four corners seed

the fruits i have harvested from the four corners potates have begun to soften...

so i picked out a couple of the mid-sized ones to see what i would find ( beyond the obious seeds ) in terms of numbers...

using the sharpest knife i own i cut them open...

and squeezed out the pulp...something like a tomato...which is no coincidence since they are both from the nightshade family...they are full of solanine and that always makes my hands itch...it si also toxic ( although not in the small dose one would recieve from a couple of fruits ) so it's always a good idea to wash your hands and owrk surfaces thoroughly when finished...if nothing else than to control the itiching...

these are small seeds...

about a sixteenth of an inch in diameter and exceptionally flat...

those two fuits ( and i have a dozen more to do ) yielded one hundred seeds...

which i set out on a paper towel to dry...the solanine will pretty much weld them to the toweling when it dries...no worries about lost little seeds...now to acquire some gibberellic acid and break domeancy...i grew spuds from seed a few years ago from fruits on more standard potatoes ( red pontiacs i think ) over the winter...a basement project yet again...starting in 2024 i think to time out any tuber production for summer planting...

and, while seeds are the matter at hand, it is october and teosinte seed is starting to come in...we are pleased.