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Post by billw on Sept 6, 2013 16:32:43 GMT -5
How lucky you are. I've grown 12 unknown different varieties for 2 years and only one flower set, last year. None this year. No seed at all. I wish you'll find interesting new varieties among all these seedlings. They're free for the asking. If you already grow 12 varieties, it couldn't hurt to try a few more.  Seriously, I can only grow 800 plants next year, which shouldn't require more than 2400 seeds on the low end of germination. I have thousands more than that and I strongly suspect that I'll be collecting more seed all the way through November. If anything, the plants are flowering better than ever right now. I could end up with 10-15 thousand seeds or more. So, it is to my benefit to send seeds to anyone who can grow oca, since that just increases the odds that one of us will find a variety that matures a bit earlier or flowers under a wider range of conditions. |
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Post by richardw on Sept 7, 2013 14:12:41 GMT -5
Its amazing how long your Oca have been flowering for Bill,it must be an environmental factor i reckon because up to this point ive been growing two lots of tubers,the first lot were 4(two yellow,two red)NZ heirlooms and the other lot (similar colours)from seeds sent from Frank(Olfo),but interestingly when all 8 different tubers were grown within the same spot they all briefly flowered in autumn,all with about the same numbers of flowers.Then Cesar was telling me his flower in summer&autumn but then his climate is more like yours Bill,its much hotter here than at Cesars so thats gota be the reason for been poor flowering here.
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Post by samyaza on Sept 7, 2013 16:06:47 GMT -5
Its amazing how long your Oca have been flowering for Bill,it must be an environmental factor i reckon because up to this point ive been growing two lots of tubers,the first lot were 4(two yellow,two red)NZ heirlooms and the other lot (similar colours)from seeds sent from Frank(Olfo),but interestingly when all 8 different tubers were grown within the same spot they all briefly flowered in autumn,all with about the same numbers of flowers.Then Cesar was telling me his flower in summer&autumn but then his climate is more like yours Bill,its much hotter here than at Cesars so thats gota be the reason for been poor flowering here. As putting the heating on during the summer isn't rare here, I suspect my climate not to be too hot for oca to flower. It isn't for all sorts of fungus to affect crops neither. Particularly, there's some kind of black leg on the stem at soil level which destroys a large part of the tubers during the winter. I don't manage to get rid of it. It could be a cause of my failure. |
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Post by steev on Sept 9, 2013 18:53:35 GMT -5
Could you treat for that with an alkalizing/acidifying spray or soil treatment, to take things out of the fungus' comfort zone?
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Post by billw on Sept 21, 2013 19:44:50 GMT -5
A couple of pictures:  I dug an oca plant (Sunset variety) to see what it looks like around the equinox. For the most part, it looked like I expected, with stems just starting to swell a little bit. But, I was surprised buy the presence of a small tuber at this early date. Oca displays quite a bit of variability in the tubers, so I wonder if it is also possible for them to have differences in day length sensitivity. I'll set this one aside, as it can't hurt to try.  The best of the oca seedlings grown out from this year's seed. Most are still less than an inch tall, but these have vaulted past their peers. I'm growing increasingly confident that I'll get small tubers from at least the two largest. |
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Post by richardw on Sept 22, 2013 3:56:55 GMT -5
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Post by billw on Sept 22, 2013 11:40:29 GMT -5
I get more with purple/red leaves early on than green, but they tend to change over to green leaves as they grow. Maybe a light level or temperature response. Of course, the same is true of the tubers of some varieties - red stems when they are small, but turning to green as they grow taller.
Any luck with yours yet Richard? Do you have a new batch going?
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Post by richardw on Sept 22, 2013 13:51:55 GMT -5
No all the seed was dead,also tried the 24H soak then 5days in damp paper...nothing.
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Post by billw on Oct 10, 2013 17:54:54 GMT -5
Got another new flowerer today: Polar Bere. It has a mid-styled flower. I think it might be the same variety as White. So, at the beginning of the season it looked like we were lacking in mid-styled varieties in North America, but it has balanced out pretty well.
The only varieties that haven't flowered this year are Crema de Rosa and Rosy Gems.
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Post by billw on Oct 16, 2013 15:32:11 GMT -5
Well, as I understand it, it is now prime oca flowering season in the northern hemisphere. Is anyone getting any seed?
I know there are at least a few lurking about who were going to try this year...
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Post by billw on Oct 18, 2013 15:05:17 GMT -5
So, the majority of my oca varieties (those that were not very late to flower) have stopped flowering over the past week. There is very little difference in the weather. It is a bit cooler, but still much like the oca has enjoyed all season. This is the time of year that most people seem to report peak flowering.
Perhaps there is a limit to oca's flowering period beyond what is imposed by the weather. It is probably not a day length response, since my daylength is about the same as the UK. A three month flowering season perhaps? Does anyone know how long flowering persists in the Andes?
I had hoped to run one last batch of cuttings for seed, but it looks like I don't have enough plants still flowering to bother.
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Post by richardw on Oct 18, 2013 19:37:24 GMT -5
It would be about this stage that mine would be peck flowering
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Post by billw on Oct 30, 2013 11:11:07 GMT -5
The biggest of my oca seedlings is starting to flower. That means, with possibly some frost protection in November, it will be possible to get two generations of seed in a single growing season.
More of a stunt than a useful practice, since you can't really do any evaluation of the tubers, but still not what I expected.
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Post by richardw on Oct 30, 2013 12:35:47 GMT -5
Thats well done Bill
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Post by billw on Nov 5, 2013 16:25:54 GMT -5
Well, oca flowering season at the Washington coast has officially ended. The last few ragged flowers dropped yesterday. Nothing left to do but harvest now. Frost could come any time in the next few weeks. Sample pulls are showing about a pound per plant right now. I hope to double that by harvest. Through a combination of counting and weighing, I figure that I collected somewhere between 17-20K seeds this year. Now I just have to figure out some suitably ambitious plan for them. |
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