Jerusalem artichoke - perennial plant, very similar to the well-known potato. It survives well in our climatic conditions, is not picky about care, gives a great harvest. Jerusalem artichoke is widely known in cooking and medicine for its beneficial, healing properties. In this article, you will learn the benefits of a plant, how Jerusalem artichokes reproduce, as well as the basic rules for planting and caring for Jerusalem artichokes.
Jerusalem artichoke: description
The plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers looks like potatoes, and the stems - on sunflower. The people of Jerusalem artichoke is also called an earthen pear due to its sweetish taste and juicy fruits. North America is considered the birthplace of culture.
The plant in height can reach four meters. It is very pleasant to watch the topinambur bloom. Its flowers are very similar to sunflower heads, but they are much smaller in size. Flowers have a pleasant smell. The root system is powerful and is represented by edible tubers. Fruits are oval in shape, may have brown, yellow, white, purple color. The mass of one tuber varies from 20 to 300 g.
The plant is unpretentious, it is not demanding to the soil (it takes root even on infertile soils), it gives a good harvest. Another nice feature of the culture is that it is very resistant to diseases and pests. Therefore, the breeding of Jerusalem artichoke does not require much money and time. On the other hand, the leaves and fruits of the plant have many useful properties, so they are widely used in medicine.
The fruits of the plant are considered dietary, as they do not contain fats and fatty acids. The caloric value of 100 g of the product is only 73 kcal. It contains no gram of cholesterol. The nutritional value of the product is potassium, carbohydrates, sodium, dietary fiber and sugar (only 10 g per 100 g of fruit). Topinambur also contains inulin. Due to this composition, the fruits of the culture are recommended for use by diabetics, people who need a diet.
Plus, the plant has a wide vitamin complex:
- vitamin A;
- vitamin D;
- vitamin C;
- vitamins B6 and B12;
- calcium;
- iron;
- magnesium.
Due to this composition, Jerusalem artichoke is used in traditional medicine to lower blood sugar in diabetes, normalize blood pressure in hypertensive patients, cleanse the liver, and normalize the metabolic process. The leaves of Jerusalem artichoke are very effective for removing salts from the body, their extract is also used in the manufacture of anti-aging remedies.
Did you know? Jerusalem artichoke became known long before the advent of potatoes. He began to grow and eat more Indian tribes. The name of the culture comes from the name of the tribe "tupinambos". With the advent of potatoes, interest in the plant has dropped significantly. Today it can often be found in parks as an ornamental plant.
How to plant topinambur: the choice of soil and location
Jerusalem artichoke is great for growing in the country. The plant can develop on loamy, sandy, clay soils. Does not require special care, can survive during the drought, as well as in the absence of any supervision. However, if you want to get a rich harvest, you must follow the basic rules of planting and caring for the crop. Below we consider how to grow Jerusalem artichoke in the country, so that the plant will delight you with large, tasty tubers.
How to get a rich harvest of Jerusalem artichoke: the choice of a place to plant
To the tubers of the plants are well formed, a place for planting Jerusalem artichoke should choose the lighted. You can also pick up a plot with a little shading. Do not place the plant near low-growing crops. When the stalks of Jerusalem artichoke grow (and they can reach four meters), low plants will be in the shade.
Important! It is not recommended to plant the plant in direct sunlight. It threatens the fruits to be small and not sweet.
According to the conditions of crop rotation, it is not recommended to plant a Jerusalem artichoke in the place where strawberries were recently grown, and vice versa. Best of all, the plant gets along with neighbors such as corn, potatoes, raspberries, currants. The best predecessors of the plant are potatoes, cucumbers, cabbage. It is necessary to take into account the factor that Jerusalem artichoke perfectly saturates the soil with useful substances, removes salts from it. Therefore, to restore the fertile properties of the soil, the Jerusalem artichoke is often planted in places where sunflower and other crops that are heavy for the earth are grown. However, in these conditions, do not expect a rich harvest.
Is topinambur demanding on soil?
Jerusalem artichoke is not demanding on the soil. It can grow on any kind of soil, even infertile. However, if you want to get a rich harvest, you should focus on the preferences of this crop. Best of all for planting tubers suitable loamy, loose soil. For cultivation on a large scale should choose fertile soil. Do not plan to plant on heavy soils and salt marshes.
Before planting the soil must be prepared. If planting is planned in the spring, in the fall the earth is dug up to the depth in a bayonet of a shovel and add some compost to it. During the digging up of the breast of the earth do not break, it is best done in the spring. During the autumn planting, the soil is dug up three weeks before the planting process.
Did you know? If you want to achieve maximum yield, before planting, mix the soil with phosphate-potassium fertilizers (dry droppings, bone meal). Everyone forgotten when digging a tuber will sprout the next year. To limit the area of growth of the culture of the plant is planted in containers.
Reproduction of Jerusalem artichoke: how to plant tubers of earthen pear
You are probably interested in what breeds Jerusalem artichoke. The answer to this question is very simple. Jerusalem artichokes are grown by vegetative propagation - tubers, like our usual potatoes. For planting, healthy tubers are selected (with no signs of rot and external damage) of medium size (up to 40 g). Planting is usually done in spring, at the end of April. However, planting can be done in the autumn period (at the end of October - beginning of November), since the plant is frost resistant. Harvest you get in the coming year.
