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Post by flowerweaver on Aug 13, 2014 11:07:26 GMT -5
Over the past couple of days I planted two fields of close to a thousand bush cowpeas; one half following the corn and the other half following the soybeans. I coated everything with rhizobium. Barring any other natural disasters, I'm hoping we'll at least harvest enough to have something to eat through the winter!
Big Boy
Bisbee Red
Blue Goose
Bohemian
Colossus
Corrientes
Deliah's Delight
Dolicho
Ejotero
Green Eyed
Guarijio Frijol Gamuza
Haricot Rouge du Burkina Faso
Iron & Clay
Mayo Colima
Mayo Speckled
Old Timer Purple Hull
Penny Rile
Pigott Family Heirloom
Purple Hull
Rice Pea
Summertime Pinkeye
Tetapeche Gray Mottled
Tohono O'odham
Vietnamese Black
White Whipporwill
My own saved Blackeye pea
I still have to plant the presumed climbers: Sandani Cream Conch, Monkey Tail, Texas, and Yori Cahui
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Post by raymondo on Aug 13, 2014 15:26:27 GMT -5
That's a good big mix to start off a landrace. I look forward to project updates.
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Post by khoomeizhi on Aug 13, 2014 15:49:38 GMT -5
monkey tail is indeed a bit of a climber.
i've got some grey-speckled palapye growing now that are bushy. may have some to toss in the mix at a later point...
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 13, 2014 16:21:44 GMT -5
flowerweaver: That sounds wonderful. I had a new species show up in my bean patch this summer. I'm wondering if it will turn out to be a cowpea?
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Post by johno on Aug 13, 2014 16:55:50 GMT -5
Following with great interest! I think my favorite cowpeas have been Purple Hull, Turkey Craw, and Ozarks Razorback. Red Ripper is a good one, too. I don't know that they readily cross-pollinate, but even with a tiny percentage of natural crossing you'll get a hybrid storm a-brewin'. Sounds like a heck of a collection! Please follow-up when the time comes.  |
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Post by flowerweaver on Aug 23, 2014 21:38:20 GMT -5
So far everything has germinated, except the Old Timer Purple Hulls which were new seed from Baker Creek. They are perhaps the most common of the lot, but one of my childhood favorites. I used to hire out to shell them for money as a teenager. Some of the plants already have true leaves. This is the largest of the two fields planted. I'm hoping the cowpeas will out compete the grass and I can turn it all under after harvest. You can see remnants of the corn stalks which the Hoss wheeled hoe could not plow under. This new field is not very friable and will need considerable amending with organic matter. There's not a trace left of the New Zealand clover that started between the rows last year. I have yet to find a clover that likes it here.  |
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Post by blackox on Sept 26, 2014 18:09:47 GMT -5
I've got seed from Torkuviahe, Grey-Speckled Palapye, and the mottle eye/brown eye from blueadzuki. The plants were hounded by bumblebbes this year, so likely a lot of crossed ones. Send me your address and I can get some out to you.
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Post by flowerweaver on Sept 26, 2014 20:49:40 GMT -5
My cowpeas are knee-high now at 46 days and some are starting to vine. I sure hope they make before a killing frost (usually end of November, but could be earlier). Although I probably should let them self select, I lost so much seed/food this year to the tornado that I'm thinking about investing in some type of floating thermal row covering. Anybody have any recommendations on a brand/retailer to look at?
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Post by steev on Sept 28, 2014 21:29:44 GMT -5
Can't think of any floating/row cover that a tornado wouldn't take.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 28, 2014 22:12:08 GMT -5
flowerweaver: That sounds wonderful. I had a new species show up in my bean patch this summer. I'm wondering if it will turn out to be a cowpea? Yes indeed. There was a short row containing about 20 cowpea plants. Four of the plants matured seed in time to be harvested. They weren't all that productive, but any harvest is better than no harvest, and I expect the descendents to do better than the original planting did. Mine reached knee high by 100 days... I suppose it's like peppers. In my garden peppers grow about a foot tall. I hear that in other gardens they are more like shrubbery. |
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Post by flowerweaver on Sept 29, 2014 10:53:10 GMT -5
steev LOL. Maybe I'll set auger anchors around the field for row cover in case this becomes the way of the future. Joseph Lofthouse good for you! Now you have the start of a cowpea landrace. In the past ours have been very large, like shrubs, but I planted them earlier. Too distracted by the tornado to get them planted in June.
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Post by flowerweaver on Oct 2, 2014 17:05:34 GMT -5
Many of the cowpeas began blooming today at 52 days. I loved seeing the range in colors including pure white, cream, yellow with purple blush, violet. Temps still in the 90's here, but it's been cooler at night and in the early morning.
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Post by flowerweaver on Oct 25, 2014 11:07:39 GMT -5
Started harvesting the first of the cowpeas last week at 70 days. The earliest of the bunch have been Deliah's Delight, Dolicho, Green Eyed, Mayo Colima, Old Timer Purple Hull, Haricot Rouge du Burkina Faso, and Tetapeche Gray Mottled. The last two have been the most prolific so far.
Wish that I had planted them earlier in June so that I could harvest longer. These plants seem to know that fall is here and flowering has tapered down. I just didn't have a free field until the corn finished and then I was tied up with post-tornado clean up. I'll have to work all this out on paper over the winter, and perhaps add more field space.
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Post by flowerweaver on Jul 16, 2015 16:34:06 GMT -5
Seed from the harvest of my cowpea landrace project from last year has been planted out. It's up and looking good. Here's a photo of the mix:  |
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Post by castanea on Jul 16, 2015 23:28:34 GMT -5
Beautiful!
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