perhaps i was asking too much

clearly there is a reason why four months is the outside limit of the time-frame for traditional potato storage...as long as the tubers were solid i was rubbing the sprouts off these early blue potatoes...unfortunately when i checked on them this evening they were not only sprouting, but they were soft and beginning to shrivel...the limits of tradition would seem to have been reached and i felt i had no alternative besides planting them to produce another round of tubers for spring planting much like the strategy for the yema de huevos ( which are also sprouting but have a bit of time to go before they are planted )...so i commandeered one of the bushel baskets ( which means procuring more spud containers...off to the garden center tomorrow...need another broad spectrum grow lighty too ) and planted them...since no tuber will grow below the ones i planted i only filled the basket halfway and i will be hilling these plants to the top to stimulate more tuber production...there are still three more to plant so my hope are for a fair harvest in april...it would have been a stretch in storage twice as long as traditional methods allow and it may have been completely unrealistic to think i could pull it off...i do not have the andean micro-climates enabled by altitude that gives me enough leeway to make it work...so the basement will have to provide the climate...it is a steady temperature and humidity which is favorable..now i have to hope the timing is right...i imagine planting them in may rather than april won't cause too much of an issue...harvest in september rather than august...more as it comes up.

potatoes in boxes

the wild potatoes seem to be coming along fine...i have cut down their photo period and i am leaving them in darkness at least twelve hours a day...their vertical growth has slowed 9 actually you can see in the second photo that some have lain over like vines...but they seem healthy and they are producing both new growth and new leaves...the images i pull up on line ( a maddening process...you get to see a lot of sweet potato vines when you query "wild potatoes"...wild potatoes do not have smooth, heart shaped leaves...they look much more like a domesticated potato leaf...which only makes sense ) show the plants very low to the ground unlike the domesticates...as long as they continue to develop i will assume they are healthy...the storage project may be another story...the ollalas ( third photo ) and the early blue ( fourth photo ) are still solid but they are showing increasing numbers of sprouts...they have been in boxes for nearly four month which is the outside limit in traditional storage time...we still have a few month to go and i may be asking a bit too much of them...the roja narino in the fifth photo were only brought in in october and may stand a better chance of seeing spring...the only thing to do is maintain the best possible conditions and wait... i have the yema de huevos in a separate box waiting for them to sprout before i replant...they stand a fair chance of seeing the community garden as well to go along with some yukon golds...a domesticate/domesticate ancestor/descendant pair to have a look at.

spud city

this project has been going on for a bit...longer than i had realized actually...the ollala potatoes in the top photo have been in the basement for ninety-five days now and that put them firmly in second place in the tenure department...the early blue in the second photo have been boxed for one hundred and thirty-eight days...longer than their growing season...the roja narino ( third photo) are the new neighbors with a mere fifty-three day son the shelf...there is still a considerable distance to go before these tubers can even reasonably be planted...all the spuds are still solid..no shriveling..but they all show signs of sprouting and i am somewhat concerned about them surviving until april intact...the yema de huevo plants in the baskets have begun to die back ( the green manures in the form of rye, hairy vetch, and dixie clover are all going quite strong under the lights incidentally ) and we will know soon enough if there are tubers to continue that segment ( improvised as it is ) of this project..i am encourage by the condition of the tubers...daunted at the distance to go...more as it turns up.

potato basement

a new month in th epotato storage project and things look okay...the ollala, early blur, and roja narino (first through third photos respectively )all look solid and pest free in their boxes on the shelf in the basement...the natural light down there is all indirect through glass block windows and the boxes keep most if not all of it out so no greening...the yemea de huevos under the lights seem fine...even if the rye in one basket is as tall as the spuds...another month or so and i will be looking ( hoping ) for tubers and reconditioning the baskets for a second crop of ( hopefully ) tubers to plant outdoors in april...that's the plan if the plants co-operate and that depend on whether the conditions i have provided are adequate to the task...so far so good...no a priori assumption on results...this whole project is consequentialist.

a broader spectrum

"crops are both cultural and biological entities that have been shaped by hundreds of generations of farmers. in turn, crop plants have shaped cultures and landscapes." stephen b. brush from "farmer's bounty"____________________________________________________well...i'm not a farmer...and i sometimes wonder if you can call the social system i live in a culture...but i am what i eat for sure and i am trying to shape some plants as well so i have at least a tenuous connection to folk taxonomies and organic methodologies that brush writes about...the new, broader spectrum, grow light bulb i ordered came in today's mail and i didn't waste any time in installing it...i had one with a narrower spectrum and one bulb like the one that came today...the plants in the second photo were under the narrower spectrum bulb and are about eighteen inches tall and they were hugging the bulb in an attempt to get more light...they were spending energy to grow taller and expand their photosynthesis area rather than focusing on the work at hand, setting tubers...the plants under the broader spectrum bulb are shorter ( a foot or less ) have larger leaves and, on the whole, are healthier looking...hopefully the new bulb will slow down the taller plants and let them produce some spuds...the storage project is doing okay...no further losses..the ollala (fourth photo ) early blue ( fifth photo ) and the roja narino ( bottom ) are solid and sproutless...there may indeed be something to adding some lavender to the storage boxes...still a long way to go and it will be done day by day tuber by tube and plant by plant...losses are to be expected and endured...it's part of building a culture.

