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Post by galina on Feb 3, 2017 19:03:49 GMT -5
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Post by galina on Jan 30, 2017 9:53:34 GMT -5
I got some perennial leek plants from a friend, who told me they would multiply. Well they did not, but grew into big plants. The following year they flowered, and looked just like your normal ones Richard and produced seeds. After I cut the scapes to fully dry the seedheads (the plants had withered by then, just the stumps left that were the scapes), I got a lot of small plants from the base of every one of these withered scapes. Haven't germinated any of the seeds yet, but hope they are viable. In spring I will separate the clumps of multiplier baby leeks. The friend who shared this perennial leek with me reported that she does not usually get flowers. Don't know why they flowered for me just like normal leeks. I culled flowers on another leek variety and observed that there were no flowers on my perlzwiebel either. Don't think they cross with hollow leafed onions or shallots. I had a few strands of 'leek grass' in the seedheads, but nothing like your WTF seedhead. Now that is truly amazing!
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Post by galina on Jan 15, 2017 4:43:20 GMT -5
Welcome to all new members! This is such an interesting, diverse group.
I am from the UK, where gardening is different than in the USA, even quite different to the same latitude in Canada. So much works out differently here because of our location and different weather/climate.
The definition of landrace I learned decades ago from our organic gardening society HDRA/GO is different again but maybe a little like Alan Kapuler's. Farmer/gardener bred or handed down, loosely uniform varieties that show some variation when you grow them, but are recognisably the same. Very different from Joseph's and many others. I include genetic drift into my understanding of landrace - but this is a view I share with nobody (probably). Popular varieties, like the Green Zebra tomato, the Buttercup squash or the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans have been grown in various locations and climates around the world for many decades and have drifted apart genetically one tiny mutation at a time. We can make use of that by buying seeds from different locations and selecting our own, rather than getting a narrow selection from one source. These are still recognisably the same variety, but already a little different because of genetic drift. I have recently grown the re-released 'real' Green Zebra tomato - and it was nowhere near as good as my own locally adapted strain. I accept that the newly released is the correct Green Zebra as Tom Wagner sees it, which makes mine a Green Zebra-ish landrace tomato. I like the variability that a more broadly selected or developed variety contains. I exchanged seeds for an over hundred year old bean, which has been passed down from one gardener to another on the same allotment site. That year we got hit by a June frost and half the beans didn't make it, the other half did. I was glad that some of them had this frost resistance. When I grew them next from my own seeds, another late frost happened. All of these beans survived and other types perished. I don't know what characteristics I may have lost when half of the original plants died in the frost, but in my location it is important that plants can withstand the occasional slight June frost. Being in the lucky position to select from a 'landrace' saved the day.
Shoshanna, very interesting. I have been puzzling over white versus yellow flowering brassica. Could you suggest any reading matter for me please, or perhaps outline your research findings?
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Post by galina on Dec 2, 2016 3:55:45 GMT -5
I don't know how to be successful at deliberately making leek pips or leek grass (the equivalent of garlic bulbils), those tiny plants growing out of leek seed heads, but I know how it happens in nature. The theory is that you simply shave off the flower buds before they open and you get a flower head full of 'leek hair'. Because the leek is prevented from flowering, it switches to another mode of propagation. Well that didn't work so well for me when I tried it.
But when nature does the same thing, ie 4 weeks of solid rain and damp at flowering time (this is England and it happens that we get weeks without sun during summer!), then the ratio of seedpods to leek pips is very different. And when a summer storm bends a flower scape over and the seed head touches the ground, then the only thing we get is pips, the flowers will have rotted off. Almost like a walking onion.
When growing for leek seeds, it is worth checking the seedheads over for tiny plants. At least here, there always are a few. When I reported this to a gardening friend in Colorado USA, she said she had never seen it. Damp and wet seem to encourage it. Most are located at the base of the flower, probably where rain or dew doesn't dry off so easily.
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Post by galina on Dec 2, 2016 3:13:20 GMT -5
There are a few beans that do well practically wherever they are grown. ChToT is one of them by many accounts. From dry, high Colorado to Kentucky, Canada, NZ and definitely England, on wet clay and equally on dry sandy soil. In good sunny summers and in cold rainy ones. It does not matter whether we think of this bean as a genetically broader 'landrace' right from the days of the Trail of Tears, or whether it has become one due to genetic drift accelerated by having been grown by many in different areas. We benefit from it all the same.
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Post by galina on Dec 2, 2016 2:31:48 GMT -5
Blueadzuki, the p gene only refers to seedcoat colour afaik.
However, Mr Yeoman's Whiteseeded Cherokee Trail of Tears does indeed have white flowers and the change to purple on the pods happens much later too. The pods stay green for much longer than the black seeded ones. Growing experience would suggest at a wider connection beyond influence on seedcoat.
