BY ALDONA BIRD
Despite winter’s best efforts to linger, spring has arrived and with April comes a new sensation. You or those around you might start emitting … a smell … almost garlicky, but not quite.
It is the aroma of ramps heartily enjoyed. These native alliums grow wild. So wild in fact, that cultivation remains an unachieved challenge.
I called my friend Silas, a ramp enthusiast, who has observed, researched and attempted to cultivate them since 2016.
“I read basically all the literature I can find on ramps that’s been published,” he said. The bulk of research comes from Quebec, but some studies have been conducted in the U.S.
“They are becoming so popular, and there is a very real threat that they will become endangered in time [from over harvesting],” he said, adding “they are delicious, and they are so important to Appalachian lore.”
The challenge of ramp cultivation motivates Silas.
“It’s just a really intriguing life cycle,” he said. One interesting aspect of this bulbed plant is that it never goes dormant.
People begin harvesting the leaves at this time of year. The distinctive green shade of the wide flat leaves stand out against the still brown forest floor.
The bulbs grow in size as the season progresses. In late May and June ramps flower and then set seeds.
“It’s pollinated by various flies and native bees, probably,” Silas said.
The bulbs slowly slim down over winter, before starting to plump up again in spring. The roots remain active in fall, so Silas said fall and winter are not good times to transplant — better start a new patch in May or June when the bulbs are largest.
But let’s rewind — the seeds land on the forest floor where they usually rest through fall and winter, to germinate the following year. This pattern results from the seeds needing a warm period before cold stratification. Silas said only about 5% of the seeds germinate.
After germination, the roots pull the bulbs deeper and deeper into the soil.
Silas said he expected the large bulbs to have stored energy in the summer, to help the plants regrow. But he found that they really need to be transplanted with roots intact as much as possible.
“It is pretty clear that there is a strong mycorrhizal connection to trees,” Silas said. He said ramps thrive in moist forests near a variety of trees, including beech, sugar maple and tulip poplar.
Some studies suggest that trees donate carbon to ramps, but Silas pointed out that this is difficult to study and prove. He said research showing that carbon increased in ramp bulbs during their leafless phase. If the bulb is above ground at all it will also photosynthesize.
To keep the population of this plant from dwindling, as so many wonderful native plants have done, we need to refrain from over harvesting.
“To be very safe, just take one leaf per plant,” Silas said. This is important especially if harvesting from public property, not knowing how much of the patch has already been, or will later be, harvested.
If the patch is on your own land, and very large, Silas said research suggests thinning the middle of the patch is good practice, as some ramps begin to die if they grow too densely.
He said a study conducted in the Smokey Mountains found that harvesting just 10% can be an unsustainable practice.
This year as I enjoy eating ramps and wearing their pungent perfume I’ll think about their life cycle and how best to enjoy them sustainably.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County.
