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Artichoke sprawling-need a second opinion!

Quercusrobur81Quercusrobur81 Posts: 231
in Plants
Hi there-I tied in my artichoke foliage last night as it was pretty battered by the recent winds and sprawling all over everything but now I’m wondering if that was the right thing to do? I know they are supposed to be pretty big and sprawling-am I restricting the flow of air? Worried it might cause rot/disease. Not tied too tight, like so: 
Any thoughts? Do people normally stake them/tie them in?

thanks!

Posts

  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    I'm envious!  Did you grow that from seed?  I keep trying, I've had them germinate but they get to about six inches high and fade away.  Do you get edible chokes?  Sorry I can't help with remedial action.
  • Quercusrobur81Quercusrobur81 Posts: 231
    Thanks for saying so josusa. I grew them from seed last year, they did produce some chokes last summer but I cut them off to give the plants a chance to focus on their roots to help get them through the winter-and they came back!  Mine started to look sickly in their pots when they were babies but as soon as they went into the ground they doubled in size within a few weeks, much happier there. Did you check yours for aphids? Mine had them quite badly and I had to do tedious daily checks on them all, rubbing the beasties off as I went. Glad you appreciate them.
  • UpNorthUpNorth Posts: 376
    If anything like cardoon, you can just rip off drooping or snapped leaves, lots more will follow . ... Plenty of water required. 
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I never yield mine, just cut off any leaves that are getting in the way, have been attacked by snails or aree going yellow. I grow mine for flowers rather than to eat so not as intensively as you.
    All I would say is that cutting off the large lower leaves never does any harm.
    Watch out for ant farms. Prime agricultural land for an ant farmer.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Singing GardenerSinging Gardener Posts: 1,237
    Mine are in their 3rd year now and sprawl all over the place but I just cut off any leaves that are in the way. Last year I had 10 plants but I've lost 2 over the winter - which is a good thing as we get far more artichokes than we can eat!
  • Quercusrobur81Quercusrobur81 Posts: 231
    Yum, can’t wait! Thanks for the replies, will cut it loose and cut back some of the tatty leaves (and watch out for ants...)
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