Lesson 6.6.0 CHINESE WATER CHESTNUT - Eleocharis dulcis (E,tuberosa)

 

 

ORGANIC FARMIMG COURSE

AGRO-ECONOMY Lesson 6.6.0 

CHINESE WATER CHESTNUT - Eleocharis dulcis (E,tuberosa)

 

The water chestnut originated in China and Australasia. Water chestnuts typically grow in marshes and the aerial parts resemble a reed.

Water chestnuts are a high yielding corm that grows in mud and they have long been prized as a delicacy in South East Asia.  The water chestnut growing in Australia came with the original Chinese settlers.  There is a native species growing in northern Australia and it is popular with the aborigines.

The water chestnut is a tropical /subtropical sedge and they are easily grown in permaculture gardens.  A few strategically placed baby baths in the garden beds make attractive growing containers for the water chestnuts. A regular bath can also be incorporated into the garden and used to grow the water chestnuts.  They make an interesting addition to the microclimate in a food forest garden and they are very productive with minimum care.

Cultivation

Water chestnuts are planted in mid spring to allow at least seven frost-free months of growing time.  The soil in which they are to be planted can be well limed and a rich sandy soil of about 20cm deep with a pH 6-7.5 is going to give the most productivity.  I have found that my clay soil does just as well and it is the high nutrient value plus the compost and rotted manure that gives me an abundance of water chestnuts.  It’s best not to crowd them out as they do very well with one plant in a baby bath and three planted in a bathtub.  One plant grown in favourable conditions can grow into a space of one square metre and yield around three kilos of corms!

At the end of the growing season it will be chockablock with the sedge and packed with water chestnuts in the mud down below. It is best not to grow any other aquatic plants where the water chestnuts are to be grown and if mosquito larvae is a problem there is a tiny little water weed available that floats on top of the water until the sedge will cover the entire surface area. When this happens mozzies won’t have enough oxygen to live in the water.

Initially it is best to sprout the corms in pots first and then plant them out.  The soil should be nice and wet but the young shoots should not drown at this stage.  It can be a nuisance however if it’s very rainy weather at this early stage of settling in the young plants as they can end up floating and dying off before their roots have settled into the mud down below.  Generally it is recommended to wait for a good flush of growth to occur and when the young sedge is around 30cm in length the rain can be allowed to flood the container it is growing in.  There is no need to bring the water level higher than a few inches above the soil. 

With the next crop however there are always a few corms from the previous season that will pop up no matter how much water is in the container.  These will cope just fine as their rootlets are already anchored down into the mud.

 Just a word about styrene boxes.  When I was first introduced to growing water chestnuts it was all the rage to plant them in reused broccoli boxes.  We have since found out that the polystyrene boxes are not good for growing food in as there are toxins in the styrene that can leach into the growing plants. Text from the roots, Elisabeth Ferkonia (Aus.) PDC studied with Bill Mollison.




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