Yacon is a hardy plant that is easy to grow. It seems to tolerate most soil types pretty well, but ideally should be grown in free-draining soil rich in organic matter. They prefer direct sunlight but can grow reasonably well in the shade.
The crowns (purply, pink and white in photo) usually grow at the base of the stalk just underneath the ground, and sometimes peak above.
Each crown can be broken/cut off and planted separately, keep in mind the smaller they are the more susceptible to damage they are too.
The infant tuber (edible root) can be left intact if it is not damaged. Trim off damaged tubers to avoid rot.
The biggest enemy for Yacon is frosts during its early stages. So best to plant when warmer or cover when frosts are due. Planting is usually best around September to November.
Before planting the Yacon crown, loosen the soil about 400mm deep and 400mm wide to make it easy for the large Yacon tubers to grow. Plant the crown about 3cm below the surface and give it a good water. Space out multiple crowns about 700mm apart.
Sometimes the crowns will be sent with a bit of greenery. This can help them get bit of a head-start, especially if they are planted late in the season. If the greenery doesn’t bounce back after planting and watering (next day) it is best to trim back below any leaves. New leaves should still grow from the stem joints.
Keep the area well weeded initially to give the Yacon a chance to get going. Once they get taller the Yacon forms bit a canopy and doesn’t require much weeding. They can grow over 2m tall so make quite a statement in the garden!
Towards the end of the Yacon growing season, usually around June, the Yacon flowers (small yellow flowers like miniature Sunflowers). This is the best time to harvest (when FOS is optimal) but they can be harvested later also. They can stay in the ground longer also as long as the ground is free draining.
Once harvested, the tubers will keep for months kept in a cool and dark place. They are delicious raw or cooked (if using raw a bit of lemon juice can be used to stop them browning).
The crowns will grow larger each season and can be divided for more Yacon plants. Keep the crowns in a cool dark place (covered in a bit of soil is best) and plant next season.
Have fun with this amazing plant!
Yacon New Zealand 
Do you have any recipes or experimentation with eating yacon?
Hi Morgan, we certainly do and are in the process of refining and getting these up on WordPress. Yacon is wonderful eaten raw it is crunchy and sweet and great as a slaw, or julienned in amongst other vegetables for a stir fry. It balances out a spicy dish like a thai larb (laab) and holds its shape when cooked. The syrup makes a great low sugar gingerbread, is great on fresh yoghurt, in homemade chai, or to caramelise a pear for the cheesboard. I will get these posted in the next few weeks – I hope this gives you enough to go on in the meantime!
Anybody can advise me where to get a few tuber of yacon for planting
We can supply growing crowns in New Zealand. If you are overseas you would need to arrange freight and your own country entry requirements. We have found it too difficult to deal with this from here. How many Yacon growing crowns would you require? You can email us on wamtdav@gmail.com for more information. Thanks for your enquiry and kind regards, Wendy
Ive got a few Yacon plants in my garden but i’m wondering if there are different varieties
Hi Richard, sorry for the delay in reply. We have noticed three distinct varieties from our yacon – one has a purple growing crown and tubers are ‘purple” skinned not unlike a kumara, others have a white growing crown and a white/tan skin on the tuber, the third is more yellow in the tuber and more yellow in the skin than the white/tan one…not sure of exact plant name differences if there are any… hope that helps 🙂
We have planted the tubers that we bought from you and now we have wonderful 5 foot plants. Do the plants give you any signs for when they are ready to harvest?
