one side of the plastic dustbin liner, it will
help you harvest your roots,  by giving you easier access to the HR within,
It will also allow excess water to escape from the soil.

But i keep thinking:  A little more thought and patience,
and maybe i'll get these containers for nothing, ...or next to nothing.
So i'm waiting... and thinking about it.

The old style black dustbins were about 3ft tall
and had a storage capacity of around 110 litres. They would be
appropriate for the task, ... if a little wider than is strictly necessary.
(Maybe two plants per dustbin)
But...I have no idea where to buy these things from. 
Perhaps time will tell.

I found these words hiding way in a speciality crop growing publication
on the web: 
Specialty Crop Profile: Horseradish
source:  https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/438/438-104/438-104.html

Lifting and Suckering

For market, large, straight primary roots with low "crown" separation (or low head shoot numbers) are the best quality
and bring the highest prices (USDA. grades Fancy and #1). To obtain a large percentage of these roots,
growers often practice "lifting and suckering" to enhance the size and development of the set.
Once the sets are covered and the plants begin to grow, the head end or "crown" will grow one to five shoots.
Most roots will form under the crown and at the tail or "distal" end of the set; few secondary roots will form in the middle of the set.

Root growth location can be influenced by "lifting."
After the shoots and new roots have begun to grow, early in the season the crown end is lifted an inch or two with a short jerk.
This can be done by grasping the top growth by hand and pulling gently, but often a metal rod, which is bent at the end into a U-shape,
is used to do the job. It is inserted in the soil to hook the set under the crown and then lifted.
Lifting breaks early roots forming below the crown (Figure 9a), forcing more rooting at the distal end, and ultimately, a larger main root.
Also at this time the multiple shoots forming the crown are hand-thinned or "suckered" to one or two (Figure 9b).
This will enhance the smoothness of the crown and its appearance, a top grade attribute.
Lifting and suckering is not done for wild-root and field-run production and sets are allowed to grow randomly, resulting in less primary root size.
For some varieties under ideal conditions, large, primary root size is easily obtained, and lifting and suckering are not required.

Quite interesting, i thought.

Finally, i watched a surprisingly interesting documentary about Wasabi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JfIo7dVnbQ
Wasabi is very delicate and very difficult to grow (outside of japan)
so attempting to grow it in the UK is likely to drain your enthusiasm.

I loved the idea at the end about developing fire-alarms for the deaf.
.. They spray wasabi aerosols into the air.  Apparently, It wakes everyone up.
(I presume a similar effect could be obtained with horseradish)

playground

[galina]

If you're anywhere near South London it grows wild near the river in huge clumps.

I take my mattock out with me and lever up a root or two when I want some.

Same applies locally.  There is so much of it, it is hardly necessary growing yourself.  I dug my start by the side of the road - well away from traffic. 

[playground]

If you're anywhere near South London it grows wild near the river in huge clumps.

I take my mattock out with me and lever up a root or two when I want some.

Same applies locally.  There is so much of it, it is hardly necessary growing yourself.  I dug my start by the side of the road - well away from traffic. 

Thanks sparrow, thanks galina,...

It would certainly reduce the effort, expense and 'attention' required
to grow it in the wild.    Actually, it's a really good idea.

I've never grown HR,  so i'm not 'intimately' familiar with it.
HR leaves look exactly like doc leaves to me.
I might be walking passed tons of HR roots and simply not realise it.

Shame there's no Horseradish Guerilla Growers Society for me to join.
(or perhaps there is ...  maybe it's secret)

[galina]

I've never grown HR,  so i'm not 'intimately' familiar with it.
HR leaves look exactly like doc leaves to me.
I might be walking passed tons of HR roots and simply not realise it.

When you come across a likely clump, crush a rib in the centre of the leaf, the smell is unmissable.  Unless you have no sense of smell at all, you won't mistake it for dock.  And when you dig it out, you won't get a clean root all the way either unless you are somewhere with very light soil.  The broken root will grow just fine, but again - you can't mistake the smell and the effect on your sinuses when you handle a broken root.   

[playground]

I've never grown HR,  so i'm not 'intimately' familiar with it.
HR leaves look exactly like doc leaves to me.
I might be walking passed tons of HR roots and simply not realise it.

When you come across a likely clump, crush a rib in the centre of the leaf, the smell is unmissable.  Unless you have no sense of smell at all, you won't mistake it for dock.  And when you dig it out, you won't get a clean root all the way either unless you are somewhere with very light soil.  The broken root will grow just fine, but again - you can't mistake the smell and the effect on your sinuses when you handle a broken root.   

We live and learn ..... more in the company of some, than in others.
Thanks Galina :)

[plotstoeat]

that's a good idea; think I will plant some in the field next to my garden. I have some that I have just kept alive at my plot. Shouldn't trouble the animals.

[johhnyco15]

i grow it in a shady corner where not much else will grow i dig some out each xmas for sauce and next year its always back it grows well in our sandy soil on the sunshine coast however i only let it grow to around 2ft square then i dig out the extra again quite easy in our light soil wouldnt want to do it on clay think thtwould be very hard work indeed

[playground]

that's a good idea; think I will plant some in the field next to my garden. I have some that I have just kept alive at my plot. Shouldn't trouble the animals.

Hi plotstoeat,

I'd just like to offer you  this tidbit of information from my recent
reading forays about horseradish.

