Growing YACON UK - MASSIVE HARVEST from 2 plants - Tubers & Rhizomes

We LOVE YACON and it grows really well for us here with the No Dig methods we use and this year we look set for a MASSIVE HARVEST!
Yacon is a tuber from the Andes with HUGE potential we think and we are trying to get it more widely grown, known and used.
In this video we show our harvest of both Tubers and Rhizomes from just 2 plants, we talk lots about how we Grow it here as a re-plant perennial, Protected it in colder weather and how we Store our Yacon, here in Zone 9a, South UK.
Lots of Yacon info packed into this video - if you haven't heard of YACON before, we highly recommend looking into it... its easy to grow and offers great yields. We have heaps of other videos about Yacon on our channel too for you to check out.
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It takes us about a day to film each video and another few evenings to edit it, Patreon provides a way you can support what we do with any size donation you wish, it could simply be the value of a packet of seeds! We have many projects coming up, as well as wanting to improve our videos by having a 2nd camera and maybe even a drone one day to make our videos even more detailed and better quality for you to enjoy! You can help make it viable for us to keep putting the time into making these videos by becoming a Patreon. In return your name will appear in the end credits of our videos and we'll message you a password for the 'members area' of our website where we share more of our favourite recipes exclusively for our Patreon's 💚
/ freedomforestlife
Enjoy & Thanks for Watching
✌️🌿 Peace and Plants
#Yacon #Perennialtuber #permaculture

[@LindzH]

I found your channel because of your yacons. I bought a ground apple from specialist plant sale early summer. I grew in a large pot this year and harvested before this video came out, I'll separate now I've watched & put in larger grow bags in hope I get as many as shown, although happy with the amount I got. I'm really happy with the taste, my partner isn't as keen. Hopefully I'll persuade him. Thanks so much, I enjoy your channel and updates!

[@freedomforestlife]

Hey Lindz, thanks for your lovely comment, so glad our vids are helping you learn about Yacon, make sure you've cured the yacon in the sun or somewhere warm for at least a week, then get him to taste it ... its soooo much sweeter then when fresh 🙏✌️🌿

[@jacobobrien4846]

Amazing informative video. Hard to find such good info on yacon, this is a gem! Well done.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Jacob, so glad you found the video useful - thank you for saying so 🙏 we have a whole Yacon video playlist, so you might enjoy some of our other vids too if you havent come across them already. I’ll pop the playlist list below. Thanks for watching ✌️🌿 kzbin.info/aero/PLOidPRQofoMO7DbnFE7dT9EQBNsKncF72

[@squange20]

You two are very cute and work well together. Our six yacon plants are thriving, and I can’t wait to harvest some tubers, but it will be some months before we can taste some. You’re doing a fantastic job.

[@freedomforestlife]

Yay, I bet they'll grow amazingly for you over there ... the difference in our plants from having a mild Autumn has been very noticeable - Enjoy watching your Yacon grow and thanks for watching another of our vids too 💚✌️🌿

[@rosarola73]

Love you folks and what you do. ❤

[@freedomforestlife]

Thanks Rosa - thats really lovely of you 💚🙏✌️🌿

[@victorialeaf3413]

fab video growing yacon this year first time v

[@freedomforestlife]

Thanks Victoria - Glad you liked the vid 🙏 Hope your Yacon grows AAMZINGLY for you - Let us know ... 💚✌️🌿

[@NnekaOchonogor]

Thanks for sharing. Great harvest! I’m so jealous 😅. If you remember, mine didn’t overwinter from last year. Ordered some last week.🤞 for next season!

