I recently spotted virus symptoms of a sort that I haven’t seen before on an oca plant. Although oca is frequently infected with several different viruses, they are typically asymptomatic. This plant had some lower leaves with obvious yellowing and mosaic and some leaf tip browning. I ran it through a few ELISA tests for […]
One of the best things about growing oca is that it is generally very resistant to disease. Unlike potatoes, which are vulnerable to more than a dozen common diseases and need constant attention, oca usually fends for itself very well. The most common problem here is a bacterial stem rot, but it usually occurs late […]
I’ve announced a lot of achievements that I was proud of in this blog, but this might be my favorite. These are the new varieties that we have produced in the past couple of years, all of which have been released under the terms of the Open Source Seed Initiative pledge. That picture represents thousands […]
I’ve had a few inquiries lately about potato cyst nematode infestation of oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and any time I see a question more than once, I start thinking about a blog post. I should emphasize from the beginning that I have no direct experience with this subject. As far as I know, there aren’t any […]
Last week, I answered the most frequently asked question that I receive about oca. This week, I am taking on the second most common question: What are the odds that I will get a variety worth keeping from oca seed? Oca, as an octaploid, is a fundamentally heterozygous plant. Every oca seed produces a different […]
I get asked a lot of questions about oca, but one is asked more commonly than all of the others combined: how does it taste? Most people don’t want a long answer, so it is easy to fall back on the standard descriptions like “lemony potato” or “potato with sour cream.” These answers satisfy those […]
We have been very lucky to find an artist who can translate my crude scribbling into a beautiful finished product. Here is a handy introduction to the major Andean root crops: Mashua, Oca, Potato, Ulluco, and Yacon. There is also a two page flier with the same information attached below. Click here for […]
Here is a slideshow of new oca varieties harvested in 2014. I’m pretty happy with the results so far.
Today I collected the first of my second generation crosses. These are the first seeds produced by plants that we grew from seed. Hopefully the first of many, although I won’t inflict you with any more pictures of seeds in bags. Since I don’t know the characteristics of many of the parent plants at this […]
At one point while chewing on a piece of oca stem, it occurred to me that it tasted quite a bit like gooseberry. As a lover of gooseberry pie, my next thought was to wonder whether oca stems could be used to make a pie. Today, we put it to the test. You might call […]