Ironically, horseradish is poisonous to horses.  People (perhaps)
naturally assume that horseradishes are fed to horses or that horses
like eat horseradish (the way horses like peppermint or melon rind, for example).

However, "Horseradish" was named to mean "powerful  or strong" + "root".
Radish is from the latin for root.  (perhaps carrots should be called radishes). 
Horse was (in the middle ages) taken figuratively to mean something
powerful and strong.   I  guess if we were to rename them today with
the same intent, we'd call them  Bull-roots or Ox-roots.

So ....  what kind of animals are in your next door field ?

I don't know whether horseradish is poisonous to sheep, cows and pigs, or not.

[plotstoeat]

that's a good idea; think I will plant some in the field next to my garden. I have some that I have just kept alive at my plot. Shouldn't trouble the animals.

Hi plotstoeat,

I'd just like to offer you  this tidbit of information from my recent
reading forays about horseradish.

Ironically, horseradish is poisonous to horses.  People (perhaps)
naturally assume that horseradishes are fed to horses or that horses
like eat horseradish (the way horses like peppermint or melon rind, for example).

However, "Horseradish" was named to mean "powerful  or strong" + "root".
Radish is from the latin for root.  (perhaps carrots should be called radishes). 
Horse was (in the middle ages) taken figuratively to mean something
powerful and strong.   I  guess if we were to rename them today with
the same intent, we'd call them  Bull-roots or Ox-roots.

So ....  what kind of animals are in your next door field ?

I don't know whether horseradish is poisonous to sheep, cows and pigs, or not.

Thanks Playground. There are sometimes horses in the field so better think again.

[Vinlander]

It's an old joke - but the best place to grow horseradish is on someone else's land.

Nowadays guerilla gardening is trendy, but it's best for fruit (the plant protects its young) rather than roots that can concentrate contamination in waste ground.

But putting some greenery back into semi-legal new green-belt housing areas is poetic justice, and as long as electric cars keep coming even verges should be safe for roots - hopefully evermore.

Cheers.

[playground]

Horseradish, as I'm sure you know, is a real weed and once in place is very hard to get rid of!  I planted some on my allotment and it quickly made a largish patch of dense large leaves.  However - on digging it up I was surprised and disappointed that the roots were only about 1cm wide and instead of a nice long straight bit of horseradish root like you get in a shop, I had a kind of tangle of roots that were too thin to peel and be left with anything!  By waiting for several years I managed to get roots that were much wider and fleshy, but again only at the top part and they soon tailed off in to wispy little root hairs.

Hi Squeezyjohn,

'Beet Horseradish' is a potential solution to the problem of slender horseradish roots
(that are too thin to peel).   What's Beet Horseradish ?  It's basically a mix of
Horseradish and Beetroot.  I've not tried it yet, but i'm told the combination tastes
nicer than Beetroot alone or Horseradish alone.... (which naturally makes me want to try it).
There's a tradition for eating 'Beet Horseradish' in central europe: Poland, Ukraine,
Czech Republic etc.
 
The skin of the Horseradish root is just as spicey as the 'meat' of the root. 
I'm told that the only 'good' reason for peeling the horseradish is that the resulting
HR paste is pure white if the roots have been peeled.  Otherwise, the paste will can
take on an off-white, or grey colour due to the discolouration of the skin. 

Vitamins and minerals concentrate in the skins of most vegetables and this
includes horseradish.     My suggestion is... don't peel them.  Clean them
thoroughly and then grind them with the skin/peel still on. 
Afterwards, you can add a bit of beetroot to give your HR paste a little natural
beetroot sweetness and beetroot colour.

So... my suggestion might:
- give you a much bigger horseradish harvest
- give you more vitamins and minerals
- give you horseradish that tastes better due to the addition of beetroot

It's just a thought :-)

[ACE]

I don't think 'beet horseradish' is a plant. There is a relish called beet horseradish which is realy nice with cheese and meat or use as a dip. I came across it years ago through some Russian Jews, they call it Chrain,   sounds  like kurain in one syllable. I make it every year, keeps well and you use more or less horseradish according to your taste. I grow my horseradish in the ground with bottomless Morrison flower buckets gradually built up over the season then knock them down for harvesting. Leave the bit of root in the ground as a starter for next year. I will be doing this very soon to use up the beets before they get woody and also the HR will be dying back as well.

[johhnyco15]

I don't think 'beet horseradish' is a plant. There is a relish called beet horseradish which is realy nice with cheese and meat or use as a dip. I came across it years ago through some Russian Jews, they call it Chrain,   sounds  like kurain in one syllable. I make it every year, keeps well and you use more or less horseradish according to your taste. I grow my horseradish in the ground with bottomless Morrison flower buckets gradually built up over the season then knock them down for harvesting. Leave the bit of root in the ground as a starter for next year. I will be doing this very soon to use up the beets before they get woody and also the HR will be dying back as well.

indeed ace beetroot and horseradish its fantastic  growing up in east london we had jewish neighbours on both sides there was always hot bagles salmon cream cheese and the said sauce left on our doorstep every sunday morning really nice people sadly all passed on but happy memories of growing up

[George the Pigman]

I planted a small clump 20 years ago on my plot and despite exhaustive removal every year it still comes up.

[playground]

I planted a small clump 20 years ago on my plot and despite exhaustive removal every year it still comes up.

Hi George,

If you got one or two pigs into your plot, do you think
they could sniff them out and dig them up ?