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Post by mayz on Jan 9, 2014 3:30:10 GMT -5
no winter until now, 11°C this morning !? it's like spring with hazelnut tree in flower and singing birds...
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Post by mayz on Dec 4, 2013 3:09:32 GMT -5
first frost on December 2 thus nearly 240 frost-free days a little bit exceptionnal for my lattitude... waiting for spring now
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Post by mayz on Nov 13, 2013 9:57:39 GMT -5
I attended a talk a few years ago by the author of one of our fungi field guides, who spent an hour showing slides of fungi to a room full of fungi experts asking if anyone had any idea what he was showing - blank stares for the most part. T Indeed nearly 95% of species of fungi are still unknow. Even in Europe new species are discovered every year. aborigines did eat some fungi, but much of the knowledge is lost What a pity! A pic of field blewit, maybe my last harvest of the year...
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Post by mayz on Oct 9, 2013 4:34:02 GMT -5
I'm sure there are edible mushrooms in the wild here but it's a very unexplored area. It would be a long process to test all our mushrooms to find ones that are safe to eat. Marvelous and mysterious kingdom of fungi... I'm fan Here is a pic of Marasmius oreades(Fairy ring mushroom) growing freely in the grass of my garden.
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Post by mayz on Oct 3, 2013 5:41:18 GMT -5
I tried growing oysters on used coffee grounds but the whole lot became a very moldy mess rather quickly. Later I tried 'seeding' my woody mulch with oysters but so far nothing has appeared. One thing I really miss about living in France is the autumn markets with their plethora of mushrooms. Nice haul there mayz. I has never grown mushrooms. Simply because they are readily available into the wild. Here oysters grow on blowdown beech. Really, is there no edible mushrooms in Australia? Your county doesn't seem so dry
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Post by mayz on Sept 30, 2013 2:22:43 GMT -5
After the first rains, a first small harvest of Boletus edulis, Cantharellus cibarius, Cratarellus tubaeformis.
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Post by mayz on Sept 20, 2013 5:55:42 GMT -5
if the fruit comes from a field of maximas. It should be crossed with other edible maximas. Thus no problem of edibility for the next generation.
But experiment always dominates on the deductions. Sow them
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Post by mayz on Sept 20, 2013 5:44:19 GMT -5
sure they will continue to mature indoor. The green color should slowly disappear after several weeks.
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Post by mayz on Sept 19, 2013 10:57:59 GMT -5
Lovely selection mayz. What are you hoping for from your breeding project? ideally a precocious suse sweet corn with a short red stalk and red leaves red pericarp and white endosperm, ear with 12-16 rows. I will see where reality will drive me...
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Post by mayz on Sept 19, 2013 6:01:45 GMT -5
One more question. If I understood well, Synergistic varieties carry the dominant Sh2 only on the su or se kernels (because the sh2 kernels are mandatory homozygous sh2/sh2), that's the reason why they should not be grown near sh2 varieties (or the off spring will be Sh2 and not sh2). Am I right ? If heterozygous se synergistic (susuSeseShsh) is pollinated with the pollen of shrunken corn (SuSesh), it will produce two types of endosperm on the synergistic ear 50% Su_ _Se_ _Sh_ _ field type phenotype 50% Su_ _Se_ _shshsh shrunken phenotype To make it clearer, on sweet corns we need at least one sugary gene : 1 / su kernels must at least carry the genes su/su and Sh2/Sh2 or Sh2/sh2 2 / se kernels must at least carry the genes se/se and Sh2/Sh2 or Sh2/sh2 3 / sh2 kernels must at least carry the genes sh2/sh2 And the only variety that have all the sugary genes homozygous is Mirai which must be su/su, se/se and sh2/sh2 To make it clearer, on sweet corns we need at least one sugary gene ...at homozygous state. It's right for su1 and sh2 Exception for se as it needs the presence of su at homozygous state susu Se_ Sh_ = sugary corn susu sese = augmented sugary corn Su_ Se_ shsh = shrunken corn
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Post by mayz on Sept 19, 2013 3:09:56 GMT -5
To answer your question above, the reason SU and SH2 don't work very well together is because they are on different chromosomes. So the typical SH2 corn happens to have a starchy gene on chromosome 4 which is dominant over the su gene. The result of crossing su and sh2 will always be a starchy kernel. Where it gets kinky is when you cross an se variety with an sh2. The se gene is on chromosome 2, sh2 is on chromosome 3, and su is on chromosome 4. sorry but the reason for which su and sh don't work together has nothing to do with chromosomal location. The only implication of loci interaction is linkage and its consequences in term of segregation. (No linkage in this particular case.) The reason is in enzymatic interaction. Sh2 codes for an enzyme (ADP-glucose-pyrophosphorylase) that "prepare" oses before the polymerisation. If the deficient gene sh2 is in homozygous state, the cell doesn't have de possibility to synthetise polyoses such as amidon or water soluble polysaccharides. Thus no possibility for su1 to act on the starch synthesis pathway.
