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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Mar 13, 2018 10:24:48 GMT -5
Here's what suspected hybrids look like in my garden...   |
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Post by richardw on Mar 13, 2018 13:43:29 GMT -5
Well there you go, your top photo Joseph shows the same leaf shape as the plant i posted.... interesting!!
Have you noticed if hybrids still have the spines on underside of the leaves
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Post by richardw on Mar 14, 2018 13:09:47 GMT -5
The plant that i took the photo may well have had the leaf shape that it had because it was in a very dry spot, under trees and between natives grasses. Yesterday i studied the Lactuca serriola plants that are closer to the garden, all but one plant had normal shaped leaves, the one plant that had straighter edged leaves is a hybrid. So it appears in my garden that wild L serriola can be receptive to domestic lettuce pollen but not the other way around.
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Post by imgrimmer on Mar 14, 2018 15:04:20 GMT -5
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Post by philagardener on Mar 14, 2018 17:12:39 GMT -5
Ruderal! New word of the day for me!  |
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Post by walt on Mar 15, 2018 11:50:12 GMT -5
ruderal
adjective 1. (of a plant) growing on waste ground or among refuse.
noun 1. a plant growing on waste ground or among refuse.
Weeds in general were origioinally plants adapted to disturbed areas. Where animals have dug burrows, for example, and left loose soil free from mature plants.
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Post by imgrimmer on Mar 16, 2018 3:11:56 GMT -5
ruderal is a german scientific technical term. In german it means the ground of disturbed areas. like here. in english |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 23, 2018 0:33:17 GMT -5
Last fall, I didn't till a section of my field where the garbanzo beans had been growing, because a lot of garbanzos had volunteered, and I wanted to screen them for winter hardiness. They all died mid winter or earlier. Boo Hoo. However, the area also grew a huge patch of winter-hardy lettuce. I had allowed plants to go to seed which looked like native/domestic hybrids. They germinated last fall, and thrived through winter. They are 4" diameter plants. Spring planted lettuces have barely germinated.
A couple days ago I tilled the patch under, except that I left a row a foot wide. Today, I sat down in the row and started tasting lettuces, culling the most bitter. After a while, it became obvious that I didn't even have to taste them. All I had to do was break off a leaf, and see how much latex oozed out of it. Anything with a lot of latex got culled.
There was a remarkable diversity of bitterness within the plants.
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Post by reed on Apr 23, 2018 8:21:24 GMT -5
They germinated last fall, and thrived through winter. They are 4" diameter plants. Spring planted lettuces have barely germinated. You mean the leaves spread out that big? I have 5 nice plants about the same diameter and about 5" tall. My spring planted ones, even though they were planted over a month ago are also just tiny seedlings. Also a bunch more spring volunteers are just seedlings. I can't figure out if the bigger ones sprouted last fall or during some warm spell in late winter, early spring. I think they are hybrid or descended from hybrid as they vary in leaf color. I guess it doesn't really matter when they sprouted, if I can get them established as a weed, I'll be happy. The single plant I was sure overwintered died.  |
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Post by imgrimmer on May 17, 2018 14:20:09 GMT -5
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 18, 2018 17:12:10 GMT -5
Interesting. I have a lettuce volunteer that may have spines and is growing next to some blue-green lettuce-like weeds. I need to check. Could the f2 and beyond be selected for wild survival traits, but good palatability like the domestic? Sounds worthwhile.
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Post by imgrimmer on May 19, 2018 17:10:05 GMT -5
I was thinking about that too. If I can find a blooming domestic lettuce I let them cross. Meanwhile I found other volunteers. Seeds must have been in the dirt I recently bought from a local compost company.
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