[@freedomforestlife]

Yes, I remember you saying ... this is why if we do sell some this year, I think I won't send out until late Feb to make sure they had the best shot at overwintering. I do hope you have better luck with them this coming season 🤞 keep the soil/pot quite dry that you winter them in i's recommend. How did your Sweet Potatoes go??? xxx ✌️🌿

[@NnekaOchonogor]

The sweet potato this year is the best harvest yet. It didn’t do as well as I hoped but I’m putting it down to the fact that I used a new bed with brought-in compost. I should be compost sufficient by the end of this year and the beds should be settled too, so more🤞

[@freedomforestlife]

Oh I am glad you got a harvest - YAY - good on you, yep I'm sure they'll keep getting better - so much learning and experimenting to be had each season 💚✌️🌿

[@angelafoxmusic7265]

Lovely site. Thankyou, very helpful. I'm looking forward to my first harvest this week, in NZ.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hey Angela, LOVE hearing from NZ viewers 🙌 Such an AMAZING country 💚 I bet your Yacon has grown so well in your climate ... let us know how it goes for you 💚✌️🌿

[@DuyNguyen-lo2mm]

just harvest my yacon today it was above 6 feet plenty of sun but got thumb size tubers. So sad...Going to try and give them with a lot of potash and phosphate next year. The reason we growing them is for Prebiotic, and we also tested blood pressure 30mins after consumption it from red to green area.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, where abouts in the world are you growing them? Here in the uk we normally harvest between November and February and we wait for the plant to be knocked back by the first frost, as if the leaves are still green energy could still be going in to grow… many other reasons they could have been small to… young plant? Soil condition? … you studies sound very interesting 💚✌️🌿

[@DuyNguyen-lo2mm]

​@@freedomforestlife we are in California they already starting to flower that is why i try harvesting one plant. my neighbor harvested his growing in big tub with potting soil he got good harvest last week. I think my soil might be lacking or too much nitrogen preventing up take of potash or other nutrients. Do I need to chop off the flowers? I'll save some plant for February then thank you

[@freedomforestlife]

@@DuyNguyen-lo2mm It may not be that your soil is lacking - We find very loose soil to be the key for us - We have almost a foot of soil that is just from broken down woodchips, then its solid clay (whcih the Yacon do sometimes grow into and its a pain to get them out without snapping). We add nothing else to our soil, just woodchip mulch each winter. Let us know hoe they go in Feb 💚✌🌿

[@sukandar.santoso]

Congratulations to your great harvest

[@freedomforestlife]

Thank you! 🙏 and thanks for watching our video and taking the time to comment 💚✌️🌿

[@hellofromthewoods]

Just mulched my garden today! Love watching

[@freedomforestlife]

Yay - good on you - thanks so much for your comment 🙏✌️🌿

[@Ileanainbliss]

Beautiful soil!

[@freedomforestlife]

It sure is! Thank you ✌️🌿

[@katipohl2431]

Congratulations to your great harvest. What's the name of your varieties? Hi from Germany and I am growing 11 different varieties of Yacon here. My preference is the yellow variety called Bekya. Unfortunately here it gets colder than minus 5 degrees. I might be interested to buy rhizomes from you for my collection. Please keep me informed. It would be nice if you show the harvest of red tubers this year too. The station 'Yacobat' in Belgium is officially breeding yacon from seeds and creating new varieties here in Europe.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Kati - so cool to know you watching over in Germany 🙌 Wow 11 different varieties ... I didn't know there was that many and thats awesome, we didn't know they are breding in Europe too - so cool!! The white one was an un named variety that we got from a seed company ... the red one is Morado. Yes, we never seem to catch a red one on Camera do we ... we never kept the 2 seperate unfortunately ... we should of really! I think I know where I may of put a red plant though last year, but we prob won't harvest it until next year where its young ... but I will try and catch one for you soon 😁 Thanks for watching and commenting 🙏✌️🌿

[@marianmurphy5385]

I love your videos..and would love to grow Yacon next spring..I was just wondering, do you ever cut back the tall stalks of yacon ..so they may not so easily fall over. I grew Jerusalem artichokes and did that..but I think I’m going to grow yacon instead..haven’t got too much room to grow both.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, yacon is an amazing plant- we love it as you can probably tell 💚 We have only ever had one or 2 very big plants tip up with the Yacon, so we have not cut the stems, other than as we harvest and replant - that is our maker for what we've harvested and what is still in the ground normally ... not so bending as JA stems I would sau generally. thanks for watching - we have got a whole Yacon play list of more vidoes on our channel you might enjoy too ✌️🌿

[@mwmingram]

Great video thank you.