Do you have any tips for storage? I am worried they are going to rot or go mouldy.
with thanks…
Hi, wow sounds like youve done a great job with your plants. You will notice a small sunflower like flower appear (about the size of a old 50c coin), ours havent flowered yet but after flowering is the optimum time to harvest (when FOS is at its best). Its been a difficult wet season here in the Waikato with a lot more rain than usual. We are on a free draining soil so doesnt affect us too much but if your drainage isnt good I would lift the plants as soon as they start being more wet than dry. We can usually wait until the first frosts to harvest our main crops and others that grow on die back only to come away again in spring. The tubers are best kept in the ground as is with the tops cut back and a mulch layer over them during the winter (look up clamp storage for tubers)or stored in a cool dry, dark place. The longer they are stored the more sweet (FOS breaks down to simple sugars) they become. I hope this helps 🙂
So I just harvested my gorgeous Yacon plants as their flowers have wilted. I have a TON of pink crowns but almost no tubers. Is this common for the first year? If not, how can I increase my yield. I used fish fertilizer for the first few months and a well drained soil, never too wet. A little dismayed but mostly curious what to do next year. Thanks in advance.
Harvesting may be a bit early unless your in the northern hemisphere. Plants should be harvested as late as possible in the Autumn/ early winter.
I am in Southern California so we are in early winter. Based on the flowers, I thought it was just the right time to harvest. Any ideas as to why I would only get so many crowns but no tubers? Do the tubers get broken up before re-planting in the spring? Thanks in advance – hard to find much Yacon growing info online!
Hi it certainly sounds like you have the right time of year to harvest then. There are a few possibilities: over fertilization with nitrogen, crowns are too crowded (planting fist size groups is ideal), or not enough water during growing. Every garden is slightly different – trial and error is the best way to learn it sounds like your on the right track for reaching out 🙂
Interesting, I bet I overdid it with the nitrogen as the leaves were gorgeous. Thanks for your help. Will report back next year!
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Has anyone tried growing YACON in 50 gallon food grade plastic barrels? If so, any tips or comments? It seems to me, they would be easy to harvest that way as with potatoes. Also, being in the NW (Portland, Oregon, USA) I’m thinking it would prolong the growing season. Any thoughts or experience?
Hi -We grew them ourselves to be more portable in 44 gallon plastic barrels cut in half (so two round tubs), holes for drainage and a bit of drainage material at the bottom are essential they dont like wet feet! they did well but not as well as in the ground, it really is amazing how they crop in good open ground and containers of any size can restrict this.Hope this helps – give it a go!
Ambury7,
Thanks for your reply! Our soils here are fairly heavy but, fertile. Rain, except July through September is abundant (we say “Oregonian’s don’t tan, we rust!”). Would you say then for IN ground planting, the more tilled the better and perhaps adding amendments such as sand and/or pea gravel to break-up heavy soils? Perhaps adding compost? Potatoes seem to do better by adding bone meal (potassium). Do you think this would increase yield? Also, we have the pesky, elusive mole. Any similar problems or thoughts on YACON?
I meant to say phosphorus (and nitrogen) not potassium.
Can I use the brown tuber of Yacon that I bought for planting, I don’t have those purple little tubers.
Hi there, generally the tuber if planted will just rot in the ground – there is a chance it was close to a crown it could grow as weve noticed some surface tubers exhibit some growth on the connecting root between crown and tuber – sorry to say it would be a long shot 😦
Hi definitely the more tilled the better and free draining, so improvements mentioned would be beneficial. Apart from a organic “Rok Solid” see http://www.agrissentials.com/ when initially planting we didnt trial anything else in terms of fertilisers or feed… root crops can be finicky where the wrong addition may encourage leaf or crown growth rather than tuber growth, weve always found experimenting the best way to determine the best results. Currently apart from following permaculture practises (chooks over spent beds, heavy mulching with compost and organic material) we dont add anything to our crops and they do exceptionally well!
Gads. You Kewi’s often use terms that stump me. Although I “think” I get your jist, please define “Roc Solid” and “chooks”. Otherwise, I’ll be up all night.
Oops sorry! Rok solid is a brand name for a general fertiliser and chooks are hens 🙂
Wow. Was my thinking off. Lesson learned. Thank you!
That’s definitly not something to be found in Funk & Wagnels. Chooks in a tractor. I like that!
you got me back – had to google Funk & Wagnels!
well first year, plant is over 6ft tall and boy has it spread, got 1 flower and 5 buds, in the garden. One in a pot has done nothing and one in another patch is only 3 ft tall, so it looks like the garden is the best place, Mind heaps of homemade compost in there, the first frost is not hit yet,should I wait till then?I am in Pamly north.