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Post by mayz on Sept 18, 2013 10:18:37 GMT -5
Dark red selection of Double red x Mirai. Seeds of second generation. After the drying, segregation of endosperm will appear.
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Post by mayz on Sept 18, 2013 9:48:42 GMT -5
I would be curious to get some more detail about your climate (given the 100 frost free days). I have tried, and failed to grow Watermelon previously with 365 frost free days, and now in the UK we probably have something like 210 frost free days, but given the low average temperatures (~18C / 65F) I still couldn't grow Watermelon. I assume your climate is hot from the word go when the frosts stop, and is hot until the frosts start again? This year, my watermelon growing season was pretty much 85 to 90 F during the day, and 55 to 60 F at night during July, and August. No rain or dew. Once a week sprinkle irrigation for 12 hours. The watermelons received frost approximately 10 times during June after they germinated and before it got warm enough for them to grow. Our last frost was on June 20th, the summer solstice. Here are some graphs on the same scale [Courtesy of wunderground.com] for the weather this past June in London and in my garden. London, June 2012: Joseph's Garden, June 2012: I would describe my climate as extreme... Daily temperature swings of 40 F are typical, with swings of 50 F fairly common. (Due to the high altitude and dry climate, I have intense sunlight during the day, and dramatic radiant cooling at night.) So I might have a high of 85 in the day and frost at night. In London temperature swings of 20 F between night and day are typical, and it is fairly common for the high and low temperature for the day to be within a couple degrees of each other. My dew point can be as much as 70 F below the current temperature, and even at night it is often 10 to 20 F below. In June 2012, London had dew about 24 days. I had dew/frost about 8 days. London had a good soaking rain on 14 days. I had good rains on 3 days and that's during my rainy season!!!! While you may carry a slicker or an umbrella, I carry a parka in my vehicle all year long, because I know that I am going to want it at night, even during the hottest days of August. Watermelon requires about 900 GDD:13C in my garden to produce the first ripe fruit. [Growing degree days in which the average daily temperature is higher than 13 C.) There is not that much heat available in London during a growing season. That's not saying that watermelon couldn't be grown in London, just that they would need a warmer micro-climate, or genetics that allowed it to thrive in cooler average temperatures. I am selecting for desert conditions with extreme temperature differences and exceedingly low humidity. Perhaps there are other growers that are selecting for maritime conditions. Comparison is not complete as hours of sunshine is the most important parameter after temperature. And sunshine modifies the REAL temperature to which the plants are exposed. GDD calculated from meteorological data (temperature under shelter) doesn't represent the real temperature of the garden. Thus 900 GDD in sunny Utah doesn't correspond to 900GDD in cloudy UK.
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Melons
Sept 6, 2013 2:01:43 GMT -5
Post by mayz on Sept 6, 2013 2:01:43 GMT -5
Ah yes those ARE the ones I have been having so much trouble with. They are all mushy inside and terrible 'commercially'. firm and juicy absolutely not mushy. Too much water or poor selection...
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Melons
Sept 5, 2013 1:52:41 GMT -5
Post by mayz on Sept 5, 2013 1:52:41 GMT -5
That looks just lovely, Mayz. But, see, I would not have known that it was ripe. So easy with the cantaloupes types. First the peduncle goes away by cracks around it. The day after, it smells soooo good. Take your knife and eat it.
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