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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 12, 2018 12:55:36 GMT -5
Ooops! I forget how cold sensitive sweet potatoes are. I left them in the greenhouse overnight. It was snowing this morning. I had a heater running. They sure are wilty today. Perhaps some of them will recover... I'd feel fine if a few die. Be sad if they all do.
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Post by imgrimmer on Apr 12, 2018 12:57:19 GMT -5
I don`t know the exact names. I got them from @notonari it could be Georgia Jet, Purple, Nordic White (which could be a synonym for O'Henry) and Bonita. My own plants never flowered. But I know a farmer nearby who grew sweet potatoes for the first time last 2 years ago. He told me that all plants were in flower in late autumn. Too late for seeds. He couldn`t tell me the variety.
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Post by farmermike on Apr 12, 2018 16:47:47 GMT -5
My TSPS are up! Thanks for sharing seeds again reed. I planted a total of 18 seeds (6 "bushy bloomer" in the front; 12 "2017 mix" in the back). 77% germination so far, but I'll admit I did scratch each seed with a file before planting, since I'm working with a small amount right now. Hopefully I can produce a good amount of seed in my garden this year and then can start selecting for naturally quick germination next year. About half of those in the photo sprouted in within about 2 weeks of planting on March 10th; the rest sprouted around last week. Other than these seedlings, my only other sweet potatoes this year will be 4 purple rooted varieties ordered from Sandhill. I failed to keep any cuttings or roots alive from last year. My cuttings from seed grown plants, apparently, stayed sitting in water too long and suddenly died after thriving in their jars for a while. My saved tubers started sprouting during mid winter and I ignorantly stuck them in the fridge to slow them down. Most rotted and none have re-sprouted after I stuck them in a flat of soil. Sooo...lessons learned! I've done a little more research for next year. Apparently, it's okay if the seed tubers start sprouting really early; they'll hold like that for a long time and still sprout fine when I want them too. And I need to pot up those cuttings in soil much sooner -- if I even decide to keep cuttings in the future.
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Post by philagardener on Apr 12, 2018 20:45:08 GMT -5
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Post by reed on Apr 13, 2018 5:25:51 GMT -5
Ooops! I forget how cold sensitive sweet potatoes are. I left them in the greenhouse overnight. It was snowing this morning. I had a heater running. They sure are wilty today. Perhaps some of them will recover... I'd feel fine if a few die. Be sad if they all do. Well, that ain't good. On the other hand if some make it and some don't, it will show variation in cold tolerance, that would be very very interesting. The woman here bought some pale green ornamental plants early last year and they got hit by actual frost. I swiped a couple from her discard pile and put them in intensive care, it took a long time but one did recover. I should have kept it to plant this year but for some goofy reason I didn't. They certainly are cold sensitive though, also last year a 2 - 3 day cool cloudy spell in August caused the younger developing capsules to abort. Didn't seem to hurt the older ones or the flowers. Keep us posted on how they do.
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Post by reed on Apr 14, 2018 6:02:15 GMT -5
farmermike, Nice to see the color variations on the BB seedlings. I put in 50 of those and hoping to see some that make seeds like it does but with orange roots. I never had my cuttings in water at all, I planted them in cups as soon as I cut them last fall, they have done well in the south window all season, colors faded from lack of light I guess but they have resumed new growth now. I pinched the tops out and to make them branch, Ill use those shoots to make the ones I set out. I really like this method of saving clones. Room temp worked fine for saving the roots, I had small sprouts on them weeks ago but they are still nice and solid, almost time now to put them in some light and water to make the slips. I only had one that got a little soft and withered, I'm gonna discard it. It wasn't that great of a seed producer anyway.
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Post by reed on Apr 17, 2018 15:39:08 GMT -5
TSPS are starting to pop up pretty good. Today was the first sunshine since I put them in and my cheap little heat mat by itself doesn't do much so the sun is what did it I reckon. Only five had sprouted without the sun, all are from last year's first sprouting plant. One actually dropped over, I guess from being hit by real sunshine but it is perking back up now.
Excited to report that 2 of 5 seeds from the flowers that were heavily dusted with i pandurata pollen are among those first sprouts. Sorry to report that absolutely nothing about their appearance indicates the cross was successful. Maybe when they get some true leaves, I can still hope.
Don't know about the i pandurata seeds themselves as they are in the cold frame and even though the sun shined it didn't warm up enough to open it up and look as other stuff is in there too. I expect they will take a little longer anyway.
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Post by reed on Apr 19, 2018 7:16:39 GMT -5
Glad to be seeing a good amount of color diversity in the seedlings. I'm pretty sure that a lot of BB seeds were selfed so the diversity there is especially good to see. It was a dark purple plant but some of the sprouts are green. Maybe a very seedy plant with orange roots will show up.
