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Post by Alan on Jul 9, 2008 22:39:59 GMT -5
Well, the cotton is actually doing very nicely despite my belief that it wouldn't do so well here, particularly this year with our strange weather.
It was very slow to get started and get to growing, but now it is growing in spurts and making beautiful flowers in shades of purple, white/green, yellow, white, red, and blue. With any luck we will produce a nice seed and cotton crop for future use and for distribution this season, I really hope and do have my fingers crossed.
Funny thing is that through some of the community foundations that I have been working with; particularly the Pekin historical society and the Stevens Museum in Salem Indiana I have discovered that Washington county was actually at one point in time a large cotton growing region, particularly growing colored cottons for one of the few cotton mills in Indiana that was actually located in Pekin! Right down on blue river! Who would have thought that!
In my notes that I've made regarding the cotton this year I did make note of something very interesting. A number of plants, particularly coming from packages of cotton seed recieved from Native Seeds Search, there were a number of dark red colored plants that have since turned a dark maroon purple, much like purple basil, these plants have become monsters and seem to thrive in this cool, humid, and very wet season. I suppose it has something to do with their coloration and ability to absorb heat and use light that the normal green plants can't take advantage of.
I'll get some pics up soon!
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Post by winter unfazed on Jul 12, 2008 10:36:47 GMT -5
Since Cotton is the standard gift for a couple's second wedding anniversary, maybe you should send some of the special cotton seed to Mr. and Mrs. Gettle who will be celebrating their second anniversary next month!
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Post by johno on Sept 2, 2008 12:32:06 GMT -5
How's that cotton coming along, Alan? Any chance you're saving lots of seeds? Plan to make any fabric?
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Post by Alan on Sept 2, 2008 21:45:06 GMT -5
The cotton is doing well, lots of flowers have set pods but the pods have yet to open and reveal the cotton. If the cotton does well and produces a good number of seed I'll definetly make it available to everyone. I probably won't use the cotton for much other than decoration at the moment given the confines of space and time constraints of working with cotton in growing, harvesting, and putting to good use.
One interesting note is that the purple plants out of the bunch (purple stems, leaves) really have a life all their own and would make terrific landscape plants, as well they have outproduced and outgrown all others, my guess is they use the sunlight more effectively for their growth and to deter pests. Another interesting observation is just how resilient that cotton is. All of this cotton was grown on unfertilized land with absolutely no irrigation and only laughed at insect and disease pests.
Will keep you updated buddy!
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Post by johno on Sept 3, 2008 8:08:28 GMT -5
Do they look like okra plants?
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Post by plantsnobin on Sept 3, 2008 8:12:55 GMT -5
Alan, I know you are busy, but please post some pictures. Tell us more about the blue flowers-what shade of blue are we talking about here? I have some time on my hands, if you wanted I could come over and take some pics of your projects if you don't have time. I need to clean house, and weed the garden, but we both know that ain't going to happen, so I might as well do something useful.
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Post by Alan on Sept 3, 2008 20:12:08 GMT -5
Hey Johno, the look very similar to oakra plants, maybe a bit more frilly.
The blue color is sort of a sky blue color, usually with a purple throat to the flower.
A really interesting observation is that some of the plants put on different colored flowers on the same plant, while others only put on one color.
There have been blues, yellows, reds, maroons, pinks, purples, and a couple of green tinted ones. The purple plants put on beautiful magenta/maroon type flowers that match the plant color.
I'll try to get some pics tomarrow. Come on over Karen, it's always nice to have someone to talk to and share this stuff with and your good at taking pics.
-Alan
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Post by flowerpower on Sept 3, 2008 21:27:12 GMT -5
Oh yeah, we definitely want to see pics of these colored cottons.  What a cool thing to grow. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 13, 2008 23:02:19 GMT -5
I got some photos and will try to get them up shortly flowerpower.
None of the bolls have yet opened and I am crossing my fingers that they do so before frost hits so we can declare this experiment a success. They are definetly a long season cross!
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Post by johno on Nov 30, 2008 12:59:07 GMT -5
Still would like to see photos...
I look forward to growing colored cotton next spring, hope to save lots of seed!
