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Post by kermyt on Mar 20, 2012 16:43:37 GMT -5
Hi,
I've some Jerusalem artichoke true seeds, from flowers grown under the French sun.
The first seeds begin to germinate, at 25°C, under artificial light (it's still cold here...).
I've few seeds... I hope all will germinate!
J. artichoke is like potatoes? The True seeds give many differents phenotypes? J. artichokes have 51 chromosomes, and 48 for the most of potatoes...
The pics come soon ;D
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Mar 20, 2012 18:36:09 GMT -5
I've some Jerusalem artichoke true seeds, from flowers grown under the French sun. The first seeds begin to germinate, at 25°C, under artificial light (it's still cold here...). I've few seeds... I hope all will germinate! J. artichoke is like potatoes? The True seeds give many differents phenotypes? J. artichokes have 51 chromosomes, and 48 for the most of potatoes... The pics come soon ;D Good work. I'm looking forward to photos. Sunroots are like anything else... If you start with highly inbreed seed you get less phenotype variability than if you start with genetically diverse seed. Here's what my seed grown sunroots looked like last summer. This is one rhizome per plant.  What isn't shown by this photo is other types of variability: Some plants had dozens of rhizomes: Other plants had only one or two. Some plants formed rhizomes very close to the stem, other plants formed rhizomes 18" away from the stem. Some plants grew tall and vigorous with lots of side shoots. Some plants barely survived the growing season as meager little runts. |
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Post by kermyt on Mar 26, 2012 15:57:53 GMT -5
Oh! Great diversity! I hope to have something like that! As promised, some pics.   |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 27, 2012 12:35:27 GMT -5
Most of my seed grown sunroot tubers survived the winter in the ground and have sprouted already. This is much earlier than the still dormant commercial variety that is growing in a different patch. I spaced the tubers about 18" apart last fall, so I will be able to evaluate each plant as an individual.  And of course there is a huge sunroot weed patch where I grew them last summer. I'm thinking I'll transplant some of them to another field. |
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Post by raymondo on Apr 28, 2012 16:42:56 GMT -5
I had no idea that JA would set seeds. I had always assumed not and have never bothered to check the flowers. Nice work kermyt. I will start checking flowers from now on. Almost all the JA you get here are knobbly things, a pain to deal with in the kitchen. A while back though I was given one that looks like the ones in your pics Joseph so I'm hoping it's a different strain. I'll plant it and the knobbly ones together to see what happens with the flowers.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 28, 2012 17:20:41 GMT -5
The commercial (eBay) sunroots that I grow are knobby, and do not set seeds. I think that they are male sterile or perhaps self incompatible. (I hope that I'll pay more attention to the anthers this summer.) If I pollinate the commercial sunroots with landrace sunroots they set a few seeds that mature normally. The landrace sunroots are prolifically seeded: 40 seeds per flower and 50 flowers per plant.
I have some [commercial X landrace] sunroot seeds from last year. I intend to plant them this spring.
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Post by caledonian on Jun 5, 2012 15:48:32 GMT -5
IIRC, Oikos Tree Crops was not only selling tubers from specific varieties of sunroot, but was also selling potted seedlings from random crosses. They're somewhat expensive (they sell only potted plants, not seeds, and sunroots don't set a lot of seeds generally) but you might want to take a look.
Fedco (as Moose Tubers) also sells several varieties, which shift with the year. That's where I got mine. Clearwater, Sporospelka, and Waldspinel.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 5, 2012 16:46:30 GMT -5
sunroots don't set a lot of seeds generally) but you might want to take a look. My first year sunroot seedlings set about a couple thousand seeds per plant. Tuber grown plants set much more seed. That seems typically average for sunroots. |
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Post by steev on Jun 5, 2012 23:25:12 GMT -5
Barring reports of rodent-proof varieties, I'll not be planting any until I get their planting area basketed.
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Post by caledonian on Jun 9, 2012 15:28:37 GMT -5
My first year sunroot seedlings set about a couple thousand seeds per plant. That's extraordinary! I remember reading a description the Oikos people gave about finding viable seed in their sunroot growings, and it was about 5%. And you also say that you're getting one tuber per plant? Hmmm. I wonder if someone's been doing some crossing before sending you material. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 9, 2012 15:41:53 GMT -5
My seeds originally came from Kansas Native Seeds. A few plants did poorly in my garden when grown from seed and only produced one tuber. Average is around 20 tubers. I suspect that the Oikos people are growing plants contaminated with Cytoplasmic Male Sterility or that are self-incompatible. I'd recommend getting better breeding stock if they want to grow plants from seeds. And grow some plants that actually produce pollen. |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 11, 2012 6:57:53 GMT -5
Our mating guineas seem to think that our row of JA is the sex highway. One day they look great, next day the tops have all be snapped off. GRRRRR! Look out the window because the beagles are fussing, the guineas are fussing and there they are doing rings over the stuff! ::sigh:: Life is just to, to, exciting at times.
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Post by benboo on Jun 11, 2012 15:55:27 GMT -5
Joseph,
In your climate, what seems to be the best time to plant the JA seeds/plants?
I started some seeds in cells and planted them out in May, and they appear to be doing well. The frost can be unpredictable here... I planted some commercial tubers last year, and left them to grow more. It will be interesting to see if the commercial variety produces flowers this year.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 11, 2012 16:08:41 GMT -5
Sunroots are perennial in my climate... So tubers can go in the ground any time. They will grow when it is warm enough for them to grow. Tubers sprout for me about the same time that the first leaves are starting to appear on the trees. [Last week of April.] Sometimes the tips on leaves of a few plants will get nipped by frost, but they don't seem any the worse off by the next week.
I direct seed about the same time, about a month before our last expected spring frost... If I were growing seedlings for transplant, I'd plan for them to go into the ground at about the time of the last frost. Garden grown seedlings are tolerant to frost, but if I've put all that effort into growing things in pots, I'd hate to lose them.
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Post by caledonian on Jun 17, 2012 9:05:31 GMT -5
I looked it up. Every single source says that Jerusalem Artichokes (or sunchokes, or sunroots) rarely set seed. For example, see this. Many plants which are capable of vegetative reproduction are similar - they've lost much of their ability to reproduce sexually. I suspect that joseph's plants have been crossed at least once with another species of sunflower. |
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