I have a couple new clones picked out but still haven't ordered them. With good diversity showing in the seedlings maybe I'll hold off on them this year. I can always pick up some slips locally from the Amish grower, I think he has a couple different kinds and sometimes sees a good amount of flowers.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 20, 2018 23:16:18 GMT -5
My sweet potato seedlings are doing great! Link to High Resolution photoFrom left to right the labels, and seed packet descriptions are: Great Flowers (Good Bloomers, Good Roots) Great Roots (large vine, big roots, orange/orange, first bloom, first seed) Joseph's seeds Greenest (3 year seeds, beautiful dark green compact vine, poor roots, few seeds) Compact Vines (compact vine, good size roots, purple skin, white flesh, bushy bloomer)
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Post by reed on Apr 21, 2018 5:18:24 GMT -5
Looking good! Did the larger ones come for the FSFB seeds? How about the BB seeds, are the smaller ones in the middle pot them? If so it would be consistent as my BB seeds sprouted a few days later than others. I also planted some 2016 backup seeds and some of them sprouted just as quick as the fresher ones.
One of my possible but not likely i pandurata crosses died. It was one of the earliest to sprout and was doing great but a couple, three days ago it turned white, like all the chlorophyll just drained out of it. When the sun came in the window nice and hot it just dried up and died.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 21, 2018 11:09:28 GMT -5
Looking good! Did the larger ones come for the FSFB seeds? How about the BB seeds, are the smaller ones in the middle pot them? The smallest ones in the middle are from seeds that I grew last year. They might not have been planted in the same soil, and were planted one day earlier. I edited the post with the photo to add that from left to right the seed packet descriptions are: Great Flowers (Good Bloomers, Good Roots) Great Roots (large vine, big roots, orange/orange, first bloom, first seed) Joseph's seeds Greenest (3 year seeds, beautiful dark green compact vine, poor roots, few seeds) Compact Vines (compact vine, good size roots, purple skin, white flesh, bushy bloomer)
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Post by reed on Apr 28, 2018 6:44:19 GMT -5
It's gonna be fun this year to see how all the TSPS plants turn out. I'm only at about 40% germ on mine but my drafty windowsill and cheap heat mat probably isn't the best. I'm more than happy though, with the fast sprouters alone exceeding the amount of growing space I have available.
Plants from 2016 backup seeds showing about the same, around 75%, having purple leaves but only 3 in the bunch from 2017 have purple even though the mother of the bulk of them was purple. It also looks like all of the first sprouting plants this year (from 2017 seeds) have what I call heart shaped leaves, not a lobed leaf in the bunch.
It took over two weeks I think, but 3 out of 25 in the cold frame have also sprouted, too early to tell what type leaves they have.
None of the seeds from the new varieties I got last year have sprouted, but hopefully those plants are the fathers of some of the sprouts. Also no apparent phenotype difference in the hoped for I pandurata crossed plants, so I guess that didn't work.
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Post by reed on May 4, 2018 5:33:56 GMT -5
It took it a little while to get big enough to photograph but one of the seedlings is developing a bloom bud. The goofy thing is only about 5" tall and only has two true leaves. It is from last years plant that was first to sprout and first to make seeds. It and about five or so of it's siblings were first to sprout this year. The mother plant also is the only one last year to make nice sweet orange roots. I reported earlier that I wasn't seeing much purple in this years seedlings but now that they have been outside in full sun a bit more purple is developing. The mother plant last year did not make nearly as many seeds as "bushy bloomer" because it did not have as many clusters and only had two or three blooms per cluster where BB had six to eight. However nearly every bloom it had produced seeds. I included a few of that plant's seeds in the trades I sent out last fall. Is anyone else seeing these ridiculously early flower buds?
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Post by reed on May 6, 2018 4:44:37 GMT -5
More may sprout, last year they just kept on sprouting. The cell try sat on the ground and even dried out repeatedly and more kept sprouting for weeks. I'm gonna go ahead and put mine out pretty soon. I think next year I'll do like Joseph and start in pots rather than cell trays. I think it would be easier to keep them appropriately watered and not as much root balling like in the cells. They transplant very easily so no issues on just dumping them out and separating. I'v done tomatoes like that for a long time.
With the clones, the slips and the seedlings I'm inundated with sweet potatoes but I think I might devote one of my large tubs or maybe a spot in the ground for all the extras rather than flat out discarding them like I did last year.
I'm also behind schedule on most everything, haven't even been out to look for morels.
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Post by reed on May 7, 2018 7:12:05 GMT -5
No need to mess with pictures, they are a pain in the rump. I been posting a few but there are several steps to the process and not generally worth the time. Unless of course something really different and interesting shows up.
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