christmas rhizomes

the yacon is flourishing under the lights and i have already harvested some of the tubers that were growing near the surface...there are more down deeper but those can wait until the plants expire...but tubers wasn't what i was after to day...i was looking for rhizomes that grow out of the root crown at the base of the plant..i was not disappointed ( second photo )...all the plants had each produced one and so it was time to propagate plants for next season...they are fair sized...three were a handful...and if the knobby and somewhat irregular shape looks vaguely familiar from other photos on this blog it may be because yacon is yet another member of the sunflower family and its rhizomes bear family resemblance to jerusalem artichokes...i made up three containers with a mix of compost, potting soil, and vermiculite...allowing room to back fill as they grow...planted the rhizomes a couple of inches deep...and put them under the lights...now it's time to wait..it's almost time for christmas dinner too...i will be attempting to propagate yacon from cuttings as well...to see if i can succeed and to try to further expand the 2016 yacon population...if all this pans out there will be more tubers and rhizomes come sometime in july...more as it comes up