In order for the tubers to be well formed, it is necessary to adhere to the distance from 60 to 80 cm between the beds, and from 30 to 40 cm in the beds between the holes. and pour the resulting mixture of tubers.
Important! If a large-scale planting of Jerusalem artichoke is planned, it is best to dig not pits, but trenches up to 12 cm deep. Tubers in it should be placed 40 cm apart. For the formation of trenches, you can use ralo.
From planting tubers to sprouting a month passes, and harvesting takes place in five to six months.
How to take care of Jerusalem artichoke
If the challenge is to get a rich harvest and high-quality tubers, do not rely only on the fact that the plant does not require special care and can survive in the "Spartan" conditions. Requirements for the proper care of the culture is not a lot. However, their observance will please you with extraordinary fertility and excellent fruit taste. In addition, proper care will protect the Jerusalem artichoke from diseases and pests.
Features watering earthen pear
Jerusalem artichoke is not demanding of moisture and resistant to droughts. Watering the earthen pear, which is planted in open ground, should only be in cases where there is no rain for a long time. If the tubers are planted in containers, moderate watering is carried out once a week and a half. In no case should we flood the soil. It is best to water in the morning or in the evening. The most favorable water temperature is 15 ° C.
Important! Watering topinambur should not be done if the average daily air temperature is below 15 ° C.
Top dressing of girasol
Fertilizer soil is carried out in three stages:
- compost during soil digging;
- potassium phosphate fertilizers during planting;
- mineral fertilizer in the period of release of buds.
The best phosphorus-potash fertilizers for soil for Jerusalem artichoke include dry manure and bone meal. The plant responds well to organic and mineral fertilizers. Phosphorus, potash, organic fertilizers are applied during plowing, nitrogen fertilizers - in the spring. Organic fertilizers can be applied once every two years, and mineral fertilizers are recommended to be fertilized every year.
Soil care and weeding
Weeding plants from weeds is one of the most important rules in the care of an earthen pear. The first weeding is carried out when sprouts are clearly visible so as not to be confused with weeds. The earthen pear loves loose soil, so regular weeding is useful not only for cleaning weeds, but also for better air circulation in the ground. Weed the soil should be carefully, so as not to damage the root of the Jerusalem artichoke.
Did you know? The more frequent weeding, the larger will be the Jerusalem artichoke tubers. After sprouting, the plant is recommended to spud, and in the middle of the vegetative period pruned stems to one and a half meters. This will provide a rich harvest.
Diseases and pests of Jerusalem artichoke
Earth pear resistant to all sorts of diseases and pests. However, like any other plant, it is subject to them. Most often, trouble occurs when a gross violation of the rules of care or planting on contaminated soil or near infected plants.
White rot is the most common topinambur disease. It mainly affects the plant with excessive soil moisture. Manifested by white bloom on the stems. In advanced cases, black growths begin to appear inside the stems. If such signs are detected, the affected plant must be removed and burned without delay. Powdery mildew may appear on the plant in the second half of the growing season. It is manifested by white bloom on top of the leaves. Over time, the raid acquires a brown color. The disease is a consequence of drought or sudden changes in temperature. To fight the disease, Jerusalem artichoke is treated with fungicides (for example, "Skor", "Topaz").
Among the pests on Jerusalem artichoke can put an eye slugs and medvedka. These pests eat away tubers. To combat the slugs around the plants, special granules are laid out. To prevent the tubers from being damaged by the beetle and the larvae of the Maybug, Foxin or Diazinon are laid in the soil before planting.
Important! Powdery mildew often leads to a surplus of nitrogen fertilizers in the soil. Therefore, they should be used sparingly.
Harvesting Jerusalem artichoke
The peculiarity of the plant lies in the fact that harvesting can be carried out in the fall and spring. In the autumn, it is better to do it in mid-October, and in the spring - after the snow melts. Tubers that are chosen in spring are better suited for new planting. They contain more sugar than those collected in the fall.
The tubers left for the winter are perfectly preserved in the soil. They can withstand frost within 40 degrees of frost. In winter, the plant stems are cut at a level of 15 cm from the ground, the tubers are covered with straw, dry leaves and cut stems. Do not hurry to cut the plant, the best time for this is the month of November. Up to this point, Jerusalem artichoke absorbs useful elements from the ground.
The tubers left in the ground can sprout themselves the next year. However, for better yields, they should be dug out and selected for planting the best specimens.
Important! If the stems are cut too early for winter, this will reduce the yield and size of the tubers that you will dig in spring.
Storing Jerusalem artichoke is best done in a cool place. for this purpose the basement or fresh-zone in the refrigerator is perfect. At warm temperatures, the tubers will quickly crush and deteriorate. Knowing what an earthen pear is, what its useful properties are, how the earthen pear plant reproduces, the basic rules of care, harvesting and how to store Jerusalem artichoke in winter, you can easily grow it in your own plot.