[@freedomforestlife]

Glad you liked it! 🙏✌️🌿

[@tonyr7393]

Great harvest and thanks for the informative videos on this topic in the past. I'm hoping to crop my year one yacon today if the ground here in Kent defrosts enough! In the past two days my heavily mulched plants have gone from green and in flower to completely dead foliage. As they're baby year one plants i'm not expecting a crop anywhere near your volume, but a few potato sized tubers would be fine for this year - i just want to be able to sample them. The above ground growth has been impressive, so hopefully that's a good indicator that the tubers have formed nice and plump. Fingers crossed! ps - i've seen another youtuber who dehydrates (sun dried) her sliced yacon for long term storage, so i'm thinking of giving that a try if there's enough harvest. I'm wondering if anyone else has tried this method and if it was a success?

[@freedomforestlife]

Hey Tony - what a lovely comment - thank you 🙏 How did they go for you today??? We harvest in year one, but I know some people dont even harvest until year 2, but your growth sounds like ours has been this year, so I betting you will have some good tuber to get 🤞 I've not dehydrated yet, but intend to as soon as we've built a little fire dehydrator rack and once I have my new xmas mandaline slicer so I can get them nice and thin (knife skills aren't my strong point) 🤣 I dehydrate apples slices and tomatoes though and they both store very well indeed, over an year in fact... i'm sure Yacon would work well ... I'm also gonna try them as crisps, once I can chop them thinly 💚✌️🌿

[@tonyr7393]

@@freedomforestlife I harvested the smaller plant of the two i grew and the crop from this three-stemmed white variety has far exceeded my expectation - i estimate it was about two-thirds of the volume of your first plant harvest, so i was very happy with the result, especially as i'd grown potatoes in the same patch this year and the harvest from them had been awful. There were 20 yacon tubers on the one plant, all a good size, 15 of which i've harvested for consumption and the rest i've replanted still attached to the large crown (hopefully that should produce an even larger harvest next season). Like you, some of the rhizomes had already started putting up shoots - it was impossible to not damage one or two of these unfortunately. One thing i did notice - there were lots of large earthworms in and around the roots, and a number of the tubers had suffered some minor pest damage....no big deal as there is plenty of food for both me and the worms. Taste wise of the raw yacon on day 1, first impressions are good - for me it tastes like a watery pear. It's already sweet enough for my taste buds, so it will be interesting to see how the flavour changes over the coming few weeks. I'll be having some in my porridge in the morning. I'll probably harvest my second plant in a couple of weeks time and will separate the rhizomes into individual plants and keep some in pots over winter to ensure a crop next year. A big thumbs up from me for this plant.

[@JHS9498]

Yacon is so delicious! My yacon is not as big as yours because I planted them in pots. Next year I will plant them in plantingbags who are a lot bigger.

[@freedomforestlife]

Sounds great Jenny - Let us know how they go for you - Yacon is FAB 💚 thanks for watching/commenting ✌️🌿

[@janicegame2372]

Wow ! They look fantastic, I would be very interested to buy growing tubers maybe enough for two plants thank you in anticipation!

[@freedomforestlife]

Thats awesome youd like to try them Janice ... we'll prob but out short video/ad out on here saying so if we can organise how/where best to sell and also on our Facebook page, so stay in touch and we'll see if we can get organised with it. I prob wont send rhizomes out until end of Feb to give them the best shot at overwintering .. I find its at this stage that people seem most likely to loose them - stay tuned and thanks heaps for watching our vids and for your lovely comments ✌️🌿

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

Good stuff, you guys have convinced me I have to try to grow some yacon, except I have to get some to initially plant (or maybe seeds). By the way, you noticed the sound is only in the right ear in the intro sequence when you're talking to camera? Might want to check that out, or if it happens again you can just double up the sound in both ears as it's not that important for speech anyway.

[@freedomforestlife]

Yep gotta try the yacon 🙌 thanks for watching and commenting as always - will check that with the sound, might just be the mic wire was pinched a bit 🙏 thanks for mentioning ✌️🌿

[@vinnysmith5166]

You can grow Yacon from the stem to. I have already had a few plants from it.

