Sweet Potato Breeding Project

[philagardener]

Can't tell if the antho one in the lower left is two seedlings intertwined or a tri-cot.

I had an interesting experience last year. I stuck some sweets in among pole beans. They were some of the best looking vines (growing at the base of the nitrogen fixers - that was a thought when I planted them there). In the end I got almost no tubers from those plants. They were all vine and leaf. I really hadn't added any other fertilizers or amendments other than a light dressing of compost.

Just wondering out loud if, at the other end of the spectrum, starving them of some essential nutrients might enhance blooming. Stress often stimulates floral reproduction.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I planted all of the seeds that I had, jumbled together. A couple more germinated since I took the photo yesterday, so I'd guess that's around 10% so far. They have been in the greenhouse which is around 40F at night, and warm during the day... I didn't treat them in any way before planting.

The antho-seedling in the lower left is a tri-cot.

[reed]

What does "antho" mean? The google doesn't seem to find it in anything plant related. What does the tri-cot indicate, regarding how they will grow, produce seed or pollen or other possible impact for breeding? Why might it have shown up in the first place?

10% with no special treatments and with less than what I was thinking were likely required temps and in a short time. That bodes very well for my goal of being able to start them in a cold frame like I do most other stuff. I'll be starting mine very soon and may split into two groups, about 100 inside for insurance and 100 outside in the cold frame. Maybe an easy to grow from seed SP landrace isn't so far off after all.

[SteveB]

Apr 10, 2017 3:54:55 GMT -5 reed said:

What does "antho" mean? The google doesn't seem to find it in anything plant related. What does the tri-cot indicate, regarding how they will grow, produce seed or pollen or other possible impact for breeding? Why might it have shown up in the first place?

10% with no special treatments and with less than what I was thinking were likely required temps and in a short time. That bodes very well for my goal of being able to start them in a cold frame like I do most other stuff. I'll be starting mine very soon and may split into two groups, about 100 inside for insurance and 100 outside in the cold frame. Maybe an easy to grow from seed SP landrace isn't so far off after all.

I believe he's referring to pigments called anthocyanins. Providing the reddish color.

[philagardener]

Sorry for the jargon. Yes, that's just a shorthand way tomato breeders refer to the anthocyanin coloration. Similarly, tricot is a seedling with three cotyledons. You see them now and then in some tomato lines (and other plants). Not much more than a developmental oddity, but I hadn't seen it in sweet potatoes before. The shape of the cotyledons is very typical for the family.

The more you look at things, the more there is to see . . .

[reed]

Ahh, you mean purple , shoulda figured that out. 

[imgrimmer]

I don`t know if you already know this paper cipotato.org/library/pdfdocs/77389.pdf. It contains some basic information about sweet potato breeding. It is maybe helpful to somebody.

[reed]

Thanks, imgrimmer looks like a good read. I'v collected up a pretty good bunch of material but had not come across that one. 

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I'm up to 9 sweet potato seedlings...

[reed]

I'm itching to get mine started but for no good reason except I want to, kinda having sweet potato withdraw . Last year though, I didn't start them till the 17th and they had plenty of time to mature.

Ah heck, I got a good supply, I think I might go ahead and stick a few in a cold frame, just to see what happens.

[imgrimmer]

How do you scarify the seeds? Is there an easy way? Other Ipomoea species sprout when put in a glass of water. Sweetpotatoes are different. Are they?

[reed]

I'm not going to scarify them. They are difficult to sprout but I want to select against that so even if in means failure of 80 to 90 % the ones that sprout without it are the ones I want to go on with.

The exception is the ones I got in trade, I want to give them a better chance in the first season so I'm going to file the sharp angled edge a little. The other method I'v read about is to soak them in sulfuric acid which isn't going to happen at my house.

[imgrimmer]

Apr 11, 2017 13:51:55 GMT -5 reed said:

The other method I'v read about is to soak them in sulfuric acid which isn't going to happen at my house.

So do I.

Thank you!

[reed]

So it begins, the great 2017 Sweet Potato experiment. Slips will hopefully start soon on the ones in the tray, that's just wet sand they are in , mostly to hold them in place while they sprout. I shoved them under the stairs for a couple weeks of dark. They should start sprouting by then, a couple already had little nubs when I got them out of the storage bin. The fat one in the middle and to the right are mine from last year. The skinny one is what I called 1YP, I included it cause it was such a good seed producer. I didn't include the 2YP root because it wasn't a good seed producer but I did plant the 16 seeds I got from it. 

To the left are the ones I got in trade, Bonita, Purple, Mystery Jet and Nordic White. I planted all the seeds I got in trade, there were about 20 of them including some I forgot about from last year. I scarified about 1/2 of them by filing the sharp edge a little, wanted to see if I could increase the chances of getting those genes mixed in.  




The tray has 42 cells with three to five seeds each. for a total in the neighborhood of 175. I was gonna put a similar number in a cold frame but if germ rate holds at 10% that gives me 17 plants plus any slips and that is pushing the limit on space and commitment. Once seeds start maturing they have to be inspected closely every day and the pods tend to hide so it takes a considerable amount of time. I did learn some tricks last year like clipping off a lot of leaves to make them easier to see and I learned what to look for so I can predict when a capsule is about ready. Anyway I decided to stick about 200 in the freezer for back up.

I also decided for the most part to stop keeping track of variety names and I made up a new designation to use in place of the standard F used for hybrids. I'm just going to use S-1, S-2 and so on to designate how many generations of seed from seed. So this year I planted about 155 or so S-1 seeds and about 15 S-2 seeds. Should be fun to see what I end up with at end of season. 

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Here's what my sweet potato seedlings looked like a few minutes ago. Eleven have germinated so far.