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Post by galina on Dec 1, 2016 12:35:11 GMT -5
That's a pity ferdsy, Keep growing them.
Have just found out that the p gene is responsible for white seeds. It is a master gene that controls all the colour genes. P means colours can operate on the seed coat and recessive p means no colour can be expressed, ie the seedcoat is plain white. And the mutation from P to p is relatively frequent apparently. You only need the one. Once the mutation has happened, it is stable.
Mine are from 13 and due for a grow-out in 17. Hope to be able to offer seeds by the end of next year or the year after should something go wrong with the grow-out next year. The potential source I quoted is in your country btw.
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Post by galina on Dec 1, 2016 2:22:43 GMT -5
Hey, I got quoted! But I want a white seeded bean, like Blue Lake and maybe a bit more straight and consistant in size, ditto. So, plan is to cross the two and see if I can get better anthracnose resistance with a white or at least light coloured seed and more uniform beans. Anyone know what the odds are? forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3298191/the-white-seeded-cherokee-trail-of-tearsDo you know about this one?
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Post by galina on Nov 30, 2016 4:18:48 GMT -5
Perlzwiebel Minogue seeds were given to us from the seed circle. Robert Brenchley got the Minogue onions that I had given him years ago to flower and set seeds.
This spring I sowed the seeds and followed up the plants. Have now replanted the largest. Some stems are very much fatter than my Minogue onion stems and I have replanted the bigger ones. Normally Minogue is propagated vegetatively. And there has always been a maximum stem thickness however well spaced I planted them. But this year, grown from seed, I have several stems which are 3 times as thick, yet they have retained their ability to multiply profusely.
I got Minogue as Multiplier Onion, but these bigger ones from seed are halfway between multiplier onions and multiplier leeks. Looking forward to following them up further.
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Post by galina on Nov 30, 2016 4:06:39 GMT -5
Buy one. Around halloween time the local supermarkets sell the ghastly orange pepo things for 'tuppence'. Sweet Meat is far too good to waste on halloween. There is Triple Treat which is orange, tastes good and has edible seeds if I remember right. That's a halloween squash where you can eat the flesh in soups and roast the seeds too. www.burpee.com/vegetables/pumpkins/pumpkin-triple-treat-prod001157.html
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Post by galina on Nov 30, 2016 3:58:56 GMT -5
Winter has come with a bang, sharp frosts and barely above freezing during the day. But the skies are beautifully clear and sunny, which is better for morale than the 'daily dull' we had to endure before this cold snap. So dull that we needed lights on all day and the solar panel produced nothing at all! All the roofs and grass are white, yesterday the frost never melted on the north side. Last night was colder than any of the nights during the winter 15/16. And it is only November!
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Post by galina on Nov 30, 2016 3:50:13 GMT -5
My own inclination for storage of un-dry roots/tubers would be potted in moist sand/sawdust where they won't be cold-killed; just seems like what nature does. Ma Nature may have a clue how to care for her children. Absolutely, the roots do not want to dry out or they will perish. I have described my way of doing it earlier which is reasonably successful. During winter I water very rarely as there is not much drying out with the plastic bags with their handles knotted. In spring when the plants resprout I need to give a little more water. If clear plastic bags are used, it is very easy to see water droplets on the inside of the bag, if not a quick feel into the compost will tell me if it is getting too dry. People have also used large pots, but these need a lot more judicious watering. I also have Aaron Purple Stars storing at the moment and hope to get a third year out of them. Btw we never get big fleshy roots either, a little bigger than ph vulgaris, but not massive. Lastly, I tried overwintering my vulgaris/coccineus crosses and had no luck either.
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Post by galina on Nov 11, 2016 7:43:59 GMT -5
Have dug up plants before the first frost many times. I cut the vines to a few inches above the roots, then dig up the roots and put them into a double plastic bag (one bag inside another). Add enough soil to cover the roots and knot the handles. Very occasional watering and frost-free storage and they survive. Not every root does, but fat roots usually make it if kept frost-free and not too damp. The trick is to get them in before the tops freeze, afterwards they don't seem to make it, even if it did not frost into the ground. I also tried mulching, but in our soil (clay) and climate (can get down to -16C) mulching does not work.
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Post by galina on Oct 28, 2015 13:12:18 GMT -5
Steve, the urls would be really appreciated, I can't find the right article, if you have a mo, please
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Post by galina on Oct 23, 2015 17:36:53 GMT -5
Hi Templeton, from what I've read the Pur purple gene behaves a bit differently. Lamprecht - who did extensive work on peas (mostly in German) identified three degrees of pod colouration related to multiple alleles at the pur locus. Pur with full colouration, pur a and pur b with progressively less colouration and pur with no colouration. My guess is you've had a spontaneous mutation at this locus. Let me know if you want the reference. Cheers Steve Yes please Steve, that would be interesting to read.
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