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Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
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Plant · P-265
Mashua
Tropaeolum tuberosum
Mashua is an Andean vining tuber, related to nasturtium, with a peppery flavor that sweetens after frost - the tubers, leaves and flowers are all edible. What actually limits it isn't cold but summer nights that fail to cool down: it needs nights to drop into the 50s-70s F even on hot days, and where nights stay near 80 F for weeks it grows poorly no matter how it's cared for. Beyond food, its tubers and foliage carry natural nematode- and pest-suppressing compounds that Andean growers interplant specifically for that effect. One cultivar bred for a longer critical day length can start forming tubers early enough to finish before a typical autumn frost, where the standard forms cannot.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 9–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Moderate · Wet
Vertical layer
Vine- Soil pH
- 5.3–7.5
- Plant type
- Vine
- Mature height
- 6–10 ft
- Mature spread
- 3.9–6.6 ft
- Plant spacing
- 6 ft
- Root type
- Stolon
- Spread pattern
- Seed
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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