[@freedomforestlife]

WOW!! As cuttings - we haven't tried this ... yet ... where abouts are you Vinny, do you get hardish frosts/ have to protect the stem cuttings much to overwinter?? 🙏 Thanks for sharing this ✌️🌿

[@vinnysmith5166]

@@freedomforestlife I'm in England 😃Camberley yes I do cutting in the summer😍

[@freedomforestlife]

Oh awesome, witll have to remember this and try next 👍

[@colinguthrie5885]

Have my 3 growing buds in polytunnel here in Scotland on island of Arran ….. still bit cold … plan to plant about beginning April outside…. Never tasted this plant … understand contains few calories as indigestible by humans but feeds gut flora as ‘ probiotic’ but assume if fills you up…. Have seen used as water chestnut in stir fry’s…. Much enjoyed your very instructive video

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Colin, yes to all of what you say about the Yacon. Wow - what temp do you get down to in your garden? I use it in stir fries as a waterchestnut replacement, cubed raw on salad, dry roasted - Dried for Crisps... It provides a lovely winter crunch. Glad you enjoyed the video - we have a whole playlist on Yacon on our KZbin Channel - you may have found it already 💚✌️🌿

[@colinguthrie5885]

Sea warms island and no frost pocket so not that low….. you mentioned in video you sometimes sell Yacon….. sent you an email offering to buy an amount …. Go to spam ?… still very interested if you have spare

[@freedomforestlife]

@@colinguthrie5885 oh cool - ok I will check emails, I am just away in Ireland for a few days, but one job we need to when I get back is divide and replant lots of Yacon, so I am sure we can sort some for you - leave it with me 😁 your island sounds amazing too 💚

[@nurrashidah3516]

Bakti yang baik pada bumi.bumi jadi hijau.terbaik untuk kehidupan.

[@freedomforestlife]

Ya! Tanpa tumbuh-tumbuhan dan tanah, tiada seorang pun daripada kita akan berada di sini - sangat menghormati bumi 💚 Terima kasih atas komen anda ✌️🌿

[@sithomas153]

Hi. Great videa i planted some rhizomes last month. So far doing ok. Will i get a crop this year or sm i best leaving them to over winter

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, what country are you growing them in? If you are in the UK and only planted last month I would suggest leaving them in to overwinter ✌️🌿

[@xiaopage4717]

Wow , I want to taste some , I live in south of Yorkshire England. How can I buy the Yacon from you ? Really looking forward to your reply.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Xiao, thanks for watching. We were hoping to start selling Yacon this year, end of Feb is the best time we think, however, we have experienced a lot of losses this year following a colder than normal winter, that we were not prepared enough for. We still have plenty of plants to keep extending our crop, but we are not confident enough that everything will survive yet to want to sell, where we too are still learning about this amazing plant. Always so much learning from time and observation! Its been a great experience in that sense and by this time next year, we will have more knowledge and hopefully confidence in our plants to know what they can take and hopefully be in an better position to help others grow this crop. Did you see our latest Yacon video from a couple of weeks back? You may enjoy that too if you'd like to learn more about it : kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3eTlZ2erdGHgLc Appreciated you conracting us & watch this space for future sells 💚✌️🌿

[@xiaopage4717]

@@freedomforestlife Thanks for quick reply, yes this year is unusually cold and wet . I will watch your another video soon .

[@susankiss1649]

I just bought yacon at the market I like it and ate it raw I would like to plant some. I don't have frost here where I live, Where can I buy some for planting? Thank you

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Susan, so glad you liked Yacon - are you in the UK? 💚✌️🌿

[@andrewmackay1942]

Thanks for the informative video. Just planted my 1st yacon today. Had 3 pots growing inside for a month or so. 1 plant grew quickly and was the one i've planted today , the other 2 pots have fairly small plants in them 3 or 4 inches tall so have put them in the greenhouse for now. How do recommend eating them? Cooked? Raw?

