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Post by reed on Apr 9, 2017 3:43:59 GMT -5
I'm wondering if Reed's flowering hydroponic plant flowered so profusely due to rooting in water, since this would change how the plant grew roots. Some plants only make seeds when their clonal reproduction ability is threatened. Your point about the roots is interesting. That large hydroponic plant grew huge amounts of roots, even overwhelming other water plants like mint. I had to take all the drift wood and rock decorations around the little pond apart to get it all out so it wouldn't rot over winter. BUT, it did not make a single large root.
That plant also got a considerable amount of shade, shortening days were exaggerated by trees to the south. I'm pretty sure growing in some afternoon shade or providing some artificial shade can increase flowering.
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Post by gilbert on Apr 10, 2017 15:06:34 GMT -5
Reed, I'll be shading the potatoes in the frame outside, and turning off lights on the indoor ones to achieve an 11 hour day. It is interesting that it was growing much like the related water spinach.
William, I've been trying to start Campanula carpatica for the last two years, without success. But there is weed/ feral ornamental prevalent here that I think is in the bellflower/ campanula family; maybe I should collect some and see what they are like. The Capanula species are definitely another possibility for my project.
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Post by khoomeizhi on Apr 10, 2017 16:56:17 GMT -5
'Rampion,' Campanula rapunculus is the classic european garden one. biennial, but i suppose treated like an annual for roots. trying those from seed for the first time this year.
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Post by gilbert on Apr 10, 2017 22:02:44 GMT -5
Plans for some more species.
Jerusalem artichokes: I don’t think they need any work as such. I will be planting a patch to get them established, and will focus on culinary experiments with them.
Mint family tubers, Stachys affinis, S. palustris, S. floridana, Lycopus uniflorus, L. asper, Phlomis tuberosa etc.
These are mostly very vigorous plants that will probably thrive in my climate without much work. Their drawbacks are indigestible starches (though some research seems to indicate this might actually be a health benefit, and in any case proper preparation and adaption can solve the problem) and low yield. I don’t know much about them, so I will focus on getting patches of each species started, probably from seed to maximize diversity (except for Chinese artichoke, which does not produce seed.) Once I’ve observed them for a year I’ll probably have a better idea of which direction to take, and the established patches will enable me to grow lots of seed for breeding purposes. Also, they will form a sort of “kinship garden” as recommended by Alan Kapuler, which could produce some interspecies crosses; these could have some interesting possibilities.
Apios Americana and the other groundnuts will probably have to wait till next year. I’d like to start off with improved varieties such as those bred by LSU, and it is getting late in the year to order tubers.
Prairie Turnip, Psoralea esculenta. I’m a little worried about the furanocoumarins issue. Does anyone know where I could find out more about this? Could these compounds be neutralized by cooking? In any case, I will buy some seeds and get a patch going; again, since I know very little about the plant, I’m not sure how to proceed with it.
Yampa; again, I’ll get some seeds and see how it does. I’m thinking I will wait and try to collect seed or tubers from local populations, if I find any, and with the landowner’s permission, of course. I assume there is a range of yield among the wild plants, and also cultivated conditions might make a big difference. A plant that had a high yield when irrigation was available or in wet years but produced at least a small yield in poor years would be valuable. Is anyone here familiar with this plant or its relatives? Is it easy to confuse with the toxic hemlock plants? I’ve always been told to leave any carrot like plants alone, unless I was an expert. To quote the wikipedia article on yampa:
If this is the case, I’d probably be better off buying seeds from a reputable source. Once I get a population established, I can start selecting for higher yield.
It might be interesting to assemble a wide range of edible Perideridia species and let them grow together in hopes of interspecies crosses.
Hardy Yams; I’ll have to buy some more tubers and try again. The fact that it did not overwinter for me is not promising. It was in a pot, but the pot was buried in mulch and the winter was one of the mildest we’ve had in a while.
Achira. I’m ordering seeds, and will start growing them out, and selecting for those which can survive under deep mulch, keeping some backup rhizomes indoors. Over the generations I hope to produce a more cold hardy strain. I’ve got to talk to a gardener in the area who grows a line of them every year, and overwinters them under little mounds of earth. I also hope to get seeds from Canna lily varieties native to the Southeastern USA, in hopes that they would be more cold tolerant and could cross with achira; Canna species are supposed to cross easily. In any case they will be beautiful in the landscape.
Dahlias. I’m going to plant a bunch of seeds and try eating the resulting tubers. I will also try to source seed from native populations in the Southwest, from as high of elevations as I can. Does anyone know of sources that carry these strains? Also, are there any toxic Dahlia species or hybrids? I’ll go slow on eating them in any case, and follow a protocol for testing unknown wild plants. None of the sources I’ve found for seed or tubers list the accurate species names, just D. hybrida. Over time I’ll be lazy about gathering them up in the Fall and hope that the wide diversity I will assemble result in some overwintering tubers. I could attempt a selection process similar to the one I outlined for sweet potatoes. They will be a fantastic addition to the landscape in any case.
