You'd better buy yourself an approved respirator if you're going to blend that in the house. Really, it's unbelievably powerful. When you use Gold's hot horseradish you may think it's pretty hot. Well, garden horseradish is ten times the potency if not more. You'll see. Oh, it's also rather invasive so consider where you grow it.

talking about horseradish, I was taught that you only pick it in months with an R in them. When you dig it cut the top off and make an x in it lay on the ground and stomp on it, this way next year you will get 4 roots from one plant. You can clean and cut up the roots and freeze till mid winter when you can grind it. It is great to grind when you have a cold, clears the sinuses. Be ready to take alot of breaks when grinding to catch your breathe in a nearby room. stove exhaust fan helps a little but not a lot. Enjoy. Just add a heaping teaspoon to 1 cup of mayo for sauce.

I learned well grinding up hot peppers and going blind from the smoke. I have a setup for running a blender outdoors by the garage. I have a small table in the garage I put it outdoors and run an extension cord for electricity. Best on a slightly breezy day to blow away the bad stuff.

Do I have to wait for winter to harvest. do the roots have to freeze first.

What kind of soil is best for them. do they like it kind of dry or kind of wet and sandy or clay etc.

Actually my daughter is more into wasabi and horseradish. She really wants it. I like hot peppers more but horseradish in white cream sauce is real good on a sandwich or with meat or fish.

What happens if you throw a root into a pot of soup. will the cooking lose the heat or will it over heat and ruin the soup.

By the way every place I saw the roots for sale by the seed companies it was about $8 so the $2 I paid in the food store was a bargain. Commercial growers just have to be growing good genetics. So I am sure mine will do just fine.

Interestingly, after I purchased the roots I left them ont he kitchen counter a week or so and the roots went BAD all soft and were rotting so I planted them but they are doing just fine. These roots are tough. I was worried I had killed them. Then when they first came up I still was not so sure. But they have been above ground for a month so they must be alive.

Hey, dangould! I grow lots of horseradish. Bought a few roots online and situated them in one garden spot for about 3 years. Since they were becoming kind of large, I moved them to give them a little room. 3 plants became 8 plants because I couldn't dig deep enough to catch all the roots. I dug and moved some more; now I had 14 plants! I'm glad my children have moved to their own homes because they are now the proud recipients of far more horseradish than I could ever eat. But it sure is tasty! Maureen

Fun discussion!

I grow horseradish and try to manage it's tendency too grow a bit prolifically because I love the flavor. After its blended with a little vinegar in the winter, it seems to last for the entire year in a little tub in the fridge. Kind of like sour kraut maybe...?

Here are tidbits of things I've heard from relatives and older gardening friends, plus from my own experience about horseradish:

Plant in your potato patch- it keeps away potato beetles. (we don't have those here, but I plant it in my potato patch anyway:)

It is very invasive, so do be careful where you plant it, once in, it is very hard to get rid of.

I like to make a sauce with sour cream rather than mayo- it tastes cool/hot to me that way, and I love that sauce on so many things!

Use a horseradish leaf in each pickle jar to keep your pickles crisp. (Grape leaves also work for this)

Each year when harvesting in the winter (hadn't heard that about R months- interesting!) take just a little bit of the root to replace stock for next year. Any more than a bit grows too much, so share at this point or make a heck of a lot of ground horseradish! Just don't leave too much in the ground because it can be so overwhelming come summer.

Thanks for the interesting thread!
Diana

ny understanding is to plant the root sideways flat to the surface. then the new roots grow off that and downward. that way you can tell the new from the old. My understanding is not to use the old roots. but I dont really know.

I had been thinking of growing it in a trash barrel. you know the standard 30 gallon rubbermaid. I did not do that. But that might contain the roots from going wild.

I wonder how deep the roots go. I know even lettuce can go very deep. much deeper than 3 feet. So I would guess the horseradish must go a mile deep.

So far the comments are great. We can always use more comments. Please share your stories.

By the way The japanese sushi pay big money for wasabi sauce. It turns out that almost all wasabi sauce is made from horseradish and not wasabi. Apparently even most kinds that claim they are made from wasabi. I guess real wasabi is just way too expensive.

It's really scary just how deep the roots will go if the soil is good enough. I only have about 2 feet of soil until shale so the roots go sideways and will come up 6 feet away from the main planting so I just run over the ones that have escaped with the lawnmower for control.

Usually, the horseradish pieces that you'd order online have a slanted cut on one end that goes a bit more towards the surface but essentially you just lay them in the trench sideways, cover them and stand back. The old roots get tougher and more fibrous after a few years but they still taste good.

Best for me is that the voles usually eat half the crop every year and I still have way too much to harvest in the fall!

Here is a link that might be useful: Horseradish root depth

i just started some horsey about 2 weeks ago and it looks as if it "took".

will it be ready this fall or must i wait until next year to get my 1st harvest ?

wildlifeman

I love horseradish. And it's a good thing I do. I bought 3 roots 30 years ago and have not been without horseradish since. It is hard to wipe out in any spot. It is DEEP rooted. Years ago I tried to dig some out. You would need a backhoe AND you would have to sift the soil to remove ANY roots. You can leave it lying in the sun for days and if it gets covered it will start to grow again. I made the mistake of rototilling the patch after picking without realizing I still had tiny roots in the soil and EVERY one is a new horseradish plant. It is great to have but I never know where a new plant will pop up. Plan your spot carefully it WILL have horseradish for a long time. :-)

I've been toying with the idea of planting horseradish in my yard but am afraid of it's invasiveness. Is it possible to use some cardboard pier tubing (left over from a decking project) as a root barrier?

Hi,
I have my horseradish at the edge of the veggie garden in a damp clay spot. It does spread, but slowly in the conditions I described. In good soil, I can see it going crazy, lol.
When making horsradish, you definitely need to do it outside. I remember my husband trying to grate it inside, not a pretty site,lol. I bought a food processor a few years ago. It is wonderful for getting the whole process done fast and less painfully.
Remy

That link about the root depth and spread gives quite alot to think about, and dread! Gardening on a 45 degree slope, I can't be digging up deep and wide roots like that without creating a geological hazard event. So I was thinking, what about horseradish in one of my notorious 20x30" plastic pots? Or do I need to move over to one of those 55 gallon drums with holes in the bottom? Or maybe borrow an idea from the giant veggies forum, and use a huge length of orangeburg (sewer pipe) standing on end for the root to go down! Has anyone done anything like that?

I think using a 30 gallon rubber maid trash bin would work find. However. NO HOLES ON THE BOTTOM. or the roots will grow down through the holes. so holes on the sides of the barrel. Or better might be to mount the barrel up off the ground so as to air prune the roots.

But of course I have never done any of this as yet.

wildlifeman - harvest it in the spring. Maureen

Thanks for all the tips, I may just plant some in my yard. Don't have much room for veggies mostly herbs. This hard ground should be good for something. We always had our horseradsh in a area where we didn't keep anything else and would till it under every couple years, back in Michigan.

thanks maureen.

am excited i can harvest my horsey starting next spring !

if i could have only 1 veggie in my garden this is it.

wildlifeman

Great thread

holly - 2006,

I don't think cardboard will restrain the roots for long. It will get wet and breakdown under ground. I use 32 gallon
containers buried in the ground.

You're right! I just went out and checked - the sono-tube is gone. I thought that the deck footings were looking a little spiffier this year.