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Andrew - Yacon is an awesome plant/crop - we enjoy it raw, cubed in salads or grated, juices and cooked or crisped … it takes much longer to cook than you’d think … we’ve made quite a few vids on Yacon, which you might enjoy - here’s our Yacon playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLOidPRQofoMO7DbnFE7dT9EQBNsKncF72 good idea re your smaller plants, especially if it’s still a little cold where you are - be careful not to overwater the pots - where abouts are you? ✌️🌿

[@squange20]

Hi, you might remember me from NZ. I’m now in the UK and visiting friends, and talked about the goodness of yacon. Our friends are interested in purchasing some rhizomes. Do you sell them? If not, where could they get some? Thanks.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, Your KZbin Channel name doesn't give me enough clues to work out who you are, I'm afraid - give me some more clues and hopefully I will remember you 😊 where abouts in the UK are you visiting? ✌️🌿

[@squange20]

@@freedomforestlife Hi, I’m the one who lives in the far north of NZ, and you said you lived in Raglan for a while. I used some of your tips on growing yacon. My friends live in Willesden. I was going to bring a few rhizomes on the flight, but was warned about the strict biosecurity rules. Thanks for getting in touch so quickly. 🙂

[@freedomforestlife]

@@squange20 oh gotta ya - I knew I recognised the account, but thought you meant you were someone I had meet in NZ 😆 so was racking my brain as to who it would be from Raglan ☺️ yes I remember that convo on here 💚 we don’t fully sell the rhizomes (yet - hope to one day when we get more organised here) but if they haven’t all be decimated by our plague of rats this year, I’m sure I can get some out to your friend over winter… we generally don’t send out until early feb when we do sell a few, as they usually overwinter better mulched in the ground we find, than as small rhizomes in pots 💚hope you are enjoying your visit✌️🌿

[@squange20]

@@freedomforestlife Thank you very much for the advice. I shall pass that on to them. In the far north of NZ however, the rhizomes keep well in some soil in pots, and soon send out shoots, so no problem about hard frosts getting to them. How would our friends be able to contact you, or you contact them? I have not seen your website below. Well, since I lived in London, I’m seeing many changes. The pace has accelerated a bit. I’m mainly visiting my mum, and will be flying back in under two weeks’ time. Time sure flies.

[@freedomforestlife]

@@squange20 I can imagine it would be a little busier here than the northland for sure!!! 😬 your friends can email us [e-mail] ask them to email over winter sometime and then prob again in late Jan early feb to remind me 😆 happy travels and catch you here again soon 💚✌️🌿

[@d.b.3512]

I bought to small yacon plants and got a much bigger one for free from fellow gardener. As they are growing now I would like to know how large (liters) the pot must be as I'm not able to grow them in the full ground

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, great to hear you are growing Yacon ... we have never grown them to harvest size in pots, but I would say you need to give it the biggest pot you possibly can to get a good harvest, as you can see from our videos, the tubers can get big and like to spread out and grow sideways ideally. We have more videos about this plants, you might like to watch to get a better idea, I'll add our Yacon playlist link here 👉 kzbin.info/aero/PLOidPRQofoMO7DbnFE7dT9EQBNsKncF72 I hope your plants grow well for you 💚✌️🌿

[@MsGreenmermaid]

It's August now and mine are quite small, what should I do with them? just keep them growing and take whatever I have in the winter and either harvest or overwinter them?

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, Were they new plants in the ground this year? and where abouts are you for growing conditions?

[@MsGreenmermaid]

@@freedomforestlife ye, I put down a few pieces of the tuber I had not really expecting them to do...but they all grew, but they're very small, I'm East Coast Ireland so similarish conditions to you 🤷🏻‍♀️🤔

[@robynlloyd6414]

I want some … do you deliver 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@freedomforestlife]

Oh Robyn, you would LOVE them I think!!! You'd be able to grow them easy .. recommend no dig though ... Koranga may still have tips for sale .. but its normally winter-earlish spring you can buy them ... Id send you some if I could, but I think NZ customs might have something to say about it!!! 🤣

[@TacklingTheGiants]

Do they taste like potatoes? If not, what could the taste be compared to? Thanks!

