yema de huevos and wild potatoes

there are five yema de huevos up in a bushel basket ( one in the top photo ) and there are still more to plant...we will see what this particular type does in a second indoor generation...well, i hope...it will add a somewhat exotic flavor to the traditional spud crop...the wild potatoes are still growing at an agonizingly slow pace...they are small but continue to produce new growth...whether there will be tubers by spring is another kettle of fish...i am all hopes and no certainty on this one..still i have added three new plants to the population...i know they will germinate and i am not above transplanting...more as it develops.

small potatoes

are fine with me...results are results at this point in the winter...the yema de huevos in one of the baskets had died back thoroughly and so i dug for tubers this morning and...hey presto! spuds...small as they may be ( and the crop i brought in from outside weren't exactly huge ) they will sprout and that is what matters at this point...nine so far...there are a couple of plants that haven't died back completely but i do believe i will be digging them today anyway...in the course of the harvest i found three larger and very soft tubers that basically collapsed as i dug them out...this has me worried about viruses so i will dig the remaining plants today ...i brought in a frozen forty pound chunk of compost from the back of my truck ( it is minus two faherenheit outside my house right now ) and as soon as it thaws i will be replacing the soil in one basket to replant the harvest...that compost can go out in the yard come spring removed from any potato patch i plant...or, perhaps, i will just dump it in the compost bin for a bit of heat sterilization before it gets run through any plants...if i can produce another crop of tubers under the light these spuds will go out into the gardens ( since we are intercropping in the community garden some will find a home there and there hasn't been a potato in the perennial garden project ( and they are perennials ) in a number of years and i am inclined to think it is time..they are smallish potatoes and ancestors of yukon golds ( an ancestor domesticate/domesticate comparison? we grew yukon golds in the community garden very successfully in the community garden last season...something to consider since i have a reliable local source of yukons....more on the replant and the rest of the potato projects as the compost thaws...parts of the 2014 season are coming together...happy holidays everyone.

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.