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Post by reed on Jul 5, 2017 19:23:28 GMT -5
The bindweed is to see if it can cross with sweet potatoes. It looks pretty much exactly like some of them except for the climbing habit. Crossing is unlikely I'm sure but I'm gonna give it a try. No bindweed seeds will be allowed to mature, it will only be used as a pollen donor. After a number of attempts to make the cross the bindweed will be destroyed. That's why it is in a pot, to contain any roots that may grow large and strong enough to try to live through winter.
Same with I. pandurata, gonna try to cross it to sweet potatoes and also as pollen donor only. I don't think it is know to be compatible. In fact all info I'v found indicates it is also unlikely to cross but I have lots of sweet potato flowers and lots of I. pandurata pollen available so why not give it a go? I'll keep a close eye on the pandurata to find out if it can make seeds on it's own. Some reading I'v done says it doesn't or if so rarely. That will be interesting to know for sure. If it's early flowers do not set capsules then I will also try the cross in the other direction.
Both of those species grow wild in my area, both I think, are perennial and both are impomea. Crossing to I. batatas if accomplished might yield some interesting offspring. Nothing to lose except maybe a few sweet potato flowers and I have plenty.
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Post by imgrimmer on Jul 6, 2017 15:38:53 GMT -5
Have you ever tried to eat I.pandurata tubers?
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Post by reed on Jul 7, 2017 4:22:19 GMT -5
Have you ever tried to eat I.pandurata tubers? Nope never tried it. I'v encountered it over the years but I didn't really even know what it was until recently. The sweet potato flowers I pollinated with it appear (so far) to be developing, at least they haven't dropped off. I'll be able to go each morning on the weekend and get more flowers and try some more. The cuttings I got from it are alive and look good but no root sprouts yet. Not sure how invasive it might be so to be safe if they take, I'll plant them along the road a short walk away. |
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Post by imgrimmer on Jul 7, 2017 7:31:26 GMT -5
A hybrid would be very interesting, might be a more robust...or even winter hardy. I had some I.pandurata over the time. At least here in northern Germany it`s not an invasive plant. It`s more the opposite  |
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Post by reed on Jul 9, 2017 6:30:12 GMT -5
Did another dozen or so crosses with I. pandurata yesterday and will be going down there in a little while to collect pollen for another round this morning. It is too early to tell for sure if it is working but the ones pollinated in last few days have not aborted yet, keeping my fingers crossed. It's getting to be too much of a pain trying to tie those little ribbons on the individual flowers and don't know that is necessary anyway. Most pollinated flowers have been on bushy plants with purplish colored leaves. Extremely different in appearance from the sprawling, green leaved I. pandurata not to mention the dramatic difference in the flowers. Any crossed seedlings next year should quickly reveal themselves just in appearance.
I hadn't expected to want keep any particular plant for the next year this soon in the experiment but I have four that I may do that with especially if they have nice roots. Two are short vine types, one purple and one green with bloom stems containing 2 - 4 buds at every leaf joint. The green one already has well developed capsules, I hope to use it as the benchmark for how fast a sweet potato plant can go from seed to seed. The purple one was not among the early germination group but it was second to bloom, interesting I think. It is also one of three second generation from seed plants.
Another purple one isn't viny at all, more of a mound, its blooms are in large clusters with 6 or even more buds per stem. That may be good or bad as last year I noticed seeds developed better if not quite so many capsules in a cluster.
Still another purple one has an extreme mounding habit, maybe 18 inches across and 6 to 8 inches high with a really fat stem. Unfortunately it has not bloomed yet.
Several more slip sprouted plants are in bud or bloom now, I'll give another week, maybe two before culling anything not in bloom.
My tracking and record keeping will mostly just be by packing seeds according to when they mature. I'm thinking I'll collect in one week intervals. The earliest should all be between my own seed grown plants (and the I. pandurata) with more and more other genes getting mixed in as time passes and more bloom. For my own project I'm thinking I'll favor my own plants even as later flowers get crossed to the later bloomers. That way I hope to bring in maximum diversity while still favoring early seed production.
The pet bindweed has not bloomed yet.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 9, 2017 23:11:57 GMT -5
Yesterday, at sunset, I examined the seed grown sweet potatoes. Two of them had flowered earlier in the day. They have been the two largest plants since they germinated. They are growing a foot apart, so hopefully there were some enterprising insects on the flowers...
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Post by reed on Jul 10, 2017 3:35:06 GMT -5
Great news, bumblebees are the primary pollinators here although I also see other smaller bees occasionally. I looked back in last years posts and I had first capsules set in mid August or so and first good seeds in mid September. That's too late to be optimal but with blooms and capsules in early to mid July we are way ahead this year. Slip grown plants are catching up now but all the first to bloom were seed grown.
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Post by reed on Jul 11, 2017 3:23:14 GMT -5
I'v read that I.pandurata rarely produces seeds but spent flowers on the plants up the road appear to be developing normally. I'll keep a close eye and collect any seeds it makes.
Crossed I. batatas flowers here still seem to be developing, much to my surprise. It is quite possible however that my crossed flowers were also pollinated again or before by the bees.
Yesterday I found some bindweed already blooming up the road and collected some flowers and crossed some sweet potato flowers with them. No longer needing the pet bind weed I went ahead and got rid of it.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 12, 2017 20:42:39 GMT -5
I attempted manual pollination of sweet potatoes today. There were two plants flowering. There was also a micro-bee on one of the flowers.
