Tiger nut

Family

Cyperaceae

Habit

perennial

Height

1.1 m

Spread

2.5 m

Growth

medium

Lifespan

5 years

First yield

after 1 year

Hardiness

zone 6–11

Shade tolerance

full sun

Soil

Sand, Silt, Loam

Soil moisture

moist – very wet

pH

5 – 7.5

It needs a warm, fully sunny position and evenly moist, loose, free-draining soil. In open ground the species is tricky: it propagates through countless daughter tubers that persist in the soil and resprout from every overlooked remnant, and in arable farming it counts as one of the hardest weeds to control. For the garden, practical experience therefore consistently recommends growing it in contained vessels — a large tub or raised bed, with good results. Mice go for the tubers deliberately, so a mouse-proof construction is worthwhile. The real work is the harvest: the tubers sit singly and scattered through the rootball and have to be picked out, which takes patience. Yields of around three hundred grams per square metre are quoted; one trial with older planting stock in pots, by contrast, produced nothing at all, so the quality of the planting material evidently makes the difference.

It yields a starchy tuber that can be eaten raw from a small area and persists in the soil without any care at all — the same property that makes it easy to grow as a crop makes it a problem in open ground. It is therefore a plant for a contained vessel, not for an open bed.