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Post by jeremy on Apr 26, 2015 23:34:19 GMT -5
Spotted two more tiny ones from Group 1 after taking another look. So cute...   |
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Post by iva on Apr 28, 2015 3:52:01 GMT -5
After reading everything there is to read about oca seeds and seedlings (HG is THE best source of info for this!!, Thanks guys!!), I decided to give these a try and Orflo was kind enough to send me some seeds (well, lots of seeds, I counted 95). I wasn't sure I was going to have any success, but I had to try it. I put the seeds into a warm water bath and kept changing the water each time it cooled down and was doing that for a few hours. Then left them in the cooled water for a few more hours. I put some potting mix (I put that through a large sieve to get rid of all large bits) in a small tray and moistened it really well, it was almost too wet for my taste. Sprinkled the oca seeds on top of the soil and patted them down a bit to be sure they were in good contact with the soil. Covered the seeds with NOTHING, they were visible on top of the soil and sprayed them with water every other day. No plastic lids, no nothing. Much to my surprise, a few tiny seeds started sprouting within a week and many followed soon. As I wanted to make sure to get at least a few good seedlings, I sowed ALL 95 seeds and I now have about 50 seedlings! My gosh, wasn't expecting that many and more are showing every day. So, I guess I found a good way to sprout oca seed, right? Presoak seeds, put on surface of very moist soil, don't cover, keep moist and keep in direct light = success!!Have to take some pics! orflo, thanks again!!!! (PS, did you get my corn and kale seeds?) Happy happy me! |
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Post by iva on Apr 28, 2015 4:02:55 GMT -5
Sorry for the blurry pic, but this is the only one I found right now. See how many there are in just this section?  |
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Post by iva on May 22, 2015 6:38:56 GMT -5
Here are the babies transplanted into individual cells about 10 days ago. I pulled them out of the tray and transplanted them very deep into new potting mix. They seemed to have been doing well until an unknown creature started eating them and sometimes cutting them in half. I found the culprit very late as it had destroyed many of my tiny plants. It was a darn earwig!!!  I am now down to 18 seedling, that are doing great! |
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Post by iva on Dec 21, 2015 4:13:24 GMT -5
It's time for an update! I managed to replant a total of 14 seedlings into individual small pots and put those into a long balcony pot and topped all with extra soil. The extra soil helped me keep the moisture level and later added more nutrients (when the roots came through the individual pots into the large one). I am going to be honest and admit I neglected the plants the entire growing season, only adding water when needed, no extra fertilizer (that would have helped with production, I'm sure). This is what the plants looked like prior to the harvest:   The harvest itself was indeed a surprise as I never expected much from those tiny plants at the beginning of the season. A few plants died, some produced only a tuber or two, but the rest did great, producing quite large tubers and in nice numbers too! Here are the tubers from both large pots:   And here they are together, these are the ones I kept for further reproduction, I discarded (ate  ) the less productive ones and will probably get rid of the less tasty pale ones (I'll only keep one of four). YOU GOTTA LOVE OCA!!!  Again, thanks orflo!!!! |
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Post by iva on Dec 21, 2015 4:19:56 GMT -5
There is some difference in color from individual varieties, that's because the darker ones came from areal tubers.
Some varieties produced many areal tubers, others produced none.
I love the color of the white tubers with purple eyes on the right of the lower picture, that variety really looks special.
The pale ones are more on the acid side and the lower left one tastes like starchy dirt, so I'm not sure I'll be keeping that one.
The others I've tasted so far taste nice. I'll wait a bit longer for them to sweeten up before I put a final verdict on taste...
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Post by richardw on Dec 21, 2015 12:49:01 GMT -5
They look good iva Have you tried oca tubers that have been layed out in the sun for a few weeks,increases the flavours by converting carbohydrates to sugars. |
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Post by billw on Dec 21, 2015 13:51:48 GMT -5
Nice! In general, rounder also means later, so you'll probably find that the longer ones have the best yield.
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Post by iva on Dec 24, 2015 1:21:10 GMT -5
They look good iva Have you tried oca tubers that have been layed out in the sun for a few weeks,increases the flavours by converting carbohydrates to sugars. Thank you! I always keep my tuber grown oca on a sunny windowsill to sweeten them up, so naturally I'm doing the same with seed grown too. So far, all of them have sweetened up considerably, but the dark one really tastes nasty. I probably won't be growing that one again, no matter how nice it looks. I prefer Mexican Red, that one is quite dark and very sweet... |
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Post by iva on Dec 24, 2015 1:23:25 GMT -5
Nice! In general, rounder also means later, so you'll probably find that the longer ones have the best yield. Oh, great, I never knew that! Now that is some information I can use for sure. Thank you, billw! |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 2, 2016 2:53:38 GMT -5
I didn't expect to be growing oca this growing season, but there were some seeds in a swap train that I participated in yesterday, so I grabbed a few seeds. Now I guess I aughta read this thread again to figure out how to grow them!!!
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Post by billw on Jan 2, 2016 5:12:36 GMT -5
I wondered if you might grab some of those. It's a long shot in your climate, but that just makes it more rewarding if you have any success. You can get a condensed version on seed starting here: www.cultivariable.com/instructions/how-to-grow-oca/#seedsowIt's funny reading this thread, which is only a couple of years old. Feels like that was a long time ago, but it was just a lot of plants ago! |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 2, 2016 11:18:55 GMT -5
Thanks Bill. Great article. This summer I get to attempt to add a new order to my garden. That's exciting stuff! |
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) the less productive ones and will probably get rid of the less tasty pale ones (I'll only keep one of four). YOU GOTTA LOVE OCA!!!
