Wondering about Horseradish

I have a few buckets of horseradish root that I dug up out of a neighbours yard. I'm going to transplant them around my fruit trees but the only instructions I can find online for planting, talk about root cuttings you buy from nurseries, which have a crown. Many of the roots I have were underground, and so they're without a crown. How deep should I plant these root pieces, and how far from the tree trunks should they be planted? I'm using them for the health of the trees more than for getting a crop but both would be nice.

I'll answer the first part of my question for those who also wanted to know. I found this on youtube. Ah youtube...

Deer seem to love horseradish leaves here.

Does anyone know how far from the trunk I should plant the roots, with the goal of healing the tree/warding off pests?

i eat horseraddish all the time, but i never heard it can heal trees... i only know its good insect repeller. i used to grow it next to potatoes against leptinotarsa.
i think pieces of root will grow anyway. just put them in the ground and water.

if you till horseradish, it will grow everywhere..it is like a weed.

put it where it will never get tilled up if you are still tilling (we are no till)..otherwise it will take over your entire garden.

if you don't till it it won't move

Indeed!  If your tiller chops a root into 100 pieces, you will gain 100 plants.

I ended up planting the horseradish roots about 2-3 feet from the trunk, at the edge of the circle of mulch around the trees. Each root spaced about 2 feet apart from eachother, circling around the tree trunk.  I don't plan to dig up these roots for harvest, so I figured that it'd be alright that I planted them so close to the trunk. I'm hoping that this wards off the leaf miners and other pests that have hit several of the fruit trees.

I don't till the soil so they shouldn't spread too badly. Even if they do, I'll just have more mulch plants and/or roots to eat, sell, or transplant.

I might plant more horseradish at the (eventual) mature dripline of the trees (approx. 7-10 feet from the trunk) in the spring but I'll wait and see the success rate for my transplants first.

I bought a horseradish root from the farmers market and cut it in pieces, (before I knew better) and planted a piece.  It grew fine.  But after researching I found out if you plant the whole root you get more "fruit" LOL sooner. Oh well, I'm just happy it worked. The point is all you have to do is plant the root and it will gorw.  if you plant the whole root it will produce new roots even sooner!

I know this is an old thread but this seemed like the right place for a horseradish question.

I have recently discovered the stuff relieves my allergies and have been going through a lot of the store bought mixes. I've tried a number of brands but the one that starts with a K is far more spicy/ potent than all the others I've tried. If I was putting it on food I might want something a little mellower but I'm not. I'm looking for sinus clearing eye watering stuff..  finally my question.

What makes that brand so potent. Considering the ingredients amongst all brands are very similar I'm under the impression it's the variety of horseradish? Am I wrong? If I'm right what are the spicier varieties? If I'm wrong what's the secret to strong horseradish? Is it the recipe? The growing conditions?

Thanks for any input, links, any info whatsoever.

Stu Horton wrote:I have recently discovered the stuff relieves my allergies and have been going through a lot of the store bought mixes. I've tried a number of brands but the one that starts with a K is far more spicy/ potent than all the others I've tried. If I was putting it on food I might want something a little mellower but I'm not. I'm looking for sinus clearing eye watering stuff..  finally my question.

What makes that brand so potent. Considering the ingredients amongst all brands are very similar I'm under the impression it's the variety of horseradish? Am I wrong? If I'm right what are the spicier varieties? If I'm wrong what's the secret to strong horseradish? Is it the recipe? The growing conditions?

Thanks for any input, links, any info whatsoever.

I understand that horseradish gets its heat from the length of time the grated root is exposed to air. If you want it really hot, wash and peel the root, then zest (really finely grate) it so it more of it has exposure to the air (you can also puree it, but zesting is reportedly best, though time consuming). Leave it about three minutes, then add 2-3 tbs. vinegar and ½ tsp of salt for each cup of horseradish. For mild sauces, most people add the vinegar and salt immediately after pureeing. The vinegar stops the oxidation action.

I have been growing horseradish for 20 years.  I eat tons of the greens. I put them in rice, beans, pasta, or any similar dish.  I don't till and it stays in the same place. Cruciferous vegetables fight cancer and help our gut microbiome. This is, in my experience, the easiest and most productive cruciferous vegetable to grow.  I am amazed how few people eat the leaves. I am anti-cancer and I vote, with my mouth.
John S
PDX OR

I have no references on this.

At some point, you put grated horseradish into vinegar.  Apparently if you use apple cider vinegar, the solution will change colour (and possibly degrade).  Apparently, if you use white wine vinegar or rice vinegar, it won't.  I've seen nothing about other vinegars.  And this is just one anecdotal report.

Why post?  I would like to plant horseradish from seed, I am not finding seed.  Will roots from some place much warmer than where I am, going to do well?  Do I need to let a couple of patches mature, and develop seed, before I start to develop horseradish meant for where I live?

I can buy a couple of ounces of root (for planting) from one place for $4 or so plus shipping (not free).  I can be 4 ounces for a bit more.  ... I can buy 4 pounds of root for maybe 10 times the 2 ounces (32 times the stuff at 10 times the price).  I am on 40 acres, I can plant this all over.  Maybe the wild rose won't like it, and go away?    Someone said deer in his area like eating it.  I have lots of deer (white tail, mule, moose), and I really don't want any of them around.

I hope to have fruit and nut trees growing here in the future.  Growing horseradish under said trees seems to be a good idea.  So, starting a bunch of horseradish patches around the property to allow them to go to seed, and produce new plants from seed in the vicinity seems a reasonable thing to do.

https://www.westcoastseeds.com/blogs/how-to-grow/how-to-grow-horseradish

There seem to be several seed suppliers out there.

Edit, those all appear to be roots! That is wierd. I will see if mine make any. I'll send you some.

West Coast Seeds had horseradish seeds on their catalog a coupe of years ago, which I ordered.  They didn't deliver any, as they said they were "bad".  They haven't had seeds (that I have seen) since then.

As near as I can tell, the path to developing plants meant for your conditions, is through seed.  Landracing is a theme on this.

The biggest "lot" of root I can get is 5 pounds (I could get multiple lots, but I loose the less than linear scale-up if I do).  I have an established plot of fruit trees I want to start horseradish in.  I have new plot of fruit trees that are just getting started, and maybe horseradish will help keep the grass at arms length.  I have  a plot of pine and poplar, that I put black currant in.  Maybe the black currant would like some horseradish for a neighbour?  My lawn is ridiculously large, my plan is to move much of it to something productive.  But outside the lawn, I have lots of other places.  I was kind of looking at the "dead wood" process for much of this.

1. Lay some dead wood on the ground where you want to plant as the snow is about to disappear.
2. Every once in a while, move the peaces so as to uniformly shade out the species growing there.
3. When the ground temperature gets warm enough, plant your seed (or root) in a central spot of this area.
4. Occasionally reposition the dead wood to shade out "weeds" around your desire plant.
... And in the spirit of so many Internet postings.
n. Profit.

Thank you very much for the offer of sending seeds TJ.

It sounds like you don't know if you have any seeds.  How about I get a rain check, and if you have seeds, I may take you up on it?

I suspect most Permies are getting ready for spring now.  I just got out of an exceptional cold spell which got down to -40.  Spring ain't any time soon here.

Happy growing, people.