Any Artichoke Growers Around?

Icosden, I'm on southeren Vancouver Island, in zone 8.

Jenhill, I'd suggest picking them when the leaves aren't so open and still closer to the body.

icosden - you won't regret it.

i am all excited about growing artichokes nexct year in containers. are you saying that after hte first year i can just put the container holding the plant into my garage?? how do you care for it then??
thanks

Hey, it's back! In the fall, I cut the plants down to about 6 inches. I covered each of the artichoke plants with 10-12 inches of shredded fall leaves. Then I covered the entire raised bed with a plastic tarp held down with rocks and bricks. Last weekend, I removed the plastic and pushed away the leaves. I could see a tiny bit of growth on some of the plants. One of the added benefits of the leaves and tarp, besides warmth, is that the worms got extra protection and were more active in that bed over the winter. We have several inches of composted leaves on the bottom of the pile. So far, 3 of the 6 plants have new growth emerging. I have hope that the other three will soon show growth too.

Artichokes grow in Arizona desert too.

here is a picture of two artichoke plants i started on feb 22nd. they are the two on the right in the picture. the back row are four dancer eggplants and the front on the left os a hansel eggplant.

That's great Herbie (Frank)! Looks to me like you have three artichoke plants and four eggplants.

I actually started some Violetto Artichoke seedlings this year, late. So I won't be putting them out early to chill them. I think they'll be too small. We'll see. I'm going to have to find a spot for them since my last year's artichokes look like they're coming back.

Jen

Yippee! More tasty artichokes again this year! ;-)

jen - you are right of course. there are three artichokes. since this is my first time grown these things can you give me some info regarding the instructions i got on the package that reqired the plants get 250 hours of below 50 degree temperatures during the hardening off stage. when do you think the best time for me to put the plants out would be and also i assume that when i do put them out for the 250 hours there should be in the 5 gal container that i am planning to use for them.

would appreciate any help you can give me on this.

thanks
frank

Well, I can tell you what I did last year. The thing I read said they need to experience between 50 and 35 degrees for 250 hours.

On April 20 I started putting them outside. I watched the weather forecast and if it was supposed to be near 35 degrees, I’d put them in my cold frame, if not, they stayed outside on my patio step. If it was to be frost, I brought them inside, which wasn’t often. They never experienced frost.

You might want to start putting them out now. 250 hours is approximately 10.5 days. Since there will be times when the temperature is above 50, you need to put them out for a couple of weeks during the cool weather to account for this.

To make it easier on yourself, you might want to wait to put them into their permanent 5 gallon containers. If there is a frost warning, you'll have to bring them inside or in your garage or basement. Would be easier if they were in smaller containers. Of course that's up to you and what you feel up to doing. I had mine in 16 oz cups until they went into the ground in May.

May 17, I planted them out permanently in my garden in my raised planting beds with lots of shredded leaves added in the fall. The plants were still pretty small. I was prepared to cover them if there was a frost warning, but I never had to.

If I've forgotten anything, I'll post again, but thats all I can think of right now. Does this info help?

Jen

thats a great help. another queston. if my garage is below fifty degrees can i put them there under lights until its time to go outside.???

even if i put them outside for the 250 hours what happens after that. it will still be to early to put out permanently so do i just bring them back into the house until its time to put them outside for good??

i have to tell you that i go to stew leonards all the time. it's one of my favorite places to shop, and oh boy, what samples they give out. LOL

I would think you could put them in your garage under lights if it's under 50 degrees. But don't forget, the lights do warm things up quite a bit. I have my seedlings in my basement which is between 55 and 60 degrees. Under the fluorescent lights it's 68-70 degrees. I have a thermometer under the lights with the seedlings. So I wonder if it would be cold enough.

Once I started putting my artichoke seedlings outside, they only went back in for protection from frost, which wasn't often. So I just kept them outside from April 20 on. I was more concerned that they wouldn't get enough chill to flower and produce the first year, than worried about too much chill. According to what I read artichokes are a cool weather plant and usually produce their best crop before the arrival of summer's heat. Cool coastal areas are usually best for growing artichokes so the floral development will be slow and the buds will be of high quality. So, I think we want them to be out during the cool weather of early spring.

So now that I think of it, I wonder if it would be better for them to be in their permanent containers sooner rather than later. Since they're supposed to do their flowering before the heat of summer.

Also, I looked at the forecast (for my area at least) for the next few days, it supposed to get down in the 20's at night, so I wouldn't have the seedlings out at that temperature.

By the way, I ended up letting a few of the buds go all the way to flower. They're very pretty. The bees love them. Here's a picture.

Jen

if you go onto the web and type "growing artichokes from seeds" you get some interesting information. sorry i couldn't highlite one for you but i can't remember which one i used.

i just checked the forecast and i think for the next week the lows are gonna be in the 30's

"if you go onto the web and type "growing artichokes from seeds" you get some interesting information."

But of course! I've googled this many times and read everything I could find. Still there's really not a lot of real information for growing in this region and specifics of what to do when. That is why I started this thread to hear from those that have done it before.

I can only share what my experience is, and what works for me may not for others.

wsell, i'm gonna use your advice and expertise and do whatyou have done. i will put them in the basement sometimes this week and keep them there until its time to put into the garden which will be june 1st.

