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Post by imgrimmer on Oct 5, 2017 17:05:32 GMT -5
Could you see anything? I have an account but also when I am logged out I see the info. With an account you can order any accession, like you do in regular webshops.
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Post by imgrimmer on Oct 5, 2017 17:07:58 GMT -5
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Post by reed on Oct 6, 2017 8:03:59 GMT -5
Thanks, that one worked, I was able to read all the info. If I understood it right this particular one rarely blooms which rules it out for my purposes.
I don't really need varieties for northern climates, my season isn't really all that short. I just like to focus on short season in all my crops, the faster something goes from planting to harvest the less chance something will happen to it. With some things I can grow seed to seed twice in one season. If it turns out that my seeds work for friends with an actual short season, that's just gravy.
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Post by reed on Oct 6, 2017 20:19:43 GMT -5
Here is close up of seed capsules and pedicels. The one on the right is sweet. Uniformly brown the whole length. Ones like this make a nice little crack sound and drop nice hard black seeds. I'm not sure about the ones on the left, I don't think it is just that they aren't quite ready. Seems like if the base of the pendicel stays swollen like that instead of drying uniformly it tends to stay that way, never finishes up like the one on the right. They also, even if you wait another couple days have a higher % of larger brown seeds. You see both on the same plant so don't know that it is genetic although some plants have more that others. The larger brown seeds go ahead and dry down but stay a little lighter color. I think they are fine especially based on the much higher than expected germ rate this year. More observation needed here, just think it's kind of interesting.
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Post by steev on Oct 6, 2017 21:54:28 GMT -5
I begin to think you're enjoying this project; live long and prosper.
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Post by reed on Oct 8, 2017 8:22:03 GMT -5
Thank you and yes I'm having a great time with my sweet potatoes.
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Post by reed on Oct 9, 2017 9:03:12 GMT -5
I didn't intend or expect to be saving clones of my seed grow plants anywhere near this soon in this project but I have some where I just can't bring myself to discard or eat the last of. At this rate I'll soon, actually already am pretty overwhelmed by the scale of the project considering the garden area I have to work with. Growing in relatively small pots helps and I'm going to expand the overall area next year as well. I'm also looking into what hoops a person has to jump through to trade or sell anything other than seeds. Below are the plants I'm gonna try to keep as houseplants till next year. I also have roots of all but a couple of them. They all have traits I like, having short vines or bushy growth, bloom at least moderately well and coincidentally were all in the first to germinate group. One other, the first to bloom and first to seed isn't in this group cause it has a long trailing vine habit but I'm keeping it's roots. #1 - I call "Bushy Bloomer" it was fourth to germinate, second to bloom and second to set seeds. It made probably 1/2 or maybe more of the total seeds this year. It is the only one still in it's pot so it's later seeds, which might be crossed to later bloomers can finish up. I'm anxious to see what it's roots look like but won't be discouraged if they are stringy. Even if they are I'm sure some % of its offspring will not be. #2 & #3 - These are volunteers, neither made seeds or roots but considering rabbits kept them clipped to the ground all season I'm not holding it against them. They are both trying to bloom now and hey, they volunteered so they deserve a chance. #4 - Love this one, its a compact vine, not quite bushy and made a nice big cream colored root of still unknown interior color. It's a moderate to poor seed producer, maybe 20 total but with the nice root it's worth keeping. #5 & #6 - Both made nice roots with white interior and purple skins. Both especially #6 are extreme bush, spreading not more than 2 feet. I'm amazed that such small plants can make full sized roots and one reason to keep them as clones is to find out what they do planted in the ground. Both are also moderate to poor seed producers but some seeds is good enough for now. I have one other not pictured I'm call Tiny Tiny. It didn't make any storage roots or seeds at all but it's cuttings are starting to bloom now. I'm keeping it cause it is just so cute and I want to find out if its extremely miniature vines and leaves are genetic or because it shared a pot with a couple others.
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Post by ferdzy on Oct 9, 2017 9:45:22 GMT -5
Daaamn, I am so envious. Our sweet potatoes flower reasonably (2 varieties) but I don't think they are interested in each other as there has never been any seed. Don't expect any this year either, it's been a lousy year for sweet potatoes here.
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Post by richardw on Oct 10, 2017 13:47:41 GMT -5
What a lovely collection of leaf shapes reed
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Post by reed on Oct 10, 2017 17:57:19 GMT -5
Daaamn, I am so envious. Our sweet potatoes flower reasonably (2 varieties) but I don't think they are interested in each other as there has never been any seed. Don't expect any this year either, it's been a lousy year for sweet potatoes here. How are you set for pollinators? I'm sure that a particular type of small bumblebee is a primary ingredient in my success beginners luck. They visit every morning and very methodically visit every open flower, they even pry open the mostly open ones that might need another hour or so to open on their own. All flowers open in the morning but some plants start earlier than others. I guess the bees don't want to have to make a second trip for the later ones.
