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Post by richardw on Dec 20, 2017 12:10:40 GMT -5
Ive a bed of Black Spanish for seed production that is near finished flowering, the bed next to it is a odds and sods bed where i may put stuff people give me, or its where i may only have a few plants of, so it all goes into that bed, it happened to be where i thought i would grow a fortnightly sowing of Pink Beauty radish for eating as well, for the last two months while the BS radish has been flowering the PB has 100% bolted, every single sowing, every single plant. Why?? Has the flowering of the BS radish triggered the PB to flower??
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Post by billw on Dec 20, 2017 13:10:33 GMT -5
Have you had unusually low night temps? Vernalization triggers flowering in radish pretty quickly. Saved seed or bought? Seed saved from bolters gives very reliable bolting in just a couple generations. If only all traits were so easy to breed for!
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Post by richardw on Dec 20, 2017 14:08:35 GMT -5
No night temps have been way above normal since winter. Its my own seed and i'm selecting for slow bolting has been my main aim for many years. The Black Spanish which is starting to dry off now was thickly sown in late spring 13 months ago with the idea of exposing those with the most propensity to bolt, i would have pulled 90% out that bolted in that first growing season, a few more during winter and in spring the first few to go to seed also. Ive only grown the one crop of Pink Beauty like this but plan to do another this time next year. Ive just sown this morning some PB well away from the BS as well as some next to it again, we'll see what happens.
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Post by billw on Dec 20, 2017 14:17:43 GMT -5
I haven't read of radishes spreading any sort of substance that would trigger flowering, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Do you have a lot of insect feeding on those plants? Maybe they have been inoculated with a flowering signal by insects.
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Post by richardw on Dec 20, 2017 18:38:19 GMT -5
There has been lot of flies and native bees all over the radish carrots and leek flowers.
Talking with a friend this morning about this and he was saying a farmer he knows reckons that if he sees any bolters in his fodder beet, he pulls them as it make others around it bolt.
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Post by richardw on Dec 21, 2017 23:06:31 GMT -5
I take by the lack of response and by also having searched the net that there's no plausible explanation as to why ive had 100% bolting. I'm going to make a point of experimenting further next growing season as i'll be growing Chinese Green Luobo for seed, two separate areas for growing Pink Beauty, one along side CGL and the other well away from it.
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Post by reed on Dec 22, 2017 6:48:13 GMT -5
I like my radishes to bold since discovering I like the flower buds and seed pods better than the roots. I still like them to make big roots to leave to rot and improve the soil and a little worried they could stop making big roots if selected for pods instead but haven't seen a problem with that, at least not so far.
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Post by richardw on Dec 22, 2017 12:55:28 GMT -5
But are you saving seed from those reedIve missed not being able to pick any this season for salads |
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Post by reed on Dec 22, 2017 15:06:19 GMT -5
Yep, I save seeds. I select for milder flavor and crisp, crunchy seed pods. When they all start flowering good I taste test and pull most that don't meet those guidelines, I let a few of them keep flowering just to keep diversity up. When it starts getting hot and they all get tough and stringy I let them go to volunteer. I tag just the very best to make sure their seed gets replanted in higher proportion.
My radishes are pretty much weeds now with all stages of growth going on most of the time. Volunteers from early summer make more pods in fall.
A single plant makes so many pods and over such a long period of time you can have all the salads you want for months and still have plenty left to save. Pulling up a radish to eat it's root is a terrible waste, I think.
Like I said, the only worry is that they may stop making big roots which I depend on to till and improve my soil but so far that hasn't happened.
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Post by richardw on Dec 22, 2017 15:11:20 GMT -5
So they will more likely end up being a annual radish instead of a biannual, which mine should bloody well should be.
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Post by richardw on Dec 22, 2017 15:22:43 GMT -5
The wire cage is over the most resent sowing just a few days ago, the next sowing behind two weeks earlier looks like it may grow a eatable radish, behind that again is showing signs of bolting, the previous 5 sowing were further along again but have been long pulled, last thing i wanted was them crossing with the Black Spanish. Now that BS has finished flowering will that be the end of the bolting vgy.me/RbWTO4.jpg |
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Post by reed on Dec 22, 2017 18:01:51 GMT -5
Well ya learn something new everyday I guess, I never knew there was biannual radishes.
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Post by richardw on Dec 22, 2017 18:12:14 GMT -5
Sown summertime, wintered over for me in the garden, flower late spring, produce seed during early summer.
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Post by reed on Dec 23, 2017 9:33:55 GMT -5
A lot of mine started out as types you could harvest for roots in as few as 25 days. Now that they're all mixed up I plant some and some volunteer in late winter or early spring. They reseed in time to harvest more pods in fall. Haven't had one overwinter yet I don't think, but there are some still alive so far this year.
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Post by richardw on Dec 23, 2017 12:36:23 GMT -5
Wonder how radishes store out of ground over winter and regrow in spring, i would imagine they should.
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