Post by billw on Jan 11, 2016 15:20:45 GMT -5
Here is an Andean vegetables thread for the new year, started late as usual.
What are you growing or planning to grow this year? What worked and didn't work last year?
My 2016 will look a lot like 2015. I've maxed out the amount of land that I can work, so the scope of my projects is about the same.
Achocha: I am growing 7 varieties this year for a mass cross. Then I will begin the process of looking for earlier fruiting.
Ahipa: I finally managed to build up some seed stock due to the unusually warm and dry conditions in 2015. I will grow 100 plants this year and hope to bring in a good seed crop. Assuming that what we are seeing is climate change and not just unusual weather, ahipa may be a better performer here in coming years.
Achira: I will look at the pretty plants when they sprout again. I might poke at the roots or dig some to take pictures and then not eat them. I'll save more seed and make plans for growing them out to search for better tasting varieties but probably won't get around to it for lack of space.
Arracacha: I will continue to torture plants until they produce seed for me. I got some plants of a second variety last year, but they all died shortly after arriving. Bummer. Still, the Puerto Rican clone from Sacred Succulents is performing fairly well and is more cold tolerant than I expected it to be (can't take a frost, of course, but doesn't seem to suffer from root chilling damage that has been reported in other varieties). I will grow a 120 foot row this year, which should leave me with lots of extra propagules. I'll start to send some of those out to cooperators in other climates to see if somebody can get some seed. I need varieties that are six weeks earlier so that I don't have to take extraordinary measures to keep them alive.
Maca: I'm finally making some progress. I will grow two large beds this year - probably about 1000 plants. The yellow variety has been improving and root size is getting more uniform. If I can find the time, I'll do more cross pollination in the lab. Maca is a horrible plant to cross, but I expect it to pay off with quite a bit of variability when it takes.
Mashua: I will grow even more mashua this year. The plant is winning me over. I've found better ways to cook it and actually really enjoy it now. I have a bunch of new breeding lines to evaluate and new varieties already coming up from seed this year. We built a greenhouse just for mashua seed production last year and I expect to bring that into full production this fall.
Mauka: Great progress with mauka in 2015. I can now reliably produce seed of both varieties and have made my first crosses which I will grow out this year. I'll grow 50 plants of each so that I have more to eat and can begin to offer caudices in addition to seeds. I offered a couple batches of caudices as a test last year and most people have reported good results from them. I think mauka could rival yacon as the most widely grown of the Andean roots in North America in a few years - as more people grow it and save their own seed, it should spread quickly.
Oca: I'll be growing out 512 new varieties from recalcitrant varieties this year - the ones that rarely flower or set seed. I'll be looking to select more breeding lines fronm this batch - those that are similar to the parents but flower more readily. I am also now able to produce three batches a year of 1800 seedlings indoors under controlled lighting. I grow them for 3 months under 13 hours light and look for tuberization. I found three in the first batch that produced tiny tubers. The ultimate goal is to get 20 or more 13 hour varieties, mass cross, then grow out that seed under a 13.5 hour light schedule. An oca with a 13.5 hour critical period would open up oca cultivation to a lot more areas. Not a short term project - it looks like it will take a couple of years to gather enough 13 hour varieties and then who knows how many more to get 13.5.
Ulluco: My favorite of the bunch continues to reward my attention, which makes me very happy. I ended up with 14 new varieties from seed in 2015, many of which produced only mini-tubers, so I get to grow them out for a real evaluation this year. The seed production of a couple of my seedlings was more than double that of the heirlooms, so that is very encouraging. I'll be growing a lot of those varieties this year to maximize seed production. I think all of my heirloom varieties are finally clean of viruses and seed production has been much better as a result. I have enough seed sown to hope for 100 seedlings this year and two have already germinated.
Yacon: A real surprise last year. I grew two new varieties from seed, neither from seed that I saved. Then I ended up collecting more than 1000 yacon seeds and 10 have germinated so far. What changed? I had to unlearn that it was impossible. When things are impossible, you stop looking for them. The current batch of seedlings looks very interesting - lots of variation. That's exciting. I hope that the seedlings will show improved ability to set seed; if so, it won't be long before lots of people are breeding yacon.
I'm also toying with the idea of growing some quinoa or kaniwa again. It always fails due to late summer wet weather, but the plants are pretty and the edible leaves keep it from being a total loss. If I had grown them last year, I probably would have gotten my first seed crop.
