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| So I just got some horseradish from a friend. Since I have learned my hard lessons in the past, my first question is always, "does this spread?" And since as it turns out, it spreads PROLIFICALLY, I am wondering if I should just plant this in a container. Farm and Fleet has galvanized pails like you see below. I have planted my mint in these and it's done well on the porch. I used a nail and punched some holes in the bottom of the pail and on the bottom sides for drainage, and I have them up on rounds to help water drain out. I am wondering if I could do horseradish the same way to avoid future headaches. I bring the mint pails inside to overwinter in my garage, since the winters here are harsh enough that they have killed container mint roots in the past. Wondering if horseradish needs the same treatment too. Thanks for any advice! |
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| Growing horseradish in a container is fine but what size is the pail? Presumably one grows horseradish for the roots so you want to give the roots room to grow. So a bigger container (and lighter weight potting mix, which is preferable for container plants anyway) is better. |
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| I'm not sure I would agree that it spreads prolifically. It is way easier to contain than mint because it doesn't send out so many new offshoots. They can end up a bit of a ways away from the parent sometimes, but I've never had any real trouble keeping them more or less where I want. If you do use a container, I think you'll want something bigger than a pail. They are good sized plants. Also you'll likely need to move whatever pot it is in to somewhere protected for the winters if you want it as a perrenial. |
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| Just a question. Why not plant it in the yard instead or the garden? That is what I have done with my oregano, since it spreads so much. It is kept under control when I mow around it. Wouldn't that work with horseradish too? |
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| Hmm) I had that idea too - to plant it in a container. I just couldn't afford the beast taking over my small yard, but I needed a lot of it for canning, so I took huge plastic tub, made holes in the bottom, placed it in the big rock in my natural hillside rock garden, filled it with some pot soil and planted my horseradish in it. It grew, but without any enthusiasm... So by the end of the summer, I decided to pull out tiny unhappy plants . To my surprise, it didn't come out of the loose soil... Under suspicion, I moved the tub. And yes, it was connected to the ground. The root from the plant found the hole, went through, spread under the tub(remember, it was on the rock!), found a crack in between of two big rocks... Now I have a horseradish plant right in the middle of my rock garden. Good thing though, it doesn't spread. Even spreading champion only able to fight that much with two huge rоcкs). Now, I built a standalone HIGH bed (2.5') at the end of my yard and planted it there. So far, so good, second year in progress. What ever will make out of it(if any), I am going to kill by cutting. From my fighting experiences with Japanese knot weed I know nothing can grow, if you do not give a chance to the leaves to be above the ground for more then 1 day. |
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| Let's clarify: horseradish doesn't so much as spread (not like mint, or dill, or certain flowers) but once it is planted, it is very, very strong and hardy and hard to kill or move. You, the gardener, must manage it, or it will, eventually, spread. The first time I planted it, I buried a five gallon bucket in one of garden beds. Of course, I drilled holes in the bucket. And just like Galinas, the plant found the holes and grew long, winding, roots right through the holes into the bed. Now, every summer, I have a nice, large (5 ft in diameter) horseradish plant in that bed. Every fall I dig it up and find every single piece of root I can - last year, I dug down three feet. I never can get it all and every year it comes back. I just manage it best I can. Like Lucille, my family uses alot of horseradish, so now I have two LARGE pots of horseradish on my patio. They aren't bad looking plants, so they fit in with all the flowers and such. But I keep these pots on cement, always, so the roots do not have a chance to work their way out of the pot into the ground. I also leave these pots out all winter with no ill-effects. They always come back every spring. |
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- Posted by lucilleclifton Zone 4 (My Page) on Mon, May 19, 14 at 21:12
| I may or may not harvest/ "do something with it" every year. My husband and I have never gone through a jar of commercially made horseradish, so I can't imagine our appetite for it suddenly quadrupling. My ideal situation would minimize risk of spreading, yet also give the plant the basic space it needs to thrive. Sounds like reviews are mixed on the success of horseradish in a container. Melfield, how big is your porch container? |
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| Hi Lucille - the porch container is 5g. With a container that size it would need to be harvested at least every two years or it will not be happy. You can always harvest and give it away?? |
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- Posted by lucilleclifton Zone 4 (My Page) on Wed, May 21, 14 at 18:07
| Hmmm, good to know. Thanks. Maybe I just don't plant it. Can I process the roots now, that my friend gave me? Or do they have to be in the fall to taste good? |
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