Hi there yup garden with good compost is always a good combination! We leave ours in until the first frost or after the flowers (which ever comes first) keep the ground well mulched to stop the frost getting the tubers and harvest straight away so rot from stems doesnt effect tubers too 🙂
well A mass of flowers at the moment 5-6 on each stalk, must be about 20 stalks and it has started to raise the ground around the base so that could be a good sign? just waiting for the flowers to die, it looks like that will be the time. We have not had any frosts yet. love to post a piccy??
that’s awesome Chris – don’t know how to configure it so you can add a pic here – wonder if you could post it or message it to us on the facebook page? be great to see them – Wendy
ok Il take some new ones tomorrow if the rain stops
Posted this morning
Hi there. I’m in the Far North near Kaitaia in a frost-free spot. I heard that yacon is photoperiod insensitive so having just harvested a crop can I divide and plant the crowns straight away? Also – do you have any stock of yacon that has coloured tubers? All mine are white.
Hi there, the true color difference can be seen in crowns as tubers will all tend to change over time….we have mostly purple, some white and not sure if we have yellow left. You sure can plant again although it doesn’t frost their growth will be slower in the cooler months potentially bringing flowering and harvest forward?..let us know how it goes were on the move to tutukaka so keen to see difference there!
Well the leaves all died so we dug the plant up wow must be 20kg of fruit. we could not wait to clean a couple and try them well crunchy yes, but no flavour we could not believe it,even steamed some and no difference So have put them in the garage to see if they “ripen” The crown had new shoots on it too
Grown a couple of yacon crowns each year for a few years now in North Hokianga, with mixed results. By far the best crop was the season I dug a couple of dead possums into the ground about 40cms below the planting. That crop was many kilos of big crunchy roots.
A query – eating yacon, raw or cooked, has a stunning effect on me, and those I’ve shared it with! Makes us fart like the Trump of Doom! Do you other yacon-eaters share this too? Anyone know a way of avoiding this? Otherwise I must restrict yacon-eating to times when I’m going to be alone for a day or two – and especially NOT before the days I go off to be a music teacher . . . .
Another query – what does FOS stand for?
Hi Jackie -thanks for the feedback…gave us a giggle! The FOS is a longer chain sugar(longer than sugar) called fructo-oligo-saccharide …its what makes eating yacon highly beneficial for us but depending on the balance of resident bacteria in your digestive system can give you …errrhmmm wind. We dont tend to have this at embarrassing levels as it tends to regulate itself when used consistently. Our advice is to start slowly with a little at a time to build the right balance!
Just dug up the last of the Yacons yesterday, this is our 2nd season growing them. We put 1 in the vege garden & 2 in a tub. Vege plant yielded 2.4 kilos but we dug them up at the end of April because I couldn’t wait any longer. The 2 in the tub gave a total of 3.3 kilos & we are using their crowns for next year which we have already planted in the herb garden under cut off juice bottles as they thrive well. My wife is a diabetic so she is loving them cooked but not so much raw although she will nibble them. Next season all will be going into our vege patch which has lousy soil by the way mostly Tawawera river silt which takes a lot of work. We found they love the slow release Nitrogen pellets & worm pee on a regular bases. Was so glad to find this site & its info Thxs.
Awesome Wayne thanks for your post:)
I’m nearing the last of my second season of Yacon, we harvested around 80 kilo this year and aiming for more next season. Loving this veg!! We still have about 5 plants in the ground and although the odd one’s starting to rot there’s still plenty of good food, and they’re trying to sprout again. We’re in Hokitika, and it’s been a wet season so they can handle a bit of damp….
i also live in the Waikato, do you have any tubers for sale, keen to see what they grow like in this horotiu type soil
Hi, we’ve moved north but will have yacon crowns for sale…best to pot them up or put in a frost free spot until frosts clear in the Waikato. $15ea including post & packaging in Nz. -Wendy
Hi Wendy, Owen
I’m living just north of Whangarei and would like to purchase a couple of dozen crowns to trial. We grew yacon successfully in Melbourne but haven’t grown it here yet.