What are you growing or planning to grow this year? What worked and didn't work last year?
My 2016 will look a lot like 2015. I've maxed out the amount of land that I can work, so the scope of my projects is about the same.
Achocha: I am growing 7 varieties this year for a mass cross. Then I will begin the process of looking for earlier fruiting.
Ahipa: I finally managed to build up some seed stock due to the unusually warm and dry conditions in 2015. I will grow 100 plants this year and hope to bring in a good seed crop. Assuming that what we are seeing is climate change and not just unusual weather, ahipa may be a better performer here in coming years.
Achira: I will look at the pretty plants when they sprout again. I might poke at the roots or dig some to take pictures and then not eat them. I'll save more seed and make plans for growing them out to search for better tasting varieties but probably won't get around to it for lack of space.
Arracacha: I will continue to torture plants until they produce seed for me. I got some plants of a second variety last year, but they all died shortly after arriving. Bummer. Still, the Puerto Rican clone from Sacred Succulents is performing fairly well and is more cold tolerant than I expected it to be (can't take a frost, of course, but doesn't seem to suffer from root chilling damage that has been reported in other varieties). I will grow a 120 foot row this year, which should leave me with lots of extra propagules. I'll start to send some of those out to cooperators in other climates to see if somebody can get some seed. I need varieties that are six weeks earlier so that I don't have to take extraordinary measures to keep them alive.
Maca: I'm finally making some progress. I will grow two large beds this year - probably about 1000 plants. The yellow variety has been improving and root size is getting more uniform. If I can find the time, I'll do more cross pollination in the lab. Maca is a horrible plant to cross, but I expect it to pay off with quite a bit of variability when it takes.
Mashua: I will grow even more mashua this year. The plant is winning me over. I've found better ways to cook it and actually really enjoy it now. I have a bunch of new breeding lines to evaluate and new varieties already coming up from seed this year. We built a greenhouse just for mashua seed production last year and I expect to bring that into full production this fall.
Mauka: Great progress with mauka in 2015. I can now reliably produce seed of both varieties and have made my first crosses which I will grow out this year. I'll grow 50 plants of each so that I have more to eat and can begin to offer caudices in addition to seeds. I offered a couple batches of caudices as a test last year and most people have reported good results from them. I think mauka could rival yacon as the most widely grown of the Andean roots in North America in a few years - as more people grow it and save their own seed, it should spread quickly.
Oca: I'll be growing out 512 new varieties from recalcitrant varieties this year - the ones that rarely flower or set seed. I'll be looking to select more breeding lines fronm this batch - those that are similar to the parents but flower more readily. I am also now able to produce three batches a year of 1800 seedlings indoors under controlled lighting. I grow them for 3 months under 13 hours light and look for tuberization. I found three in the first batch that produced tiny tubers. The ultimate goal is to get 20 or more 13 hour varieties, mass cross, then grow out that seed under a 13.5 hour light schedule. An oca with a 13.5 hour critical period would open up oca cultivation to a lot more areas. Not a short term project - it looks like it will take a couple of years to gather enough 13 hour varieties and then who knows how many more to get 13.5.
Ulluco: My favorite of the bunch continues to reward my attention, which makes me very happy. I ended up with 14 new varieties from seed in 2015, many of which produced only mini-tubers, so I get to grow them out for a real evaluation this year. The seed production of a couple of my seedlings was more than double that of the heirlooms, so that is very encouraging. I'll be growing a lot of those varieties this year to maximize seed production. I think all of my heirloom varieties are finally clean of viruses and seed production has been much better as a result. I have enough seed sown to hope for 100 seedlings this year and two have already germinated.
Yacon: A real surprise last year. I grew two new varieties from seed, neither from seed that I saved. Then I ended up collecting more than 1000 yacon seeds and 10 have germinated so far. What changed? I had to unlearn that it was impossible. When things are impossible, you stop looking for them. The current batch of seedlings looks very interesting - lots of variation. That's exciting. I hope that the seedlings will show improved ability to set seed; if so, it won't be long before lots of people are breeding yacon.
I'm also toying with the idea of growing some quinoa or kaniwa again. It always fails due to late summer wet weather, but the plants are pretty and the edible leaves keep it from being a total loss. If I had grown them last year, I probably would have gotten my first seed crop.
