picture window plants

i have plants growing in natural light in the living room window for a few reasons...not least of which is the fact that there is no room available under the grow lights and i patently refuse to set up a fifth fixture this late...natural light will also make it easier to harden these plants off before they go out into one garden or another...the top photo is one of three northern tepehuam teosinte plants derived from seeds i got from the plants i finished in the basement...the second photo is of texas wild cherry tomato plants...if i succeed in getting these going there will never be a need to reseed...they will do the work in the future...the third photo is of one of three purslane plants that have sprouted...madness given their fecundity in the wild...sort of like pampering jerusalem artichokes...but i had to try...and the bottom photo is of one of seven wild potato seedling germinated as a backup in case the basement plants don't set tubers...there are plants all over the house waiting for the weather to break...more as it comes up.

spuds

some winter keeping potatoes have sensed the approach of spring ( top photo ) and so there will be even more spuds planted next month...these came out of my back yard last august and remained fairly stable until the last month or so..what's another thirty potato plants among various gardens? there will be more than enough to go around this coming summer...the early blue in the second photo are totally out of hand but are at the point where they should be setting tubers that will be done in time for spring planting with more rotating in in may for an extended harvest...the wild potatoes are robust ( third photo ) and doing better than i expected given their start...still hoping for wild tubers to plant...the bottom photo is of the third generation yema de huevos in the basement...they are on track for a june planting and a late september/early october harvest...there will be ( i hope )an ample supply of fresh potatoes all season...stay tuned for a summerr of spud.

wild potatoes

a saturday at loose ends...

...means looking for things to do and with spring around the corner ( oh yes it is ) my thoughts turned to plants...i have five wild potato plants down under the lights and they are doing well...i am growing them to produce tubers however and do not expect them to see the natural light outside...just as a back up to that plan i started five mor upstairs that i plan to leave entirely in natural light now that the equinox is nearly here...left in natural light they will be easier to harden off nad trans plant should later spring find me with no wild tubers...i will probably be purchasing heirloom tomato plants from a local greenhouse but i decided to start some cherry tomatoes along with the wild spuds...yesterday's temperatures were a harbinger fo spring, despite this morning's snow...it will be here soon.

solanum morphology I

the early blue domesticates in the top photo have upright stems that branch off into leaves...the wild potatoes in the second photo ( these plants were all grown from seeds from bolivia...there will be an effort with argentinian seeds later this spring...i give up on the seeds from russia ) have a much more vine-like appearance than their descendants...the resemblance in new growth at the tops of the stems is pretty minimal...the early blue leaves are clustered together much more densely than the two or three leaves the wild potatoes produce...i am hoping for tubers from the wild potatoes that would enable a comparison of those...that won't be for another few months at best...stay tuned.

solanum morphology II

the leaf in the top photo is on an early blue plant and the second photo is a wild potato...even though the leaves cluster differently on the stem it is easy to see a physical resemblance between the two...at least some heritable characteristics at work here...the third photo is of a yema de huevo leaf and comparing it to the fourth photo of a wild potato the difference is as plain as the previous likeness...until recently yema de huevos were classified as soalnum phureja rather than solanum tuberosum and that may exalain part of the pronounced morphological differences.

wild potatoes

after an agonizingly slow start the wild potatoes have obviously found an environment under the lights that suit them...good growth, much larger leaves...something of a relief. all from bolivian seeds...now i hope for tubers to plant...geeked...that's where plant morphology has me this evening.

just wild potataoes

it seems fairly clear that the wild potato root systems have finally gotten beyond the peat pellets they germinated in and have tapped into the compost in the pots...looking much more robust and the leaves are larger and much more numerous...feed the roots and grow tubers...that's what we are after.

wild potatoes and teosinte

the teosinte seedling is on the bottom.

something of an appendix

top to bottom: wild potato...yema de huevos...and two early blue.

yema de huevos ( basement update III )

altogether there are eleven yema de huevos plants up and all seem to be doing quite well so far...the tallest are approaching four inches and, ad i recall, they were not overly tall plants when i grew the first generation ( this is the third since last april )outdoors...i have been planting them in a staggered order as they sprout in the box so there will be a staggered harvest and outdoor planting in spring...there will be a lot of area devoted to potatoes this spring in the community garden, the pgp, my yard, and, i suspect, those of a few of my children...a spud happy season...the maddeningly slow wild potatoes continue to be maddeningly slow...but there is progress despite a couple of casualties...there will be more germination in the spring and i will be planting seedlings outdoors to see if that has an impact on the speed of their growth...i also have a new stock of government seed potatoes and wild potato seeds on the way...we will have wild tubers for a morphological comparison yet.

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.

slow solanum in three parts (III)

if the tubers are slow , the wild potatoes are agonizing...there are new starts in the germinating tray so that is good news...the plant in the third photo has been out of the tray for a week ans seems remarkably happy compared to the older plants...limited experience has me wondering if i let the first batch stay in the tray too long...there will be speedier movement into peat pots with the second batch to see if that aids in verticality...or if they plants naturally behave like vines...a couple of the russian seeds germinated in this batch along with the bolivians...it will be interesting to look for morphological differences and similarities if there are any pronounced enough to see...things are moving...ever so slowly...more when they decide to do something.