the basement is alive with potatoes

the yema de huevos potatoes in the bushel baskets under the lights are doing okay..between eight and twelve inches tall depending on which light they are under...the bulb producing the broader spectrum of light seems to be keeping the plants shorter and producing more branches and leaves than the narrower spectrum one is...i have broader spectrum bulbs on the way and will install one in the fixture over the taller plants as soon as it arrives...the once-a-week watering schedule seems to be working well...no wilt on the one hand and no yellowing on the other...i have, perhaps, found some balance...the storage project seems good as well the ollala, early blue, and roja narino ( third fourth and fifth photos ) are rock solid so far and sproutless ( even the smaller early blue which aren't pictured are doing fine )...still a long way to go to spring and i haven't a clue how it will turn out but i am hopeful of a good crop of untreated tuber next season that we can actually eat...clearly i have a good deal of work yet to do on wild potato germination...i am finding a dearth of information on the subject and so will be winging it...i have one gross of seeds left to work with and i am hoping to find the motherlode of data before i plant any more...i have emails out to everyone i can think of and will putting my membership in the society for economic botany to use shortly...someone must know something i don't...if not we are in serious trouble in a multitude of ways...mor if an when it comes up.

potato basement

forty-nine days into the indoor potato season and it seems to be going fine...the yemma de huevos plants are between six and eight inches tall and exhibiting new growth continuously...i have pared the watering schedule back to once a week and that seems to ample moisture in the basement which is fairly stable as far as humidity goes...forty-nine days is a bit past one third of a one hundred and twenty day season so we may be alright...that would mean another indoor planting of another restless generation under the lights before an outdoor return in the spring...the storage project is fine as well...the ollalla, early blue, and roja narino ( in descending order of photos ) are still firm and i see only a couple of sprouts...still a long way to go though...for all the spuds down there...still no sure thing.

a bit over two months in

the potato storage project has been going on since early august when the yema de huevos were brought in ( more on them in the proceeding post ) and is going pretty well...with the inevitable issues cropping up...the potatoes came in in a variety of sizes and this is an issue for some...the small early blue in the top photo had badly dehydrated, softened, and shriveled...and so had to be discarded...a routine and thorough inspection of tubers is an important part of the traditional andean storage methodology for obvious reasons..softened potatoes on the verge of rotting aren't going to do the healthy tubers any good so they must be discarded...we also placed the smaller potatoes in separate boxes since they are more prone to going bad because they have less moisture to lose...the large early blue are solid and doing just fine...i brought in the last of the narino roja and they are all small( fourth photo )...a bit dis appointing since it lessens their chances of surviving storage until a replant....they hail from columbia and were out there all summer form late april until yesterday...they had just started dying back...a long season and i am wondering about day length issues since their native range is closer to he equator...these are certainly smaller than the tubers i planted...on the plus side they did set tubers and there is always hope they will survive...the ollala potatoes form spain are native to a lattitude much closer to northwest indiana than columbia and they did well and seem to be holding their own in the basement...april is sitll half a year away...the micro-climates that the andes provide through altitude ( odd that many vavilov centers are in mountainous regions? ) allow shorter storage times of around four months...there may be continuing issues as time passes and we may see some considerable attrition in our seed stock...hope has a significant role in all this but it strikes me that gardening and agriculture as a whole are hopeful projects rather than assured ones....more as this goes on.

down stairs and under the lights

the freeze is on tonight and there may be snow tomorrow ( or so i hear ) so i moved the potted teosinte and the relentless yema de huevos potatoes indoors after work...even if it doesn't freeze the decreasing day length had both the teosinte and the green manures in the basket with the potatoes starting to die back so i wanted to get them under some longer light...i will be hanging another fixture to increase the exposure for the teosinte as soon as i get back tot he hardware store and pick up a power cord to electrify the thing...i gave them another dousing with the oil soap insecticide after i brought them in and will be far more vigilant on the aphid front than i was last time around...i would certainly like to succeed with this batch since i got no ears last season and a multiplicity this one...who knows when the chance will reappear? while i was down there i checked on the potato storage project..the early blue and the ollala potatoes are all solid and unshriveled in their low light, herbally protected boxes on the shelf...only six more months to go before they are replanted...i am curious to see how many ( if any ) generations of yeme de huevos pop up before then...more on this adventure later for those who are interested.

potatoes and winter wheat

the yema de huevos that i planted in the bushel basket last weekend are really beginning to green up now and will be leafing out soon enough...i have another ( and a bit unexpected ) indoor project for the late fall and i am thinking there will be a second grow light added to the basement plant room...there's room so it should not be an issue and what's a bit more work? the ollala potatoes ( including the twins ) are solid and insect free in the basement storage box..no sign of softness, shriveling, or sprouts...the early blue are holding up as well ( fourth photo ) and the fifth photo is of two more ollala tubers i harvested this evening and will be adding to he storage box a soon as they are thoroughly dry...the bottom photo is of some winter wheat that has begun to tiller...indicating a well established root system that will allow some plant growth before dormancy ( or not...that remains to be seen...dormancy has been a rare commodity in overwintering perennials here...in my recent experience anyway...we will be watching for winter growth ) still more time to go but the season is drawing to a close ( for the annuals anyway )...lots of planning to do and the community garden promises to be a challenge this coming season...plans are in the works for another perennial and the roster of ancestors will be expanding...geeked is a good word to describe outlook on things...and i don't doubt that the gardens on campus and the stuff out back will feed into one another with all sorts of new ideas and connections.