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Post by reed on Jun 11, 2015 2:35:51 GMT -5
I don't have any of the hemlock on my place that I know of but it is a real common weed around here. It grows along the roads and creeks, there are good sized patches of it all around this area.
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Post by philagardener on Jun 11, 2015 5:25:15 GMT -5
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Post by reed on Jun 11, 2015 16:35:40 GMT -5
I ain't going near that hemlock stuff again unless it gets too close to my property, then it's war. There is another large carrot looking thing here too, it is just as big as the hemlock with larger yellowish flower heads and pronounced ridges running up and down the stems and larger leaves, I'll get a picture of it too. The central flower on my lonely carrot is about in full bloom the ones on my pet QAL are still well behind. I suspect the QAL will catch up with the side shoot flowers on the carrot but if it holds true carrots are generally earlier I can just save seed from the first flowers, maybe even pluck the side ones off.  I'll have to wait till next year to find out. |
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Post by reed on Jun 11, 2015 17:36:41 GMT -5
I did my first hand pollination of corn today. Three of Carol's Pancake White Manna were detasseled a few day ago and began developing silks a couple days ago. Several of the se sweets have began shedding pollen so I gathered some up and sprinkled it on. All of these plants were planted on April 29. All of the Painted Mountain planted the same day have been detasseled and are in close proximity to the tasseling se sweets so I think when they silk I can just let them do their thing. No sign of tassels on Oaxacan, Hopi, or Cascade Cream Cap so far. Several of the se sweets are strong with some tillers so hope maybe if the main tassel is too early maybe I will get another one later.
The three PWM plants are in the root and shade zone of a big grape vine so are a little puny. I think I might break my rule of non-interference and give them some chicken poop and water.
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Post by reed on Jun 13, 2015 10:27:22 GMT -5
A little storm came through last night, not an especially bad one. Went out to check things this morning, ZERO lodging in any of the su sweet corn patch. Very slight lodging in the big flour corn patch, just a little leaning. Nothing too bad in the se sweet patch maybe 10% or so. Over all very very good with one BIG exception, nearly all of the HOPI corn to be detasseled among the se sweet and all of it in the flour patch is completely flat, not just leaning, it is plain flat on the ground. That combined with the tendency I saw in it to not uncurl its leaves right makes it the first one under consideration to be eliminated. I hate that cause I was interested in it's supposed drought tolerance but that isn't much use if it lays down in any little storm. The Oaxacan Green Dent has stalks like tree trunks, sure hope some it silks in time to catch some of the se sweet pollen.
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Post by Al on Jun 13, 2015 17:03:13 GMT -5
I planted out baby corn recently, an F1 variety named Snobaby. The plants were greenhouse raised & were 40cm (18") high, still in small pots so they desperately needed to go outside. The foliage & roots were really healthy looking,the roots were actually a bit pot bound with a few small prop roots beginning to form.
Of course, as soon as the corn was in the ground we had 2 days of tremendous gales. Trees down, lorries blown over, etc. I fully expected the corn to be flattened, but they were standing tall. Some bean plants beside the corn had been stripped of leaves, so Snobaby is a toughie, a useful attribute when growing in Scotland. Edinburgh can have poor summers & must be near the northern limit for corn which is why I went for a baby corn, I'm hoping it needs a shorter growing period that proper cobs. I don't expect more than a handful of baby corn per plant but will be well pleased to get a few dishes of them that are grown not flown.
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Post by reed on Jun 17, 2015 7:23:15 GMT -5
I had a corn called Spring Snow in my se patch, supposed to be early, cold tolerant and all that stuff. Early on I noticed some smaller late sprouters, I pulled one up and could still see the tell tell pink of the treatment. It was the only kind that had that. I pulled up some more puny ones and saw the pink again so I went through and pulled all the little weak looking plants and sure enough most all had it. Won't make that mistake again. Melons - Nasty clay dirt, weeds, some shade, every melon rule I know being broken. P lants are still quite small but nice strong stems and lots of flowers, looks hopeful. Pretty crowded but who could've known they would all sprout and live? I'm blaming it on Joseph Lofthouse , they were his seeds. Tomatoes - all looking good, little sign of disease so far. Lots and lots of blooms and quite a few little tomatoes especially on Joseph's "Short season all kinds" and true to the name appear to be all kinds. First ripe tomato, aside from the currents looks like it will be a volunteer pear type. The "fern" tomato growing nicely and blooming, too soon to know what type tomato it will be. Anasazi beans as usual want to run on the ground instead of climbing the trellis, what's up with that? Very annoying. Okra - some critter bit the tops off about half it but it's growing back. Walking onions - worried about any seeds that might be forming with the rain and all I'm afraid they could get lost. Garlic - opened up one of the tops and pretty sure there are flowers forming in there, have to keep a good eye on it as that has never happened before. Sorghum - pretty sure I have some, since most all the weeds around it are grasses and never grew it before I didn't know what it looked like but some larger very corn like plants are in there so I think they might be it. Carrots - the only one I have flowering is progressing nicely with the side stem flowers opening now. OAL flowers are getting larger but not open yet, good sign! Spring carrot patch looks great, maybe I should pull one and see if it's ready to eat. EEK! saw a Japanese beetle on a corn tassel. Maybe I could put up a NO BEETLES sign. Anybody write Japanese? |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 17, 2015 16:54:03 GMT -5
reed: Muskmelon seed is easy to grow well. It's a crop that makes me look like a great seedsman without even trying... Remind me to not send you any pea seed. I'd hate to spoil my reputation. Sheesh... Sometimes I've gotten as low as 40% germination on crops of pea seed!
