Artichoke Transplant?
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sunpath8
Location: Western Washington
Posted: Apr-06-2005 at 11:09am
I'm wondering if someone has some advice or experience with artichokes. I planted 2 last year (store bought starts) and one isn't doing too swell in it's current location. I'd like to move it to a better spot, but am not sure how well it will transplant. Has anyone moved artichokes before? This particular plant did not grow much last year - it is currently only about 1.5-2 ft tall and did not bloom. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-07-2005 at 9:48am
Sunpath, did you do a search of past threads on artichokes to see if your question has already been answered? We've discussed them numerous times, with great information on their care and feeding shared by our members in several threads.
It is easy to do a search. Click on the "Search" button in the above menu options. In the next window, fill in your parameters. To turn up the options below, I typed "artichokes" in the "Search for" window, I selected "all words" in the "Search on" feature and "Message body" in the "Search in" window. The rest of the choices I left stand as they appeared. I received the following results: artichoke search results
If I wanted to refine my search even more, I could have included "move" or "transplanting" artichokes to my search parameters.
If you've already search the information on this site and still come up with nada, let us know.
sunpath8
Location: Western Washington
Posted: Apr-07-2005 at 10:29am
Thanks for the help with searching. I had already tried that and come up with nothing pertaing to transplanting. I just need to know if anyone has had success moving them around after a year - mine overwintered fine.
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-07-2005 at 12:45pm
It is surprising that in all those posts, nothing was said about transplanting artichokes. Drat. Guess we haven't covered artichokes as well as I'd thought.
But have no fear, I'm sure someone will be able to answer your question. (Okay, Rainy Siders, don't make a liar out of me! LOL)
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Apr-08-2005 at 11:01am
Micha,
First question, are these plants the same variety? If so then let's continue.
In the artichoke links Lisa dug out above is a reference to the best article on growing artichokes in the Maritime PNW. This one is even better than Trav's because it has many show-how photos in addition to the text.
The article by Kris Wetherbee of Oakland, OR was printed in the June/July 2000 issue of Kitchen Gardener (issue #27). Kris answers your question but first discusses what may be the problem with your plant.
"As with some other plants, many of the artichoke plants you start from seed won't turn out to be true to the type described on the seed packet. This happens about 20 percent of the time. I always plant extra artichokes so that I can get rid of the odd fellows and still wind up with the number of plants I want. To do this, I cull the seedlings that don't appear to be thriving. Then I cull again at the end of the season, so I'm left with only plants that produce great-tasting chokes or show other characteristics I want to preserve."
She then describes how to start artichokes from existing plants.
" I have also started artichokes with rooted shoots, but for this method, you need a neighbor or friend who has a plant to share. In the early spring, remove a rooted shoot. I do this with a long serrated knife, separating the offshoot from the remaining stems at the base of the plant. Then I cut a ring around the roots of the shoot with a spade, pushing down deeply to get beneath the roots. Ideally, I do this while the plants are still small, preferably less than 10 inches tall. Each rooted shoot can be replanted in a new location, spaced 4 to 6 feet apart."
This planting technique sounds pretty close to how we handle rhubarb which also have the same true to the type problem. I am suggesting that you cut a rooted shoot from your GOOD plant and maybe give up on the other. If you dig deep enough, you should also be able to transplant the poor performer if you think it is a soil condition.
The article has four photos to demonstrate this technique. You should be able to find this copy at your library or you may still buy old issues from Tauton.com.
You can read Trav's article at:
"Trav's Artichoke article"
Gary
trav
Location: Washington, Western
Posted: Apr-17-2005 at 1:31am
This is just an educated guess - I think the reason Kris's article refers to "still small" rooted shoots is because artichoke plants are (more or less) taprooted. This means mature plants are not going to transplant well. If you can get an offshoot that has not yet developed a taproot, you have a better chance of success.
However since I've never actually tried transplanting artichokes, it is possible I am completely wrong. Given my soggy winter soil, I've never put too much effort into overwintering them - I've just grown the few varieties that allow you to treat them as annuals.
Travis
sunpath8
Location: Western Washington
Posted: Apr-20-2005 at 3:16pm
Thanks for all of the help. I think I'll let this little guy hang out where he is. If he puts up a shoot, I'll try transplanting (and I'll look for shoots off of my healthy artichoke to transplant as well).
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton