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Post by reed on Aug 13, 2018 7:56:26 GMT -5
I started some sweet potato seeds yesterday (8/12/18) good a time as any to see how fast they can produce. It was an accident but hey might as well see how it turns out.
I had made me a seed collection device, it's a clear plastic container with a hole cut in the lid and the top half of a water bottle inverted in it to act as a funnel. I can just go along and drop the seeds in without worrying about spilling them and take them in and dump them out to finish drying before transferring to the bags. Anyway, day before yesterday I went out and collected some in the morning and then that evening I thought I would go check for ones I missed. I got interrupted and just set my container down and forgot about it. Yesterday I still forgot about it and went fishing.
It rained and the funnel collected about 1/4 inch of water, the sun came out. When I found it last evening it was still hot, the seeds were sprouted. I started to just pitch them but decided to plant them in a pile of weeds and dirt that happened to be handy at the end of one my beds. Will see how it turns out.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 14, 2018 16:26:52 GMT -5
I checked my sweet potatoes yesterday.
Among this year's seedlings, one plant had 15 seed pods. One plant had 6 seed pods. About 3 plants had one seed pod. I harvested the first seed, and managed to get it into a seed envelope a couple hours later. I'm sure that it's already lost in the seed stash.
When I planted, I put the most vigorous plants on one end of the row, and the least vigorous on the other. That has tended to continue. The clones I managed to save from last year are bigger plants than the seedlings, but are not flowering much.
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Post by farmermike on Aug 14, 2018 18:14:26 GMT -5
I found still no flowers. But sweetpotatoes are getting bigger and are climbing together with passiflora now like other winding Ipomoeas. Interesting. These are 3 seedlings from last year.
That is interesting! None of my plants, seedling or heirloom, have thin twinning vines like that. All mine have thick stems with no inclination to climb on their own. I have been trellising them, but I have to thread them through the fencing myself. Though I have to say that sweet potato vines are a joy to work with. They are more pliable than any other vining crop I have grown. I haven’t broken a stem all season — unlike the fragile/brittle bean and tomato stems. Where did you get your original seed, imgrimmer? How much sun are your plants getting? I assume that lots of sunlight would encourage flowering. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 14, 2018 20:39:19 GMT -5
Most of my sweet potato plants are growing sprawling. One has an upright growth habit.  |
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Post by reed on Aug 14, 2018 21:22:02 GMT -5
others had good yield due to having efficient storage of the good stuff made by the leaves. So they can yield good roots even though they have less leaves? Whether cause they just grow that way or assuming they tend toward efficiency then even if the rabbits keep chomping them down? I mean, within reason. Joseph Lofthouse, I love the look of that bushy plant although it's a little on the small side for this time of year, don't you think?  |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 14, 2018 22:26:18 GMT -5
Joseph Lofthouse, I love the look of that bushy plant although it's a little on the small side for this time of year, don't you think? Ha! And that's one of the larger plants... Hee hee. I'll take what I can get, when I can get it... I'm hyped about 24 seed pods! Once I get reliably seedy plants, then I can fuss with leafiness and tuber productivity. The plants seem smaller this year than last. I planted them in a place that seems to not get as much water as last year's location. And this summer seems hotter to me. It's only about 3 weeks till the first fall frost. With seeds germinating in 3 days, I'd like to explore direct seeding as a possible technique. Editing to add: I found photos from last year. The plants were larger in mid-July last year than they are in mid-august this year. |
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Post by imgrimmer on Aug 15, 2018 2:11:17 GMT -5
That is interesting! None of my plants, seedling or heirloom, have thin twinning vines like that. All mine have thick stems with no inclination to climb on their own. I have been trellising them, but I have to thread them through the fencing myself. Though I have to say that sweet potato vines are a joy to work with. They are more pliable than any other vining crop I have grown. I haven’t broken a stem all season — unlike the fragile/brittle bean and tomato stems. Where did you get your original seed, imgrimmer ? How much sun are your plants getting? I assume that lots of sunlight would encourage flowering. seeds were originally from @notonari. It is the 2nd year now for these seedlings and the 1st time they do that. Now they start to do upright stems without any help, looks like they are looking for some trellis like vines do. Twining started only after forced upright growth against the wall for half a meter and in contact with the trellis. Before stems looked like usual. Could upright growth be a trigger for twining...? One of the vines is now reaching the top of the trellis getting more sun there. The plants on the ground only get direct sun around midday for around 5 hours. Do they need much sun to flower? |
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Post by reed on Aug 15, 2018 5:39:25 GMT -5
I can't say for sure, with only a few seasons experience but I think they flower just as well or even better with some shade. Mine are in all day sun this year but last year they seemed very happy in full morning sun shifting to shade by mid afternoon. There was a lot less wilting from the heat and no less flowers.
