I have a healthy horseradish plant, and I’m also running out of horseradish root (from which I grew the plant). What is the best way to disinter my plant, cut off a piece of root, and re-inter it so that it survives and thrives? @bogman?
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Usually, the best time to harvest and replant horseradish is during early spring, before it gets hot. Once there’s a lot of foliage, the plant will suffer uprooting and likely wilt down. The plants are pretty tough. Smaller side roots can be cut off and planted vertically, putting the end closest to the main taproot up. If you harvest part of the main root, you may cause branching, so you’ll need to trim root branches off, in thle fall, to force a single, fat root. Before replanting, You can cut off most of the foliage to 3 inch nubs. The leaves feed the root and vice-versa. So it’s best to try and keep the two in balance.
If the weather is very hot where you are, avoid damaging the root. Heat stress and wounds can make horseradish vulnerable to fungal rot.
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Thank you! I had recently trimmed the leaves back anyway (the aphids got it), and I’ll wait for the weather to cool down some before harvesting part of the root. Much appreciated.
Beware, those roots have a habit of really moving about and taking over some turf. Choose your spot wisely.
