Russian Hybrid Sunchoke Mixed Tuber Collection

currently unavailable This open pollinated grow out from USDA seed was brought from Russia many years ago as a means of developing energy and food crops for U.S. agriculture. One hybrid called 120 was considered a cross with the annual sunflower and the sunchoke. Several others like Leningrad and others were exchanged with research scientists interested in the sunchoke for reasons that have never been fully explored and implemented.  I grew many of these out over the course of 4 years. When we first grew these accession the hybrid vigor was evident in the first generation with most of the population showing twice the growth rate of Manitoba and Diversity Seedlings. Tubers tend to be smooth, blocky and white in color. They are early ripening and sprout and grow in cooler soil.  They have  smooth skins. Like White Fuseau and Shiawassee the Russian types are good culinary selections.

This selection has very good leaf retention and very different looking foliage with oblong dark green leaves. The growth rate in both the polybags and larger pots has been verry good with heavy yields. The tubers produce a lot of runners which in turn creates many tubers per plant. Many of the named varieties are low yielding in polybags with peat mix compared to field grown. Everyone of these seedlings are high yielding. I grew these from seed, weighed the first year roots and used only the highest yielding plants. None of them have been named as cultivars or varieties. They are labeled collectively as Russian Hybrids.

Early ripening. Heavy yielding. Large root mass. Fast growing. Hybrid vigor.