Jerusalem artichoke or earthen pear is an interesting niche crop with almost waste-free production, because you can sell both root crops and flowers or stems. If the roots are used in cooking, then pellets for biofuel are made from the stem. They are also used as plant food. In total, from a hectare of Jerusalem artichoke, you can get 70-90 thousand hryvnia of profit ($ 2648-3405).

The current year has been quite successful for culture producers in Ukraine. Thus, a scientist and farmer from the Kiev region Zenon Sych reported an unprecedented harvest of Jerusalem artichoke, writes SEEDS.

“This year we have an unprecedented harvest – each plant produces a bucket of tubers (a cultivar with pink tubers of a gourmet selection of the MM Grishko National Botanical Garden, Kiev). The vegetation continues,” Sych wrote on his social media page.

According to the farmer, the current yield has reached 75 tons per hectare.

Zenon Sych shares the secrets of growing crops: “It is necessary to dig up and replant to a new place every year, either in the fall (best of all) or in the spring. That which will sprout without permission in the old place, we weed out like a weed. The distance between the rows should be 90-100 cm, and in a row – 60-70 cm. It is very important to select garden tubers according to the principle – we plant only the best aligned tubers from the best bushes. Put 1 tablespoon of nitroammophoska + 0.5 kg humus in each hole. We plant only in the fall. Our varieties with pink roots give the best yield and have a leveled surface."

Interestingly, Jerusalem artichoke can be effectively grown in one place without a crop rotation for 30 years.

As for the storage of Jerusalem artichoke, Zenon Sych advises: “The starch and inulin contained in Jerusalem artichoke turn into glucose under the influence of frost. It can be dug up in the fall, sorted out and stored in shallow trenches (the tubers in the trench are covered with burlap and a 5-10 cm layer of soil). Then it will be possible to use them throughout the winter without difficulty."

There are also industrial plantations of Jerusalem artichoke in Ukraine. For example, in Volyn, the culture is grown and processed by the family farm "Dvorische".

The Ukrainian market for the consumption of Jerusalem artichoke and products from it is not yet sufficiently formed. There are a number of reasons for this. The first of them is the lack of powerful agricultural producers in Ukraine who would grow Jerusalem artichoke. The exactingness of culture to the terms and conditions of storage, as well as the practical absence of the processing industry, also has a lot to do with the formation of the market.

EastFruit