Anyone making yacon syrup out there in Northland? Seems like it could be a good cooperative project with a growing market.
Thanks, Matt
Hi Matt, we can supply growing crowns, we recommend min size as 100g or tennis ball size clusters to get good first year yield. These are $10 each, plus post & packing. We also have 2 x 10kg lots of seconds(smaller pieces, less desirable but all viable) we are selling for $200/10kg lot. We’re based in Tutukaka and used to be NZ supplier for Yacon Syrup ( and supplied a northland contact who took it to markets)but since stopping no one has really got into it. We run workshops on growing, harvesting and preserving yacon(includes making syrup, fermentation). as well. Email me on mygreensnz@gmail.com to order or for more information. -Wendy
Well its been a year since I 1st left a post on this site. Enjoy getting emails with the new comments.We shifted houses at the end of April but only moved 2K’s away & had to dig up our plants early as was NOT going to leave them behind & from the 13 plants we got over 30 kilos which we gave a lot of the tubers away as there was no way we could eat them all. Going to be very interesting this year as this new house has no vege garden nor is there room to put 1 really so am going to do the whole vege garden thingy in drums of which I have cut 6 200ltr drums in half length wise as this is how I have grown our strawberries since 2007 with extremely heavy crops. Now will be putting a light 6 inch board around the top of the half drums so this will give a nice depth for whatever we grow.
Have just planted 10 crowns from last yrs crop into small pots covered with MT 3lts juice bottles of which I cut the bottom inch off and drilled a series of small holes in the lid so its like a nice hot house effect. Have got 5 people here in our small BOP town now growing tubers as they loved the fruit I gave them, plus they have at least 1 diabetic in their family.
Now I have tried eating these tubes in so many ways mashed with spuds (I cooked the yacons in a separate pot as they take a bit longer to cook than a spud also the moisture content is higher) them mixed them together so I could see how much milk to put in as I mashed them.
Roasted they stay nice and crisp plus yummy next day out of the fridge. In slow cooking stews,
Chipped oh yeah they are every bit as nice as kumera chips, BUT my favourite is peeled raw like an apple sliced small and either sprinkling Himalayan salt lightly over them as soon as the salt hits the moisture just rolls out OR squeezing lemon juice over them & if I do that I have to fight off the grand kids who also love them with lemon so i mostly eat them at night watching movies.
Sorry to make this a long essay, and I forgot 1 thing I have last yrs tubers in a couple of 20 ltr buckets with a towel over them and shoved under my work bench out in the garage nice dark and cool and that’s since April they are still in perfect condition & my worms love the peelings.
Mine have flowered and now with the cold snap the leaves are showing signs of stress. Last year I dug them before the stalks had died and they took a while to develop any flavour But the tubers had new growth on the crown when I lifted them. This year I might just leave them until the stalks fall over, Mind its a crazy season I have strawberries outside with flowers on. They never died off The same with runner beans, just no flowers or beans ,but still looking good and this is Palmy North
Well its near the end of May 2017 here have just tickled my yacon’s for the 1st time which I grew in tubs & the tubers are quite impressive. Plants are all looking great with our 1st frost this morning was white & cold. Had the 1st tuber last night with our roast absolutely beautiful I am thinking of leaving them in the ground and dig as required as the last crop I told you all about kept in a bucket got very woody in the end. Tonight will be eating the 2nd tuber raw with my coffee at supper time with a sprinkle of brown sugar & salt not sure what it will taste like as I don’t have any lemons ready yet. Lemon & brown sugar are certainly my favourite way of eating them.The plants I put in at my daughters place are in a garden bed & look no different or any better than my tubs which I cut in half height wise for depth as I thought they wouldn’t have the depth needed if I cut them length wise like the strawberries so trial & error will tell me this season.