Oca, Individual Lines

Oca information and growing instructions

You can also view these individual lines from the varieties section, where you can see photos of the cultivars.  They are gathered together here so you don’t have to click around as much.

Oca is normally propagated vegetatively, by replanting tubers, which are clones. Probably because oca has been grown this way for hundreds or thousands of years, it is very difficult to get true, botanical seed, which is the key to breeding new varieties.

When you grow out true oca seed, you will get a brand new variety that you can maintain indefinitely by replanting the tubers. Plants that are propagated vegetatively are very appealing this way: if you get a plant that you like, you have a stable new variety that is all your own.  Of course, we can’t guarantee what you will get. Oca is an experimental crop in North America. You may get several excellent new varieties, or you may get weak and inferior varieties, or you may get nothing at all.

These seeds are collected from individual lines.  They are open pollinated, so you know the mother variety (the plants that we collected the seeds from) but not the pollinators.  We grow in rows, so in most cases the majority of the seeds will have been pollinated by the adjoining two varieties.  In the case of mid-styled varieties, there will also probably be some self-pollinated seeds.

Most of these seeds are available only every third year at best.  It is difficult to collect individual lines in sufficient quantity for sale.  Prices vary depending on how difficult it is to collect the seeds.

Most people will probably find our broad breeding mixes of greater interest, as they provide more genetic diversity.  These seeds may help you to select a variety similar to the parent more quickly.

Oca Seed Frequently Asked Questions

Growing instructions for true oca seed