Crosne (Stachys affinis) First Harvest

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NDDTQ 8 October 2009 Crosne (Stachys affinis) First Harvest

Forty seed tubers were planted in the early Spring in a channel lined with an old pool tarp with a cross section of about one square foot, to make harvest easier and to contain the roots. The new tubers will grow until freeze-up in about a month. The tubers are good size now, but will probably get a little larger in another month of growing. When the main harvest is accomplished in about a month , the tubers will be pickled. I also ingest them raw as one would eat radishes and the texture is similar to a new raw potato.

Some tubers will be left in the ground to over-winter and the tubers will be used for seed in 2010. One plant produced about one pound of tubers.