Usually Jerusalem artichoke is a perennial plant ( and an invasive one too), meaning you plant it once and it will grow by itself every year.
The best results thou ( size and quality) are shown if you replant the bulbs every year. It has a good root system, that goes even at 80 cm in the soil, so he doesn’t suffer the lack of water in the hotter days.
It’s a late bloomer in colder areas, so even thou very pretty, the flowers won’t produce seeds ( lack of insects to pollinate them), the only way to reproduce them is by planting bulbs. In hotter areas, where the flowers bloom earlier, the flowers will produce seeds.
It’s not a pretentious plant, extreme weather doesn’t disturb it very much ( it can go until -6°C and in summer can withstand high heat because of the deep root system). The tubers can stay in the soil over winter, not beeing affected even by negative temperatures like -40 °C.
Soil : it grows on all types of soil, but the best is sandy-clayish soil, well drained, with a pH between 6- 7.5, with loads of sun exposure.
When to plant them and how : the planting system is very similar with that of potatoes, except the fact that you can start your crop in autumn too, not just in spring, with a distance of 70cm between rows ( so all the plants have enough sunlight) and 30 cm between plants on a row, 12-15 cm deep( if you plant them very shallow, the plants will grow, but at the first big wind they are gonna fall like in the picture ).
Exactly like it is done with potatoes, when you eliminate the weeds, you have to pull the soil over the stock of the plant.
Jerusalem artichoke is a very resistant plant to viruses and diseases, but the worst enemy are the mice . They really have a sweet tooth for these bulbs, and can make great damages if you decide to leave them in the soil overwinter.
When to harvest them : after the first hour, when the leaves start to fall. The longer you leave them in the soil, the sweeter will be. Pay attention where you store them. Its very easy for the bulbs to dehydrate, so best to keep them in sand, in a cold place, humid but not to humid 🙂 ( so is best for you to just leave them in the soil until you eat them).
Garden and Orchard 