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, Not like potato much - maybe more like Jerusalem Artichoke - but sweeter and lighter - We eat them raw and they are sometime known as a Ground Pear/Apple which raw is prob the closest comparision, slow roasted they are sweet and crunchy 💚 I think we talk more about what we use them for in other Yacon videos we've made too - Thanks for watching ✌️🌿

[@TacklingTheGiants]

@@freedomforestlife thank you

[@ollyeccles]

Have you found much difference between the two varieties?

[@freedomforestlife]

No massively, Dan thinks the Red variety is slightly sweetwe straight from the ground maybe - Thanks for watching, we've made quite a few other Yacon videos that you can find in our Yacon playlist if you'd like to see more 💚✌️🌿

[@val6112]

😊😊 hope you do sell some and I would buy and try to grow up here in West Yorkshire

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi Val - Awesome - we will prob put out a short vid / ad on here saying so if we can organise how/where best to sell and we'll also post it on our Facebook page if we do, so stay in touch and we'll see if we can get organised with it. I prob wont send rhizomes out until end of Feb to give them the best shot at overwintering .. I find its at this stage that people seem most likely to loose them - stay tuned and thanks heaps for watching and for commenting 💚✌️🌿

[@val6112]

@@freedomforestlife Hi Guys that would be great 👍 I'll be looking out for your videos here on KZbin ( I don't use any other Social media platforms)😊

[@TheArjun1373]

HI, is there a difference between Yacon and sweet Potato, or they are same?

[@freedomforestlife]

They are very different … different plant family, different texture, taste etc, the only thing similar is the way they look/shape of tuber. Hope that helps and thanks for watching ✌️🌿

[@TheArjun1373]

@@freedomforestlife Thank you so much for your response, yes all my doubts are clear now

[@alleylawjo]

Accorss the pons in USA we call these: Jerusalem artichokes or sun chokes. Tell me how you cook it. Yacon (also yacón or yakon, Smallanthus sonchifolius; previously Polymnia sonchifolia and P. edulis), pronounced yah-CONE, is a member of the family Asteraceae, a relative of sunflowers, dahlias, Jerusalem artichokes, and many other common edible and ornamental plants. In English, yacon is sometimes called things like Bolivian sunroot, Peruvian ground apple, and the rather romantic, but confusing “yacon strawberry.” I think we’re better off not confusing everyone with new names.

[@freedomforestlife]

Hello - These are YACON, not Jerusalem Artichokes/sunchokes ... we grow those as well in another bed and we use them very differently to Yacon. Mostly we perfer to eat Yacon raw, or even Juice it ... which we have done in another video, make it into syrup (we would not do this with Sun Chokes) but it is also lovely slow roasted until the sugars come out. No Name confusion here!

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

I know this has been asked before, but is there anywhere people can recommend in the UK where you can buy the rhizomes? They all seem to sell them as plugs, which I can't buy as I need to get them shipped abroad to me.

[@freedomforestlife]

We just ordered our first ones on eBay, I think we just bought rhizome pieces. We’ve gotta look into what the deal is with if/what/how we can send things outside the country … I know it’s much harder now than it used to be …

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

@@freedomforestlife I'll check out eBay, thanks for the tip. I have a forwarding address which I use in the UK, so that part is OK, but it's still not good for living plants.

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

But if you are selling the tips this year, let us know, I mean, it's not gonna be big money or anything, I know, but I'd be happy to support you rather than some randos off eBay, and it might just be a good way for you to test the waters for a more serious operation in the future :)

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

Update on this, the only nearbyish suppliers I can find on eBay seem to be in Ireland, other than that it's all Germany, Australia and stuff, which I am definitely not going with, lol. So maybe there's a niche there :).

[@andrewmackay1942]

@@thehillsidegardener3961 I got mine from 'the real seed catalogue'

[@yuksanng8864]

Hi there,where in UK you located?

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, Central south coast 💚

[@yuksanng8864]

Do you sell these yacon?

[@freedomforestlife]

Hi, Occationally we do in February.