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Post by reed on Jul 13, 2017 2:56:24 GMT -5
It shouldn't be too long till you know if it took. If the style remains white after the flower drops off it's a good sign it worked. If it starts to immediately turn brown then probably not.
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Post by reed on Jul 18, 2017 2:58:22 GMT -5
Keeping my fingers crossed but looks pretty good to have a few actual seeds by first of August, approximately 45 days earlier than last year. Although I like the easy fast germination the second plant to bloom germinated late but is only slightly behind in capsule development. Additionally one early to germinate plant has not even bloomed. So I guess early germ, early bloom are not necessarily linked. A good percent of the first seeds should be between the first two and then next 1/2 dozen or so to bloom. All in that group are seed grown.
I haven't completely culled non-bloomers. That would be hard to do as they are all crowded together in pots and I don't want to disturb roots of the others. Instead I'm just severely cutting back the ones without blooms. Can't have giant masses of non blooming foliage cluttering up the area. If they want to grow back and bloom later after I'v been collecting seed for awhile that's fine.
Some but not all of the blooms crossed to I pandurata have aborted but they did not do so immediately like an unpollinated flower will so I'm wondering if it tried to take but couldn't move on with developing the seeds. The I pandurata plant is NOT setting capsules on it's own either so I guess it is time to start trying the cross in the other direction. My I pandurata cutting are alive but still have not sprouted roots, I stuck some willow bark in their water a couple days ago, hope it helps.
I figured a couple ways to test my theory that sweet potatoes can be self compatible. I made some little flower covers out of tea bags, all I gotta do is cover blooms that look ready in the evening and next day self them and cover back up. The other is to take cuttings and bring them inside. The near mature size of a few capsules on the first plant to bloom makes makes me think they could be selfed but I didn't pay good enough attention to say for sure.
I have another theory that some may be compatible only with particular others or only in one or the other direction. That I'm afraid is beyond my ability to test, too many possibilities, too many variables but I wonder if that comes into play with I pandurata. Most of the crossed flowers that have not aborted are on the same plant. The are not sizing up good and I actually expect they will also abort but it still makes me wonder. Maybe I just haven't hit the right combination yet. Another reason it's OK to not completely cull the later bloomers.
[add] On closer inspection after sunrise ALL of the I pandurata crossed capsules are on the same plant and a few do look to be continuing to develope. The plot thickens.
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Post by reed on Jul 20, 2017 8:36:10 GMT -5
It's been 11 days since I said I would cull anything not in bloom. More have developed buds and a few blooms since then. I went ahead this morning and more severely cut back any that haven't bloomed regardless of where they came from or what genetics they may have. I didn't completely remove them just chopped back to a couple short stems. They can grow back and bloom later maybe if they want but the patch is getting so overgrown and crowded I can barely tell where a blooming stem originates. Had a couple of pots with no bloomers so I just moved them out of the way so they can't tangle up with the others. Sweet potatoes are rooting and growing all over the place where I'm just been pitching the cuttings on the ground.
I'm gonna try to do a better job of separating them next year.
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Post by reed on Jul 22, 2017 18:48:46 GMT -5
Its here July 22, 2017, the first mature sweet potato seed capsule of the season. Planted on April 16 it took 98 days to go from sweet potato seed to sweet potato seed. Assuming of course there are good seeds in it. In the temporary absence of ability to put up pictures I thought I would share the experience of finding out.
I have it here in a bowl, about an inch long from end of the stem to the tip of the now dried style. The style remaining as a little brown needle looking thing is a good sign. The stem is completely brown, no green thread in the center and it released from the plant easily, more good signs. The capsule itself is smaller than some indicating probably not more than two seeds. It is a nice brown color and dents slightly when gently squeezed, also good.
For the moment of truth, I'm gonna open it.... Ah, I opened it, ONE seed! Considerably larger than I'm used to and not quite as dark as I like to see but it appears to be perfectly formed. So it goes in the specially prepared pack to wait for its siblings and cousins.
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Post by reed on Jul 24, 2017 4:47:11 GMT -5
The plant with the fully mature capsule has several more that look to be finished soon, probably within this week. Also the very first half dozen or so capsules might have been selfed as I'm pretty sure for a few days only the one plant was flowering. It was also one of the first to germinate.
I realized though that some of the other plants with developing capsules were NOT in the first group to germinate. I guess fast germination although desirable isn't necessary for quick seed production. Need to get those two traits together in the same plant.
I can also pretty much confirm now that the plants with big clusters of flowers do not mature seeds as well as the ones with just two or three flowers per peduncle. I hate that cause the multi-flower plants also tend to be much more of a bush habit and I find that preferable for small gardens.
Some I pandurata crossed capsules continue to mature but they are on that same plant that might be self compatible so no way to know till they grow out next year if they really are a cross.
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Post by reed on Jul 26, 2017 4:19:05 GMT -5
Up to three nice looking seeds now with another 1/2 dozen capsules looking like they should be easily ready by end of July. Mature seeds more than a month earlier than last years first capsules even set.
Practically everything is blooming now except for this years new varieties from Sandhill. Not a problem as my slips were already well established when they arrived and also I now know seed grown blooms sooner than slips anyway. I'll have to keep an eye and include some later maturing seeds in my primary group to be sure the new genes are mixed in.
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