Oca flowering

[billw]

I have one variety that started flowering today and another that is budding. I hope that they have different flower types!  I might actually be able to get some seed to mature during the (relatively) dry time of the year.



Is anybody else in the PNW seeing early flowering?

[raymondo]

Good luck with it Bill.

[richardw]

Thats early in the growing season to be flowering,ive only ever had mine flower from late summer

[billw]

Today I got a flower on a different variety with a different flower configuration and used it to make a cross. I have buds on four different varieties now, so it looks like I will have at least a few crossing opportunities over the next week or so. Warm (well, mid-70s), dry weather is supposed to move in tomorrow and stay parked over us for at least a week, so I hope that doesn't make the oca unhappy.

I read somewhere that oca pollen remains viable for at least two weeks at room temperature, so I will be trying to store some in the refrigerator for use later in the season.

[billw]

As of today, 38/60 plants of the variety Hopin have buds forming or flowers (and probably more than that since I keep getting surprised by flowers on plants where I saw no buds).

I did two more crosses this morning, so I have three Hopin x OE Orange done.

I have buds ready to open on Mexican Red and Apricot, so that should give me additional opportunities.

Now I must appeal to the weather gods to favor us with fog next week when the west coast heat wave comes in.

[billw]

So far, so good with this unexpected early oca flowering. I was a bit worried about the heat wave, but that has only resulted in bringing the temps up to the low 70s here, and the oca doesn't seem too bothered by that.

More flowers today, bringing the total up to 15 crosses. Plenty of buds out there, but they are opening at a very convenient rate so far. I suppose that if I wake up one morning and find 50 new flowers, I may just have to let nature take its course.

The biggest problem so far is finding pollen donors. One variety (Hopin) is significantly out-flowering the others. I'm getting just enough flowers from other varieties to do the job, but nearly all the crosses have Hopin as the female parent.

So far, only 5/21 varieties have buds or flowers: Hopin, Apricot, Mexican Red, Sunset, and OE Orange. Of those, only Hopin and Apricot are putting on much of an effort.

This has been your regularly scheduled oca nerd report.

[billw]

Today I completed my 40th cross! So far, only one bud has dropped and several are swelling in a suspicious fashion.

Although this will be of little use to people outside the US, I have identified the flower forms of some of the most common varieties:

Sunset is short-styled, Mexican Red is short-styled, OE Orange is short-styled. Hopin is an interesting case, with two distinct types of plants showing up from tubers with the same appearance. (More on that: wettingthebeds.blogspot.com/2013/07/oca-hopin-to-solve-little-mystery.html ). Most Hopin (which has green stems and sepals) is mid-styled, while a smaller fraction have red stems and sepals and are short-styled.

Now that Sunset has flowered with the same form as Apricot, I am pretty confident that they are the same variety.

I also have an unlabeled orange from an eBay seller, which is short-styled (probably more Sunset) and an unlabeled white from eBay that is mid-styled.

Does anyone else in the states (or anywhere else) have any flowering going on?

[richardw]

You obversely have the perfect climate for growing Oca Bill

[billw]

Well, the good news is that I have a couple of pods that must be close to ready. The ovaries have grown significantly and the flower stalks have about doubled in diameter. So, I think that I might have seeds in day or two, although I've never done this before, so it is hard to judge.

The bad news is that the vast majority of the flowers that I have pollinated have dropped. I'm looking at perhaps a 5% success rate. Considering how much time it took to pollinate 100 flowers, that is not an overwhelming payoff.

So I'm going to let nature take its course and see what the bees can do for a while. I don't see much interest in the oca flowers by either honey bees or bumble bees. They may not be much competition for the blackberry bloom. Every once in a while I see a bumble bee land on a few, so hopefully that will be enough.

Still plenty of flowers and no indication that is slowing down, so I may resume hand pollination if the bees don't have any success.

The variety Bolivian Red also started flowering - it is another short-styled variety. So, I have five short-styled, two mid-styled, and no long-styled varieties so far.

[billw]

Success!

Two oca seeds in a catch bag this evening. I think there may be another seed still in the husk as well.

[steev]

Felicitations!

[richardw]

Jul 10, 2013 23:10:39 GMT -5 billw said:

Success!

Two oca seeds in a catch bag this evening. I think there may be another seed still in the husk as well.

Well done Bill

[billw]

Six more seeds now in the bag and, unless something odd happens, it looks like I am soon going to have quite a bit of seed. My odds of success per flower are pretty low, but my number of flowers is high.

I summarized what I've learned about cross pollination, in case it can be of help to anyone else:
wettingthebeds.blogspot.com/2013/07/oca-maximizing-seed-yield-of-crosses.html

So, is anybody else out there trying to get oca seed this year? I know of a couple people in the UK, who blazed the trail that I am following, but is anybody else attempting oca breeding in North America?

[raymondo]

Great news Bill and a nice explanatory article to boot!

[steev]

Although there used to be oca growing in the UCB Bot garden, I think they got rid of it. I suspect the climate on my farm is inhospitable to it, but I am curious, as always. It isn't always obvious what will succeed in a new environment, given a bit of care at first blush.