Fresh
Wasabi is a highly prized culinary ingredient used mainly in elite
restaurants and sushi bars in Japan. What is often sold as Wasabi is
not. This is your chance to grow and market your own, especially if you
have the proper conditions for it. Normally found growing along
streambanks in Japan, this semi-aquatic plants needs constant flowing
groundwater to thrive. Mine is planted in spring fed gully on a hill,
so it is happy as it can be. Cultural needs are flowing water, well
drained gravelly river soils and part shade. Please read the following
if you are interested in starting an alternative crop and have the
water for it ... and yes it will grow in the East Coast to ZN 6 for
sure as well as the Pacific Northwest. Have fun.
I
must also add that I have sold these plants to Oklahoma and Minnesota.
Neither location are regions I would attempt to grow them in. Always
consider the source of origin. Japanese/Coastal Chinese or Korean
plants have a climate much different than the U.S. It is more than
climate zone COLD differences! Japan has wet summers and rather dry but
crisp and clear winters. That is the total opposite of Sequim WA. With
serious mitigation's I have more hope for the colder Minnesota
placement than I have for the Oklahoma one. Please contact me before
buying these plants for a climate zone that is questionable. Some
mitigations follow. Snowfall coverage etc. can make a huge difference,
but in a Nov. deep freeze without snow, I think the plants would be
toast. They are after all surface rooted and a 12" soil freeze will
kill them. A dry Oklahoma/Texas freeze is much different than one in
the Great Lakes region!
Mitigations:
Save one plant and re-plant into a pot for spring planting. Keep in a
cool greenhouse! Do what you would normally do for the second. For the
third plant. Create a semi-pond area (slope area being preferable) Put
the plant into this bermed planting area (mulch) and before a good
freeze .... FLOOD (six inches) it with water so it freezes over
permanently. Snow cover over that should protect the roots until
spring. In Spring, break down the berm to allow better drainage and
hope for the best.
I
had many questions about this plant. Here are some of my responses.
"I'm in central Ohio. I seriously doubt the plant would survive our
winters. I do have a good sized greenhouse and grow rare tropical fruit
trees. I don't let winter temps dip below 68 degrees. A good sunny day
will jack the temps up though. I just wondered if it would be possible
to raise some plants say under the benches to keep in mostly shade?
Could I just water more often? Trying to set up something elaborate to
simulate flowing water is out of the question. So this is mainly to
satisfy my curiosity and I'm always looking for something new and odd
to try."
Answer:
I live on the Olympic Peninsula, western WA. I have been growing them
for ten years and they have survived perhaps single digit temperatures.
Yes your suggestion sounds good. Here was my answer to a similar
question that never made it to the listing. "They naturally grow in
riparian soils, gravelly with silt, yet humus enriched from decomposed
leaves. My patch is a hill seepage that has decomposed basalt rock and
is well mulched by maple and alder leaves. This is IDEAL! I have also
grown them in regular nursery pots so that does work as well. My
recommendation would be DEEP tree pots that have more or less an open
bottom. These go into special flats that have a screenlike base. Hard
to explain. Shallow pots with side holes drain more poorly than those
that have bottom holes and "legs." (a space between the pot and the
flat.) I added sharp grit, basalt, pumice -- anything that retains some
moisture yet drains. Very coarse Perlite might help as well. Another
suggestion and cheap pot idea. Use a 12 corrugated drainage pipe they
use in culverts. Public works people often have scrap left around and
they can be gotten cheaply. Place on base, made of 1/4" screen and 1x4
wood. Set this on top of some bricks so there is air beneath."
