Oca tubers 'Sport'

We planted a chance chimera rhizome of our orange variety and it grew half true orange rhizomes, and half this charming new variety. Slender, relatively smooth, with cream skin and red eyes and a sweet, tart, almost candy flavour. Moderate yields, stores beautifully.

Oxails tuberosa Minimum of four tubers, mixed sizes, for spring planting.

Cultivation information: Store tubers for planting in a cool, dry, dark place until spring. A little sprouting is fine. Plant tubers from spring to early summer in fertile, well-drained soil, or large pots in quality potting mix, in full sun. Allow 500mm2 per plant.

Plants are frost tender, but rhizomes will hold in the soil and continue to develop in size after light frosts. Harvest after tops have died back - for us in Southern Tasmania that is from May to June - but manual checking of tuber development by scratching back soil and inspecting plants works well. Often tubers will form early under mulch on the soil surface and these are easily harvested early while allowing the plants to continue growing for your main crop.

Oca requires diminishing day-length to trigger tuberisation, so lower latitudes suit it best.

Tubers are all able to be sent anywhere in Tasmania and Victoria, please check with your state Biosecurity if you garden in SA, NSW, ACT, QLD and NT.

Sadly we are unable to send anything to WA.