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Post by paquebot on Mar 1, 2014 23:57:12 GMT -5
Since this thread has evolved into a Green Mountain onion discussion and what it is, perhaps someone can interpret the following:
"This is a new variety, bred and selected by myself. I believe it to be superior in every way to any Potato Onion currently available. However, on-going selective breeding results in true seeds, which express many phenotypes."
Martin
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Mar 2, 2014 0:53:33 GMT -5
I wonder if Kelly is basing his claim of superiority on the Before/After photo of what he started with and what he got after a generation or two of propagation from seed. It seems to me that he believes that propagating from seeds drastically reduces the virii load on the plants leading to better growth.
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Post by philagardener on Mar 2, 2014 7:40:57 GMT -5
Has anyone consistently grown Green Mountain Onions to that size on the right? Yes, the image and story are intriguing. When I ordered GM bulbs from Kelly last Fall, I opened the box to find they were about the size of the heirloom yellow potato onions on the left.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Mar 2, 2014 8:07:25 GMT -5
I do get them that big. Not every bulb in the clump is that big. I'd say that some of the bulbs in the clump end up the size of the YPO on the left. I also noted that fall planted Green Mountain tends to end up smaller than spring planted. I think this is because fall planted bulbs flower and spring planted don't. They are still much larger on average than any other potato onion or shallot I've ever seen. It is also worth wondering how long Green Mountain can be vegetatively propagated before it starts to pick up the same viral drags as other potato onions. The nice thing about GM is that a bunch of us already have seed from Green Mountain, and new offspring to plant and trial. I don't think Green Mountain is the be-all end-all in potato onions. I just think it is a great starting point for further work because it is fertile and can produce new, clean offspring. Martin is correct and we've hijacked this thread from awildseedvt 's original intent. That's mostly my fault and I apologize.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Mar 2, 2014 9:30:24 GMT -5
Martin is correct and we've hijacked this thread from awildseedvt 's original intent. That's mostly my fault and I apologize. No worries. In a week or so after things slow down on this thread, I'll merge/move the potato onion posts into the Green Mountain TPOS thread.
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Post by trixtrax on Mar 2, 2014 12:45:56 GMT -5
Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant) from Peace Seeds.
Watch out on some of those Amaranths they are extremely aggressively weedy in some locales
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Post by oxbowfarm on Mar 2, 2014 21:16:55 GMT -5
I've been going over this thread in my mind. Especially given that awildseedvt hasn't logged in since yesterday. I am guilty of being a pretty big jerk in this thread. I regret saying anything negative at all about Yellow Potato Onion, and I shouldn't have said it "sucks". awildseedvt started this thread to look for seed for some very interesting sounding projects and I decided to get in a twist about potato onions. I regret that and I hope awildseedvt hasn't washed his hands of HG because of my behavior. Anyhow.
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Post by templeton on Mar 3, 2014 6:12:55 GMT -5
Well, we' ve all made that mistake, sometime, Oxbow. The discussion around the emotional weight we put on pure and impure is interesting. I've remarked elsewhere about the trans pacific differences in both language usage, and cultural norms. I personally don't mind the term impure, matches my thoughts. But that is probably more personal than cultural. I can understand wildseedvt's desire for a fixed starting point. It lends a sense of security in case of breeding calamity, or desire to retrace steps. I'm sure I'm not alone in harbouring a Virgoean need to clutch at some sort of chromosomal anchor, no matter how illusory it might be. on the GMPOs, mine are flowering well, and I've been careful not to have any other aliums flowering round about, apart from some leeks across the garden, but I figure they are ok - See, can't throw off the shackles. Now having some seed 'in the bank', I've begun to muse on some potentialcrosses- the 2 topset onions I got from raymondo, and thr other from a friend, are behaving much more like the GMPOs, bulbing and drying down without a bulbil in sight, while my own topsets are powering on, not a bulb to be seen (as usual) and topsetting with abandon. We will see what next season brings. Imagine throwing some of those punkrockcalifornianred onions (for which i sheepishly propose the moniker PuRoCaRe) of richards in the mix...(edit: Oops, Richard has already named this one Amuri -sorry R...) To throw in a sartorial similie, I'm almost ready to caste aside the horticultural trousers, embrace my inner hippy, and don a sarong, with all the possibilities of a wardrobe malfunction that risks... t
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Post by awildseedvt on Mar 3, 2014 8:46:43 GMT -5
Well I'm glad I didn't come back here to find more feelings of drowning in my own thread lol The kind words are appreciated everyone. And so is the idea of taking the onion conversation elsewhere Please don't think I'm offended and I certainly don't hold grudges. We're all learning and having fun, it's all good guys, seriously. And I will continue to not be here on a regular basis, because I do have a life and high speed internet isn't extremely common around here... if I disappear for more than a few months ya'll can start to worry. trixtrax thanks for the headsup, I'll go check those out now
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Post by jondear on Mar 3, 2014 9:50:28 GMT -5
On topic, I have an old variety of bean from here in Maine you might like. It has dark maroon seed, and flat stringless pods. It's a bush variety. It's our favorite snap bean. Although the old guy that gave it to me said it was good as a shellie and dry bean, I don't use it as such. The dark color suggests to me that you would need to treat it like dark red kidney bean for health reasons.
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Post by awildseedvt on Mar 3, 2014 10:03:14 GMT -5
jondear that sounds very interesting! Now what exactly do you mean "treat it like dark red kidney bean for health reasons." ... I get the feeling there's something important I am not aware of.
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Post by jondear on Mar 3, 2014 10:32:27 GMT -5
I can't figure how to post links from my phone but, if you Google dark red beans and toxins you will get the idea. Presoaking and boiling for 10 minutes minimum are recommended. It is not recommended to cook them in a crockpot.
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Post by awildseedvt on Mar 3, 2014 14:34:08 GMT -5
*UPDATED* the list, added my seeds I can offer to trade.
Interesting, will do jondear.
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Post by awildseedvt on Mar 12, 2014 20:16:39 GMT -5
Updated seeds available and seeds I'm looking for.
...Kind of surprised I haven't found any more takers.
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