Campanula species.
I think some of these are growing feral in the area, and I will send some pictures to the Extension service for an ID. If they are Campanulas, I’ll start growing and evaluating them.
There are a few other species of interest, but they’ll have to wait till next year. Not that I will probably get to all these ones this year!
If anyone knows of good sources for the above plants, let me know.
By next year, I might have a lot of interesting seed for trade!
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Post by gilbert on Apr 10, 2017 22:21:09 GMT -5
More from the web on carrot family roots.
As I've openly spoken before, I think it is insane to bet your life on Umbelliferae roots. Many appear easily identifiable to the trained eye. Many appear different only to an expert. This is ok for identification purposes only. I wouldn't eat anything or buy anything from this family that wasn't identified by seed. Too many people have died who KNEW their botany.
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Post by gilbert on Apr 11, 2017 9:35:32 GMT -5
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Post by gilbert on Apr 11, 2017 17:21:31 GMT -5
Another possibility; nutsedge or chufa. The problem is that it is listed as noxious weed here in Colorado, and is illegal to plant. Maybe I could get a research permit, or something.
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Post by gilbert on Apr 17, 2017 13:19:37 GMT -5
Progress update; I've got four varieties of sweet potato tubers from the grocery store on the heat mat to produce slips; I've sent an order to Sand Hill Preservation Center for their closeout assortment, and will be checking local garden centers once they get slips in.
I've got a bunch of TPS going under grow lights, some of them from Joseph Lofthouse; thanks again for those.
I received seed for Canna indica and a mix of Dahlia hybrid seeds, and they will soon be started under lights.
I've yet to acquire seeds for any of the other species I want to work with. And I'm looking in the nurseries and grocery stores for Jerusalem artichoke tubers to start cropping experiments with.
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Post by reed on Apr 17, 2017 13:48:45 GMT -5
If you got Dahlia seeds from Joseph Lofthouse just plant one per pot. Germination is close to 100% and they size up quick.
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Post by gilbert on May 8, 2017 18:43:56 GMT -5
My Dahlias are up; they are not from Joseph, just a commercial mix of different hybrids, which I expect will give me a fairly wide range, though without any focus on edibility. My Canna indica are up as well; germination was quick, which was surprising. I nicked and soaked the seeds. A bunch of different TPS are up. And my sweet Jewel and Stokes Purple sweet potatoes are sending up lots of slips. The Garnet and Hannah sweet potatoes rotted, unfortunately, so I still need to get some more tubers.
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Post by gilbert on Jun 6, 2017 18:13:50 GMT -5
Progress update
Canna indica is surprisingly fast growing. I'm potting up my TPS seedlings into larger pots. They've probably been left in their trays a little too long for good tuber production, but I'm mainly interested in getting a larger batch of seed to experiment with. The Dahlias are growing well. I still need to get more sweet potato diversity to increase my chances of pollination. I've got a season closeout order in to Sandhill; unfortunately, they often return my check mid summer when they run out of slips. If they come through I'll get eight varieties from them, their choice. I've yet to track down any seeds for other crops I'd like to work with.
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Post by gilbert on Aug 10, 2017 7:34:31 GMT -5
I've got a few TPS plants growing in pots, to provide seed for next year. My seed canna lilies are growing nicely, and my dahlia seedlings are in flower. They are a very pretty experiment if nothing else. I have not managed to get my hands on seed for any of the native plants. One lone yam plant came back after the winter after all! My sweet potatoes are sulking in one of the coldest, wettest years I've seen here, but come fall I will be taking cuttings, moving them under lights, and trying my experiment to see if hydroponic sweet potatoes produce seeds better then soil grown ones. And I hope to be allowed to take cuttings from other people's edible and ornamental sweet potato plots to increase my population diversity.
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Post by reed on Aug 10, 2017 10:09:22 GMT -5
Did you get your sweet potato shipment from Sandhill? I highly recommend putting in an order early next year for the varieties Patriot, Hong Kong and Red Resisto. They are the foundation of my project along with an unknown purple ornamental.
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Post by gilbert on Aug 10, 2017 20:44:31 GMT -5
I did get my shipment, but I took a random, season closeout assortment, and none of the varieties are ones I'm familiar with. So we shall see. Thanks for the advice, I'll order those next year.
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Post by reed on Aug 11, 2017 3:42:25 GMT -5
Please keep us updated on progress with your sweet potatoes, I think it might not be quite as difficult as thought to adapt them to a shorter season.
Keeping my fingers crossed but right now I'm on track to produce more seed than last year. I have some interesting plants this year with greatly increased flowering and seed set as compared to last year. All of the best seed producers are seed grown plants, slip grown are only now starting to catch up. Because of low germination rates I'v decided to reduce the number of people I trade with in order to include more seeds per trade. I can't trade or sell plant clones either by roots or cuttings but if seed production keeps up at current pace I may be able to add another person to the list.
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