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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 5, 2015 21:47:33 GMT -5
My neighbor for years has been telling me how much he enjoys eating redroot pigweed amaranth, Amaranthus retroflexus. I have a field that is filled with it this time of year. Since I was weeding today, I plucked some plants and took them home with me. When I got home I trimmed the roots off and boiled them. They were delicious and tender as can be. So I fed some to my woman. She told me how much she enjoyed eating them as a child, and that it was her job to gather them from a vacant field.
I suppose that I have just found the Eat-All Green for my garden...
Guess I know what I'm harvesting for the farmer's market this weekend: Amaranth!!!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 5, 2015 19:49:49 GMT -5
Here's another seedless melon candidate... The mother was a round striped diploid. Two more candidates: The mother was like the oblong light green melon. The presumed pollen donor was round. Shape of the offspring is mid-way between the two presumed parents, and striped like the presumed pollen donor. Comparing leaf size between the presumed triploid, and the presumed diploid parent. In the worst case scenario, I've made hybrids between some of my favorite diploid melons...
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 5, 2015 19:30:49 GMT -5
mskrieger: I got about 4 varieties from the Hoggy Seed Swap, and I planted 2 batches from the grocery store... I started them in the greenhouse a long time before planting out... They germinated very quickly, but grew extremely slowly. A couple of plants were flowering today.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 4, 2015 15:14:20 GMT -5
It rained steadily for more than 14 hours yesterday, so I took the day of from farming again today, calling it a mud-day.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 4, 2015 12:21:46 GMT -5
I reviewed my photo archives... The dent trait doesn't stick around for me when grown in mixed populations... I think that I would have to purposefully select for it to keep it around. The pericarp is maternal only and so it's thickness and strength is highly influenced by the genetics of the mother, which might be different than those of the embryo. I found a few examples where individual kernels dented when the rest of the cob didn't, but they were rare exceptions (1 kernel per cob). Hmm. Doing some ball-park statistics, I suppose that might mean that there are 3 to 4 genes influencing denting. The quick disappearance of the denting trait in my corn populations suggests that they are recessive genes.
The flint/flour distinction seems to me like it's driven by a single gene with flour being dominant.
Dents have flour type kernels.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 4, 2015 11:43:31 GMT -5
In the F2, if you allow it to self pollinate, you can expect 3/4 of the kernels to be floury, and 1/4 to be sweet (wrinkled when dry). Among the sweet kernels you can expect 1/4 of them to be sugary enhanced.
If you detasseled the F2 and pollinated it with a sugary enhanced variety, then you could expect 1/2 of the kernels to be sweet.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 3, 2015 14:02:10 GMT -5
I think that I'd sacrifice the sesame if something would eat the sunroot weeds for me.
My fall frosts are expected to start as early as 5 weeks from now, and the sesame isn't even flowering yet, so jealousy might be premature...
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 3, 2015 12:49:02 GMT -5
keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.): The leaves on wild pueblo look nice to me. Those white veins please me. I aught to look at my silver-leaved maxima more closely. I'm presuming that it's silver because of tiny hairs on the leaves. Be nice to confirm or refute that presumption.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 3, 2015 12:44:28 GMT -5
I like the shoepeg trait. Especially in red! It looks quite exotic! Joseph, that's some nice looking corn you have there! How is your cherry flavored corn project coming along? steev adopted that project and has really developed a nice strain. I'm calling it Steev's cherry sweet corn these days, even if he seems reticent about my doing so.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 3, 2015 12:41:06 GMT -5
A wildfire started last night about a mile from where I was spending the night. It was quickly contained. I'm taking the day off from farming because it has been raining steadily since I got up six hours ago.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 2, 2015 23:15:28 GMT -5
glenn10: I grow plenty of weeds... I even lost crops to weeds this summer. (The red podded pea project for example !!!) In the field with the mix of regular and bush muskmelons I irrigate via flood irrigation in a ditch, so annual weeds pretty much only sprout outside the ditch if there is a rainstorm, which is rare. So I only have to routinely weed two six-inch-wide rows in a 25 foot wide field. Also that field is my show garden. It is right next to the bishop's house. My landlord, the previous bishop, asked me to keep it clear of weeds for the current bishop's peace of mind. I spaced the rows wide enough apart that while the melons/squash are small I can drive the tractor/tiller between rows. Later on, I sweep it with a hoe while the weeds are still small. With the hill of bush cantaloupes, it's easy, cause I cultivate about every two weeks with a tiller, and I can cultivate right next to the plant, and soon after I cultivate the plant expands and creates a closed canopy and anything that germinates after that doesn't thrive. I sprinkle irrigate this field, so a few weed seeds germinate between cultivations. While I'm on the topic, I often think that I aught to make a "Weeding 101" video.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 2, 2015 11:22:45 GMT -5
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 2, 2015 2:21:47 GMT -5
Sesame is unbelievably exotic to me also... I looked up the taxonomy of sesame, and as far as I can tell, the only thing in the same order that I am growing are three mints... Sesame has taken on a whole new importance to me. One of the key philosophies of my gardening style is diversity... Not only within species but between species. If I can add a new family to my garden crops, that is exciting, especially in an order that is so sparsely represented. Here's what my sesame plants looked like a few days ago:
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 2, 2015 1:58:14 GMT -5
Garlic flower with self-shedding bulbils:
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 2, 2015 1:42:41 GMT -5
A few watermelon fruits are starting to grow. Here's what the parents of the cross looked like. The oblong light green fruit is the presumed tetraploid, and is the mother of the cross. The presumed pollen donor produced the striped diploid fruit. Here's what one of the offspring looks like: Shape mid-way between that of the two parents. It is lightly striped. Perhaps this will be a seedless melon?
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