relentless II

the jerusalem artichokes are exhibiting a couple of behaviors that give an indication to their invasive nature...the tuber in the top photo is putting out multiple shoots to increase the leaf area that feeds the roots and so produce more energy to produce more tubers during the season...there is more than one at work at this strategy in the garden...the plant int the second photo has sent out a rhizome and established a new shoot at some distance form the parent plant...it will form a new root system ( much like a strawberry's daughter plant ) and enable the production of more tubers that way...if the sunchokes are relentless it is their dna that makes them so...you can see in the top left of the second photo that a couple of plants are running single, central stalks...these will be the tallest of the bunch and will utilize height to produce more leaves to feed the roots...multiple ways to set tubers and all of them lead to an expanded colony.