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Post by kyredneck on Jun 19, 2015 3:47:17 GMT -5
Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) has purple blotches on its stem - maculatum means "spotted" 
Folks, if this is what you're calling poison hemlock then I and my brothers and a slough of other kids I grew up with should all be dead. We called this weed simply, 'pea-shooter weed', because it's hollow that's precisely what we made from it, quick and easy instant pea shooters using green black cherries as peas. I've literally tasted and had the sap of this plant in my mouth many times as a kid with no ill effects.
Maybe the poison is not in the stalk?
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Post by kyredneck on Jun 19, 2015 4:19:18 GMT -5
Well, this is definitely it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRL-3V4DFXg 2:24
....and it sounds like we just got lucky as kids, because it does taste bad:
"Stems - The stem is compressed during the rosette stage and elongates during the second year to form an upright flower stalk that is 2 to 8 feet tall, rigid, branched, hollow except at the nodes, grooved, and hairless. Stems are light green with distinctive purplish blotches.....
....Toxicity: All parts of the plant contain toxic substances that cause respiratory failure in humans and other animals if ingested. Seeds and roots are more toxic than foliage; also, toxins are present in greater amounts in plants grown under sunny compared with moist conditions. The taste of leaves and seeds of poison hemlock is reported to be unpleasant, so toxic quantities are seldom consumed. Still, poison hemlock leaves are easy to confuse with those of parsley, seeds resemble those of anise, and roots look similar to parsnip roots. Animals may be induced to eat this disagreeable plant because it is often one of few plants remaining green in winter and among the first to resume growth in the spring. Cattle can usually tolerate poison hemlock if consumed in amounts less than 4% of their body weight. Toxicity changes little if plants are fermented with silage or dried in hay...." www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/singlerecord.asp?id=550
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Post by reed on Jun 19, 2015 7:09:53 GMT -5
We never used it for pea shooters but I certainly hacked and chopped my way through it plenty of times. There were big patches of it between our house and the swimming / fishing holes in the creek.
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Post by reed on Jun 19, 2015 7:54:31 GMT -5
I looked up that other big plant and pretty sure it is a wild parsnip. Sounds like it is also a kinda nasty plant with sap that causes burns. Again not an issue as far as crossing with carrots but I think I will remove any that grows too close to home.
Speaking of carrots and QAL, I'm positive now that at least with this one carrot plant and the two QAL I have been watching the carrot flower is more than enough ahead of the QAL not to get crossed. In future to increase protection I'll only harvest seed from the earliest central flower heads. Still more observation needed to see if this is a rule that can be counted on.
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Post by reed on Jun 19, 2015 9:26:17 GMT -5
Well not much planting going on for awhile, about 6 inches of rain yesterday and more on the way. The spot where I mowed the puny corn is just sitting there. I did have another little spot about 5' x 12' in the new garden that I could work from the edges so I thought what the heck and started another new corn project. I planted couple thick spots of Silver Queen and Stowell's Evergreen. In a couple more days, rain or shine I'll put in some Silver King and some Argent. If I can get them to flower together I am going to try to detassel just a few plants of each and pollinate them with a mix of the other three. I might call it Late-Great-White.
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Post by kyredneck on Jun 19, 2015 14:26:11 GMT -5
I'm thinking maybe some have confused the extreme toxicity of 'water hemlock' with 'poisonous hemlock': www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=9996 " Water hemlock is the most violently toxic plant that grows in North America. Only a small amount of the toxic substance in the plant is needed to produce poisoning in livestock or in humans. The toxin cicutoxin, acting directly on the central nervous system, is a violent convulsant. Clinical signs of poisoning occur when a threshold dose is reached after which grand mal seizures and death occur..... ... Water hemlock may be confused with poison-hemlock because of the similarity in names; however, these two are different plants that cause different types of poisoning.... |
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Post by reed on Jun 21, 2015 6:35:37 GMT -5
Japanese beetles bothering the corn a little bit. They seem to like the the su sweet best. Discovered an unexpected ally the other day.  I think it is one of those borer bees that I try to run out of the shed rafters. Never occurred to me it was a predator. |
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I'll have to wait till next year to find out. 