Now I'm sorry I didn't plant artichokes. Rtl, I suppose it is much too late for a transplant even?

I'm surprised no one from CA showed up here. Up around Watsonville, I think more artichokes are grown than anywhere else. And the interesting thing is that there are so many types and sizes you never see in a store. Little baby artichokes that seem so tender, you could probably eat the whole thing.

Could I grow these in fall?

Actually, tomatofreak, I would still put a transplant in. Get a big one if you can. You need to keep them watered well when it heats up. And, you can grow them in the fall but a freeze will get them so you have to protect. Not to worry though, if they freeze they should come right back in the spring.

One of the obscure seed newsletters I get just mentioned this:

Ow, I think I'll skip that one! Beautiful flowers though.

Any luck/tips with growing artichokes in containers? I want to try them in the greenhouse next summer in containers. Thanks.

i have been growing them this year for the very first time. i have them in five gallon containers and they look great but so far i have not seen one artichoke.i am away this week but i did post pictures of them somewhere in the vegetable garden forum.

I bought an artichoke plant (it didn't say what kind) from Home Depot and planted it in November. The plant is definitely alive, but not growing really big (I read they get to be 6 feet across). It hasn't bloomed yet. It just keeps producing more leaves, a few at a time as the lower ones dry out and die. I have kept it well watered. Any ideas. I am in Hawaii.
Thanks

i wish i could not unfortunately i am new to growing this stuff and i have no idea what to expect.

good luck

Well the jury's still out on my plants.

Out of the 12 I planted I have 4 left. Sometimes I come home and the look dead. Then they pop back up and look fine.

They seem to like cool moist weather as mine always seem to look best in the morning after we've had some rain.

all i can tell you is that my plants are very big but i see no sings whatsoever of little artichokes growing. is there anyone here that knows about when i should start seeing something??

Herbie

From everything I've read, you shouldn't expect to get buds until year 2. Something about them needing to have a frost hit them

BB

Okay.. I'm in Calif.. I grew some from plants I got at HD and they produced just a month or so after planting.. but the ants got so bad I destroyed them.. it took 20 minutes of washing to get the ants/bugs out of one artichoke!
I had several buds that were not getting very big.. too much trouble for my taste.. even though I love artichokes! I'll just buy them and use the garden space for something else..

bb - the seedes i bought stated that they did not need this. the instructions were bizzarr. (sp) after the seeds were planted you had to keep the temps ab about 80-85 degrees for 8 hours a day and then 65 degress or so for 16 hours a day. if that wasn't bad enough when you were ready to plantthem out you had to give them 250 hours of temps 50 degress or lower but to protect again frost. when its daylight i will go out and take some pictures of the plants. they look terrific but i don't even know where the artichokes are should be appearing. do they grow right down in the middle of the plant?? anyone kinow, give me a buzz. thanks.

Hello. Here is a picture of an artichoke bud that is just starting to emerge. I had to spread the leaves apart with my fingers to see it. This is what you will first see.

Here is a bud further along. It starts to pop out even more.

Here is what they look like once their stalks grow up tall and secondary buds appear as well. This photo is from 8/28 last year.

wow jenhillphoto good job. Do you overwinter them in the ground?

First of all, in my limited experience, they do not like to be hot. They do a lot of growing in the cool of spring. Like most perennials, there is no guarantee that you will get buds the first year. If you do not chill them adequately, they will not produce buds the first year. It is fooling the plant that it has gone through a winter that makes it produce buds the first year. Those 250 hours of cool temperatures (35-50 degrees) are important. If you don't get buds this year, over winter the plants and they should produce next year.

dahilianut-our posts crossed. I overwintered the plants you see in the pictures above. There were 6 plants. In the spring, only half of them sprouted any growth. After waiting until May, I pulled the plants that weren't putting on much growth. I kept one plant from last year. That one plant has produced buds this year and much earlier than last year. So I'd say, if you can get them to survive the winter, it is worth it to overwinter them. If I had put them in containers, that would make it much easier to protect them in the winter, but I didn't. So I mounded leaves over them last winter and then put a plastic tarp, weighed down with rocks and bricks.

I put 5 new plants this spring of a different artichoke and they have not produced any buds as of yet. I still have hope for them though. The plants are large now and look like they should produce any day now.

Edited to add: I plant mine in raised beds. Leave them in there over the winter. All of the pictures I posted today are from last year's plants.

This message was edited Jul 27, 2008 1:29 PM

those pictures look great. thanks

Jen - how many artichokes per plant do you get with the Imperial Star cultivar? Thanks for sharing your experiences. I was one of those who thought northern zones could not grow artichokes and never bothered to do any research!

-Kim

That's a hard question Kim, because I haven't kept good records when it comes to the artichokes. I get so caught up with my tomatoes... artichokes get forgotten about. Anyway, I'd say half dozen per plant. You get one terminal bud that's nice and big and the others are small.

That is funny about tomatoes. I would say I am more than caught up in my tomato plants. Artichokes would have to be survival of the fittest when the tomatoes need pruning and tying.

You got that right bluekat.

BB

I'm growing them too. The big one in the middle has sort of "opened" in the last few days. I mean the "petals" aren't as closely together as they were before. Does that mean it's ready to pick?
Beth

Yes! Maybe a few days past picking - quick get out there girl!