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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 22, 2018 21:37:13 GMT -5
I heard people talking about sweet potato varieties as bakers, pie type, and salad type. I didn't interupt and ask what was meant as a salad type sweet potato, and I still don't know. If I by chance came up with a salad type, would I know it? Or would I throw it out as worthless? I wonder if "salad type" was meant to imply that the leaves are eaten, rather than the tubers?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 22, 2018 21:34:39 GMT -5
It might be kind of a good thing in a way that it it isn't hardy. I don't think it spreads quite as aggressively under the ground as Johnson Grass but it seems to have some of the same "I want it all" tendencies. Not winter hardy in USDA zone 4b... All bets are off in warmer climates. Bwah, ha, ha!!!! I had a plant overwinter in my root-pit. Which is basically an 18" hole in the ground, covered with dirt.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 15, 2018 10:28:05 GMT -5
When the USDA was harassing me, it was only about the money. That I was a bio-terrorist because I "might" destroy an industry.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 26, 2018 20:29:10 GMT -5
I was sad last year, because I lost my seed-producing potatoes to weeds, I didn't get any seeds harvested. I didn't manage to save the tubers. So the variety was lost. However... yesterday, I was weeding and found a whole patch of potatoes that survived the winter. Yahoo!!! This year I intend to keep up with weeding, so perhaps they will generate seeds for me. I also planted a row of new seedlings, so no worries, something is likely to produce fresh seeds.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 26, 2018 1:49:38 GMT -5
If it's Cache Valley rye, I'd expect plants to be about 4-5 feet tall, and for seeds to be large, hull-less, and freely threshing. I expect einkorn to be about 2.5 feet tall, with seeds that are hulled, small, and hard to thresh.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 26, 2018 1:42:01 GMT -5
My first impression was also rye, but if it's from Steev, I'm wondering if it's Einkorn wheat? Small, thin heads and seeds may confirm my guess.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 22, 2018 21:58:03 GMT -5
It's hot, arid, and sunny here during the day. Wanting a jacket at night. I've just finished harvest for farmer's market: Garlic, thyme, spearmint, sage, lavendar, oregano, parsley. I'm definitely hot and smelly!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 22, 2018 21:36:39 GMT -5
Sun's back out, heating back up and yep, lodging, significant lodging. Crap. In my fields, corn often stands itself back up in a couple days.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 21, 2018 2:08:13 GMT -5
I've tried to use radishes and carrots to decompact my soil. I didn't really have much success. I'm giggling. Because last time I planted Daikon radishes, they grew upwards into the air, instead of downwards into the soil. So I was left with radish roots poking up a foot into the air, and barely anchored into the soil.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 15, 2018 9:21:34 GMT -5
I have been targeting my potato onions to plants that produce only one seed stalk, and 6 to 8 bulbs. Seems like the sweet spot to me. I get seed, and all the bulbs aren't damaged from flowering. And I'm selecting for flower stalks that grow from the side of a bulb, rather than from the middle of it.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 14, 2018 10:53:15 GMT -5
Ah, I came up with an explanation, excuse for why others got seedlings with lobed green leaves and I didn't. It's cause of their fancy, well controlled germination methods. Those seeds just don't sprout on a cold drafty windowsill in dirt mostly just scraped up from the garden. HA HA, their wimpy. But I'm still jealous. I had three lobe-leaved plants this year. They are the least vigorous of what I'm growing, so you might be onto something there...
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 14, 2018 10:50:48 GMT -5
I think when actual measurements are made that the difference in garlic production between leaving the scapes on, and taking them off is less than 5%. With potatoes, I have found that the plants that produce the most seeds also tend to produce more tubers. So I don't worry about removing flowers from things that I grow. I'm not going to notice a 5% difference in productivity.
I am selecting my potato onions for flower stalks that originate on the side of the bulb, rather than in the center. Because if a flower stalk originates in the center of the bulb, then that bulb will not store well, regardless of whether or not I cut it off.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 13, 2018 10:41:10 GMT -5
My mother grows sweet potatoes, in a raised bed, in sandy soil. They love it under those conditions. Mine get planted into silty soil in a field. Most of the seeds I collected last year matured on vines that were yanked up and put in a bucket of water in the greenhouse.
Are you thinking that the green-lobed are hybrids? Because the lobed trait originally came from the decorative plant?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 13, 2018 9:02:07 GMT -5
Here's what my sweet potatoes looked like yesterday before planting them out... Some of the plants already have flower buds on them. They will be flowering for the longest day of the year, like they were last year. 2018 seedlings: Seems to be a lot of variation in vigor. Higher resolution photoCloseup of lobe-leaved plants: Higher resolution photoTubers from 2017: Higher resolution photo
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 12, 2018 9:38:36 GMT -5
How common is frost in June? Have you noticed any reduction in frosts over resent years Snow is common the last week of May. I usually don't plant out frost-tender things until the first week of June. Two years ago, we had frost on July 4th. These are radiant-cooling frosts: Caused by clear nighttime skies. I was just whining a few days ago that the beans I planted on May 5th didn't get killed by frost this year. They are a frost tolerant strain that I have been working on, so hard to tell if that was due to their not being any frost, or due to them being resistant. I haven't checked on them since this frost, though they are in a slightly warmer field. It's hard for me to pay attention to trends, cause weather at high-altitude, in the mountains has always been fickle. I had a neighbor that used to have a glorious early crop of corn, about 1 year in 5, because he would plant super early, expecting the crop to be killed by frost, but then once in a while it would thrive and produce an early crop. I tend to wait to plant frost tender things.
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