Ready to stifle those yawns? It's time 
But now back to the the seedlings - I am pleasantly surprised by the vigour of their root systems, shown both individually and collectively here. There's nothing so pleasing as the sight of young roots doing what young roots should - ramifying through the growing medium:
to pot on the yacon seedlings I described previously. They seem to be making rapid growth and are in definite need of some extra elbow room. I think I can detect some differences in hypocotyl colouration between individuals - it will be interesting to see if these are maintained in the adult plants in terms of variations in tuber colour.
Their progress has cheered me up - I was feeling a bit depressed by the discovery last week that all my adult yacon varieties must have perished in the big freeze of last winter and have now begun to rot rapidly in response to rising temperatures.
Here they are, post parting, ensconced in their new homes. I'm hoping that any shock or separation anxiety they have suffered will be short lived.
And here's an update shot, taken a few days after the move described above. They're not exactly what you'd call hesitant in exploiting their new found freedom.
Yacon is dead. Long live yacon.
Comments
My success is really just your success. I think dormancy is likely to be an issue with yacon seeds. There are plenty of other seeds just sitting there doing nothing - but I'm sure they're viable. I know that variable dormancy is found in other daisy family plants. Crack that little problem and breeding new varieties will be a whole lot easier.
Tubers are so slow to start into growth that your seedlings look like they may leave them standing.
Sorry to hear about the parent plants' demise. I might be able to find a couple of replacement 'standard yacon' tubers if that's any help (tho' there's still no life showing yet).
Like Frank said, the shape of the leaves is kind of funny. When tubers grow, the leaves have a very defined shape. In your case it's like you've started with cotyledons, then gone to leaves that lie somewhere between the cotyledons and final leaf shape.
I wonder if something similar may happen with the tubers. For example the first year may be different from the second, as the second will be the first 'true' year grown from stem tubers.
Hi Ian - thanks for the offer, but my guardian angel Frank has offered to help out with new stock. Hope your plants pull through OK.
Hi Patrick
My guess is that they're physiologically immature at the moment and that may account for the underveloped leaf shape. As they reach maturity and start to flower, or at least develop tubers, I am envisaging that they will take on the usual shape. Time will tell.