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Post by Alan on Dec 2, 2008 14:36:05 GMT -5
Well, I had photos somewhere but I can't seem to find them now, I lost one of my media cards somewhere in the greenhouse and have yet to dig it out. Next year I'll be sure to take and post many pictures, this year was just incredibly hectic for me. Next year will be much better I think.
Basically a description of the flowers is as follows; Imagine a okra type flower that blooms out more openly. The colors that we had were purple, blue, yellow, and white, all very soft shades and almost pastel except for the purple which was actually a white flower with purple accentuating the flower, the purple was very bright and attractive, would be great as just an ornamental.
I do still have a few extra seeds if someone is interested.
-Alan
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Post by PapaVic on Dec 2, 2008 16:58:59 GMT -5
Where did you get the seeds?
Do these cotton varieties have names?
Are the fibers white on all of the types you grew?
When I was a kid in Mississippi, I worked at the Stoneville Exp. Station summers hand crossing cotton, hand wrapping the blossoms for inbred cotton, and choppin' the weeds outta the individual seed plots.
There were lots of different kinds of cotton they were breeding there. Some was long staple cotton basically Egyptian types for dry weather growing. Others were American strains. There were basically the same blossom colors that you describe ... blue, purple, yellow and white.
I don't remember seeing any plants with different color blossoms on one plant. All the varieties had their own distinct blossom color if I remember right.
Alan, have you tried keeping the individual varieties pure? If you don't wrap the blossoms before they open, the bees will sure cross pollinate them.
We used color coded tags with attached wires to wrap the still closed blossoms and identify the then self-pollinated inbreds for harvesting seed. Your description of the blossoms as looking like okra (or a hibiscus flower) is very appropriate for this process.
When the blossom is still closed it closely resembles an unopened hibiscus flower. You wrap the tag wire onto the blossom stem right where the wire ties onto the tag. You make five or so wraps around the green stem then straighten the wire right up to the tip of the closed blossom and make seven wraps around the blossom tip to hold it shut. You gotta be careful not to cut the wire into the blossom tip because if you do, the blossom will cut itself open as it swells up.
Anyway, when you come back thru the row the next day, you look for the blossoms to still be held closed by the wire wraps. They will be all swelled out and puffed up but still held closed so no bugs can get in there.
One day you will be checking on the wrapped blossoms and find the blossom has separated off from the developing boll. The blossom will fall away from the little green boll and the wire will be holding the withering blossom still intact. Then you can mark the back of the tag with a star or another indication that the blossom stayed closed and didn't cut itself open ... meaning that blossom self-pollinated for sure. The front side of the tag should already have been marked to indicate the variety. But you should also be using color coded tags in case the markings fade.
Anyway, only pick the cotton from the bolls that have the indication that the flower stayed wired shut. Those are guaranteed inbred pure line seeds.
pv
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Post by Alan on Dec 2, 2008 18:57:24 GMT -5
I kept a sample of each of the seed types pure, but those planted in the field were allowed to cross back and forth. I still have the names of them as well, though off of the top of my head I can't remember them.
None of them were white they were all colored accessions in the range of brown-green with lots of light greens, dark greens, bronze colors, and near rust red as well.
The flowers are really beautiful and I enjoyed reading your account of your work with cotton, that gives me a heads up on what to do when I grow the pure stuff out for regeneration in the near future.
Let me know if you would like to have some Papa Vic, I'd be glad to send you out some.
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Post by johno on Dec 4, 2008 15:11:25 GMT -5
PV, thanks for the info. Sounds like we know who's brain to pick about cotton now!
Alan, What sort of spacing do you recommend, based on how these plants grew?
Thoughts on fertilizing?
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Post by Alan on Dec 7, 2008 20:08:40 GMT -5
I spaced mine abut a foot and a half apart but they probably could have been a bit closer really, they don't bush out a whole lot and they aren't very finicky. They grew well on probably the poorest piece of ground that I have and were only fertilized with raw cow manure, even with such treatment and absolutely no irrigation whatsoever they still bloomed and produced fairly prolifically, I think they have been adapted pretty well to grow in poor soils and in adverse conditions, really where I'm at I would be more afraid of how they would react in a extremely wet year than I would be if it didn't rain a drop all summer.
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What a cool thing to grow.