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Post by steev on Oct 10, 2017 18:57:12 GMT -5
In my experience, unlike honeybees, bumbles are clearly not unionized, working earlier and longer; no disrespect for Unions intended; been there; done that.
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Post by ferdzy on Oct 11, 2017 6:52:29 GMT -5
Daaamn, I am so envious. Our sweet potatoes flower reasonably (2 varieties) but I don't think they are interested in each other as there has never been any seed. Don't expect any this year either, it's been a lousy year for sweet potatoes here. How are you set for pollinators? I'm sure that a particular type of small bumblebee is a primary ingredient in my success beginners luck. They visit every morning and very methodically visit every open flower, they even pry open the mostly open ones that might need another hour or so to open on their own. All flowers open in the morning but some plants start earlier than others. I guess the bees don't want to have to make a second trip for the later ones. As far as I can tell we have reasonable numbers of pollinators in a reasonable variety of types. We do often keep our sweets covered with plastic which I'm sure cuts the chances considerably. On the other hand they are exposed to the open air often enough that if something were going to happen, you would think it would have happened by now. We bought some purple skinned, pale yellow fleshed sweet potatoes from the Dominican Republic recently. I will probably keep one to sprout and plant next spring. I think I will also try to get hold of a Beauregard (the most popular orange fleshed sweet potato to grow around here, although I haven't tried it myself). I think it makes sense to put in one or two new varieties every year and see if I can't get that magic combination at some point. The Georgia Jet really have quite a lot of flowers; it's finding the right partner that seems to escape us.
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Post by reed on Oct 11, 2017 7:51:46 GMT -5
I see some other pollinators even a butterfly once in a while as well as micro bees and small flies. Problem with them and this is just speculation is since the flowers usually point almost straight up or close to it and the anthers are set well below the stigma if an insect is small enough it can get to the yummy stuff at the bottom and get back out without ever contacting the stigma. The little fat bumblebees have to squeeze past the stigma both ways. They seem to be the perfect partner to a sweet potato flower.
I am not positive but nearly so that the purple ornamental that is parent one way or the other to a lot of mine is the variety Blackie. If you can find it a nursery or someplace it might work as kind of a bridge between others and even though it has stringy worthless roots a high % of it's offspring have nice sized ones.
I haven't had luck with Beauregard , it bloomed too late but Patriot and Honk Kong both made a lot of seeds for me last year.
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Post by reed on Oct 12, 2017 9:03:24 GMT -5
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Post by reed on Oct 14, 2017 19:41:16 GMT -5
I couldn't stand it any longer so went ahead and dumped "Bushy Bloomer" out of it's pot to examine it's roots. I could see some stringy looking roots that had broken the surface and fully expected to find more of the same but was very pleasantly surprised. I immediately put it back in the pot after removing the root and it didn't even wilt so I can get get the rest of the seeds maturing now as long as the weather holds or the woman puts up with it being in the kitchen window. "Bushy Bloomer" is getting pretty close to the holy grail in my book. It's not as bushy as some but it is a well behaved little vine, I imaging it would spread maybe 3 - 3 1/2 feet if grown in the ground, so still within my preference for compact growth. It sprouted early and bloomed early and I'm sure it is self compatible. I know that because small capsules have started developing after all others were already removed from the scene. Also when it first bloomed only one other plant was also blooming. The other one (first bloom first seed) had just 1 -2 flowers per peduncle while a normal one for BB had six. There just weren't enough First Bloomer flowers to account for all the pollination on BB. However I hope there was crossing between these two because FB has the nice big orange roots and BB has the massive seed production and smaller growth habit. Seeds before 8/15 are mostly but not all from BB and packed separate. Most FB seeds are also packed separate. Nearly all FB flowers matured to seed and I guess I got about 40 - 50 from it. Probably only about 60% of BB matured but I got nearly 400 from it. **Probably a third of developing capsules dropped off of all plants during a 2 - 3 day cool wet spell back in August, I think it was August... Anyway, I got a nice root and lots of seed from a semi vine plant carrying the ability for self compatibility. Now I just gotta find how compatible it is with others and move it's seed making ability and small growth habit into some other new kinds. I'm thinking I might try growing some new kinds with a BB in the same pot but semi isolated from each other. Maybe even keep records. I didn't keep any of my purple roots because they all had blemishes I didn't like. They were mostly not severe but none of the others had it so I ditched them. I would like purple though so I think maybe I'll try "All Purple" from Southern Exposure, their pictures of it show some flowers. I also want more orange varieties cause only maybe 15% of mine were orange and only FB made the cut for cloning, the others failed for various reasons. I think I'll try more Patriot for that too because I know it makes seed but also try again with Beuregard and maybe Covington. I'm going on the assumption with no scientific evidence to back it up that BB has the ability to overcome incompatibility in pretty much anything I can get to bloom.
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