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Post by rowan on Apr 8, 2012 4:30:48 GMT -5
I find myself growing a lot of red vegetables this year for some reason  and I just came home with a couple of punnets of red F1 pak choy which I have not seen before. I would like to breed this into an open pollinated type. A couple of questions: 1, which plants or varieties might the red coloration come from? 2, is there anything I need to watch out for or know as I try breeding from these plants? Cheers, Rowan |
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Post by rowan on Apr 8, 2012 1:01:00 GMT -5
I find it difficult to thin and to throw away good seedlings. I seed thickly and then regularly take 'baby' vegies to eat or to the market. eventually I have a row of full sized plants at the proper spacing.
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Post by rowan on Apr 4, 2012 22:15:45 GMT -5
I'll be in touch soon ;D
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Post by rowan on Apr 4, 2012 16:06:39 GMT -5
I agree but it can be difficult to find someone who is willing to mislabel seeds for you though.
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Post by rowan on Apr 4, 2012 14:50:12 GMT -5
I'll have to look up whether the seed is allowed in, I would love to buy some.
Raymondo - Probably not your problem but many people don't realise that they only start producing tubers a few weeks before the frost hits, not all the time they are growing. I have spoken to a couple of people who didn't know this and pulled them out early because they thought theirs were not productive.
Mountaindweller - I located some yellow ones in Aus last year and might have a few tubers to sell in the winter if you are interested. I won't have many but they grow awfully easily from cuttings so you can easily make plenty of plants out of one or two. Message me if you want a couple.
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Post by rowan on Apr 3, 2012 14:45:37 GMT -5
Don't know, it was just some (very expensive) seeds off Ebay. I will have to get some more as I only bought a packet of 10 seeds to give them a go so it was not enough to save seed I think with the inbreeding depression issue.
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Post by rowan on Apr 3, 2012 14:42:45 GMT -5
Go for it, they are a handy crop, especially if you want something to grow in a shaded spot where not many other food plants will grow.
Richardw - I wish my summers were cool enough to grow them in the sun, I suppose I could get off my bum and make a shade tunnel for them (and the yacon as well) to expand my growing area.
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Post by rowan on Apr 3, 2012 4:22:08 GMT -5
I grew some black glutinous corn this year and really liked the chewyness of it raw and cooked. Not as sweet as the supersweets but sweet enough to eat raw all the same.
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Post by rowan on Apr 3, 2012 4:19:30 GMT -5
I grow it here in Southern Vic and it grows very nicely.
It does need shade and the tubers grow better if they in shade, I grow some under some deciduous trees and some in my shadehouse. Make sure you don't harvest them until a couple of weeks or more after they die down from frost. Don't be impatient, the tubers continue to grow a little as the plants die down.
Remember to heap some dirt on them now to get a bigger harvest as they are only just starting to grow the tubers now as the weatehr gets cooler.
When you harvest them store the ones you are going to eat for a week or two in a basket to get rid of any oxalic acid before you cook them and keep the rest that you are going to replant in a pot filled with slightly damp sawdust or potting mix till next spring.
I grow them every year and have no trouble with them. The only problem I have ever had is this year when I tried to grow a bed in full sun for an experiment and they just couldn't handle the sun and heat. That bed all died.
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Post by rowan on Apr 1, 2012 4:38:39 GMT -5
A couple of years ago I went through a phase of trying out less-used edible garden flowers like dahlia tubers, canna lily rhisomes and day lily flowers to name a few. The dahlias were awful but I think I might try agian with some other colours or types. The cannas are really nice - just peel and cook like potatoes. Luckily everyone grows cannas around here and my parents garden is full of them. Day lily flowers are also very tasty and it annoys my mother when she catches me eating her precious flowers  There are quite a few garden ornamentals with nice edible parts. |
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Post by rowan on Mar 20, 2012 23:47:43 GMT -5
In Australia all of our terrestrial orchids have edible bulbs. They are small but some are quite tasty.
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Post by rowan on Mar 8, 2012 14:10:57 GMT -5
A goats horn is part of their skull, loppers wouldn't be a good choice for this job. I always believe that it is far best and most humane to disbud goats in their first week of life but if you have to cut a mature goats horn,do it as cleanly and best as possible.
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Post by rowan on Mar 6, 2012 14:04:12 GMT -5
This is a nasty job but if you use the right tools it is not so bad. Try to buy a wire saw for dehorning - they are not so expensive and you can get them at agricultural supply stores. Be careful as the wire gets very hot as you saw so don't let it touch you or the goat. Goats have a bigger blood supply to the horn than sheep so the hot saw cauterises the blood vessels which is good.
I've heard that a reciprocating saw does a quick job but I have never used one.
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Post by rowan on Feb 24, 2012 13:56:35 GMT -5
even though I watered it well every day. Couldn't even get it to flower let alone produce fruit. They looked so awful as they struggled with the heat that I eventually just stopped watering them and let them die. Whenever I hear that someone is watering every day, I think that the plants are being over watered causing them to not develop an adequate root system. I live in a very arid climate, and I only water once a week. One inch of water once a week is our motto around here. I have been growing squash for most of my life and understand the watering. These plants were watered as normal for a while but were just not coping with the heat, read - shrivelling and dying. I had to start watering them more often just to keep them alive. They are/were on very well drained sand with no chance of over watering. We have had an unusually hot and dry summer with no ground moisture so my watering schedule has had to be moved from once or twice a week to every two days. I understand that many people do over water squash and it doesn't hurt to let them wilt a bit on hot days but this summer is the worst I have seen for years with even fully mature trees that have seen many droughts dying around town.  |
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Post by rowan on Feb 24, 2012 0:55:13 GMT -5
Living in Australia we have Queensland blue in the supermarkets all year round so not a lot of people bother to grow their own. It is a great squash (Pumpkin for us) but you almost need a chainsaw to get into it, lol.
I tried Musque de Provence this year but it couldn't handle the heat and dry, even though I watered it well every day. Couldn't even get it to flower let alone produce fruit. They looked so awful as they struggled with the heat that I eventually just stopped watering them and let them die.
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and I just came home with a couple of punnets of red F1 pak choy which I have not seen before. I would like to breed this into an open pollinated type.
There are quite a few garden ornamentals with nice edible parts.