I had assumed being tropical they liked the hot sun but not sure that's true. They probably do need a lot of sun but not all day long, I'm guessing in a cooler climate they might like more and in a hotter one, less.
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Post by walt on Aug 15, 2018 14:02:41 GMT -5
others had good yield due to having efficient storage of the good stuff made by the leaves. So they can yield good roots even though they have less leaves? Whether cause they just grow that way or assuming they tend toward efficiency then even if the rabbits keep chomping them down? I mean, within reason. Joseph Lofthouse , I love the look of that bushy plant although it's a little on the small side for this time of year, don't you think? That was the story. I don't recall that the amount of leaf was quantified. The paper was about "source vs. sink. At that time, breeders of many crops were discussing whether the limit to greater yield depended on whether leaves could only produse enough for so much yield, or was yield limited by how well the plant could store the energy. Turned out sunflower was limited by its transportation system, neither source nor sink. Likewise, wheat, when grown under best conditions, was limited by node width. Wheat stems transport stuff better than the stuff can get through the nodes, so node width is limiting under best conditions. Probably stress tolerance limits wheat yield here though. |
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Post by reed on Aug 23, 2018 5:27:14 GMT -5
I can't complain about the quantity of seed this year but I think the quality is lacking compared to prior years. Quite a lot of the soft brown seeds and I'm seeing more of the ones that try to sprout before they even dry and then rot. Especially on one plant its almost like they failed to make a seed coat or if so a very thin soft one.
I'm sure it's weather related as it has turned cool and damp. When I sort each day's harvest I'm running about 50 / 50 top grade vs poorer looking ones. I know those I consider poor looking sprout almost as good but I just like the nice non-wrinkled dark back ones the best.
The biggest harvest of seed is yet to come and I'v thinned out the vines and leaves quite a bit to increase air circulation.
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Post by reed on Aug 23, 2018 10:49:21 GMT -5
toomanyirons , I think the pollinators find the blooms pretty good even if they are obscured by leaves. That said, I still remove a lot of leaves to make it easier to find the seeds. I cut off most all of the older bigger leaves and lots of others too. I remove whole stems of plants that are short on flowers. Some of them will likely come on with more flowers later but since I'm mostly after quick maturity I don't mind sacrificing some of them. I think leaf removal would have to be pretty extreme and continuous to negatively effect the roots. I don't know how much shorter your season is compared to mine but that is the only thing I could see making a difference on root size and seed maturity, so also the only thing different on how much foliage to remove. At very least I think you are fine to remove the leaves around the flowers. I haven't messed with it this year much but in past I sacrificed a lot of blooms for hand pollinating. Then I made a tool out of a tooth pick and few cotton fibers. It worked fine but I just reused it on lots of flowers so no record of which one pollinated which other one.
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Post by walt on Aug 23, 2018 12:08:53 GMT -5
I'm glad you folks are good with removing leaves. I was thinking this morning about removing leaves so I can find the seeds. I'll do it.
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Post by richardw on Aug 23, 2018 15:27:57 GMT -5
Seed arrived yesterday from reed, thanks again, it wasn't intercepted on arrival so i'll take that in today for inspection and so the end of the day it will be tucked up inside some screened soil and compost, or would it be best to add some sand to that mix?
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Post by reed on Aug 23, 2018 18:14:59 GMT -5
richardw , I just use dirt and compost from the garden sometimes mixed with a little used soil from the woman's flower pots the year before, it usually has some of that white stuff in it,maybe a little sand too. Also I just start them on a drafty windowsill with a cheap heat pad under. My process sacrifices a LOT of seeds, but I'm OK with it as I'm looking for the ones that sprout easier and are tolerant of less than ideal conditions. To get started and since you can't afford to waste seeds you should look back at how Joseph Lofthouse , farmermike and toomanyirons did theirs. I think they had much higher overall germination than I generally do. Or maybe they will chime in with advice. Concerning growing in water. I have a little garden pond with a pump up to a little stream about 5 feet long and two or three inches deep. When I grew the one in water I just dropped in a root to see if it would make slips, it did and after I planted some out I just left that root in the water. It grew into a massive vine and bloomed prolifically but the only sweet potatoes on the place were from that same clone. The ones in the garden did not bloom and the one in the water did not make seeds. It was just a fluke but it makes wonder if it is a way to get flowers on normally nonflowering varieties. I'm experimenting with it this year but only put the commercial clones in the water a couple weeks ago, no flowers yet.
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Post by philagardener on Aug 23, 2018 18:59:27 GMT -5
You could probably pick a flowering vine, put it in water and bring it in if frost threatens. That might get you a few more seeds for next year.
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