teosinte news redux

this store bought seed ( from native seed search in arizona in 2013 ) had begun to green up on the tip so it was time to plant...they probably aren't readily visible in the photos but the root hairs had begun to form as well...another sign..so into a mix of well watered potting soil and compost in a peat pot and down under the lights...next to the only viable second generation plant from homegrown seed( so far...the four that germinated from indoor seed are coming along well but aren't quite ready to plant just yet...a few more days and there will be another post about those ) which has produced a third leaf...bona fide teosinte on the hoof with a two month jump on the season...still geeked..i will be going on and on about this maize ancestor while i ponder domestication...you'll need to adjust to that.

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.

teosinte news...

...and the news is encouraging...the one store bought seed from 2013 that germinated is coming along well and will get out into the light this week...its six compatriots seem to be inert...which i was wondering about until i opened up the baggie of indoor seeds i soaked and put in to germinate last monday...there is a teosinte plant germinated from a seed from my back yard downstairs under the lights...the sole representative of a second generation from homegrown seeds until now...four of the seeds from the plants in the basement have germinated and they are a mix of light and dark seeds to boot...no differentiating viable seed by color...that does not seem to be a factor...i moved these seeds to a warmer climate than the basement and it seems to have had an effect...so with a bit of luck and patience my seed ears will produce at least five second generation plants...nothing tremendously unique in that...but not a bad showing for a semi-tropical grass in northwest indiana...more as they move along.

the iu northwest community garden is still in winter

the snow on the north side of the community garden has melted back a bit...last years ( and probably this year's too ) cucumber bed has emerged and across the garden you can just make out the corner of the strawberry bed...the south side is still firmly in the grip of the snow...still there are signs of life...the winter wheat has not gone completely dormant all winter despite the cold...the retreating snow has uncovered a stand that is about half and half...by next month the dormant grass will begin to "green" and there will be seed heads for the starlings to ravage by june...it may not look auspicious but i will be out ther in the next few weeks ( by mid march) to plant tesosinte seeds and the early potatoes ( notably the "early blue" growing in my basement ) will be cut, calloused and planted in the next forty-six days or so...there is already garlic in the ground ( that will be unmulched next month ) and the fearless jerusalem artichokes which should be up in early april as well...it is closer than it seems.

the pgp today

for all the grip that winter still has on the community garden the climate across campus is remarkably different...the pgp is free of snow and i can only attribute that to the proximity of hawthorn hall that both shelters and warms it...the mulch covering has held up well...but the system has been tested for three winters now and it is what i expected barring critter interference...there are still threads of green in the eastern gamagrass which is a bit odd...it is usually totally dormant by now and it is still too early for it to be "greening"...so the chlorophyll never completely left the leaves apparently...all the seed ears on the northern tepehuan teosinte plant have shattered so there should be plenty of seed scattered about..now if it's viable ( see the next post about the attempted germination of seed from my back yard ) we may have another generation in spring which might wrap up annual teosinte on campus ( but not in my yard )...we could say we did it and document it...what more is there? perhaps some cross-pollination with maize...but goofing around is what my yard is for.

outdoor teosinte

my thinking is running something like this...i haven't been out in the back yard in a while but if there are still unshattered seed ears or stray seeds on the teosinte plants out there the seeds have surely had enough cold to break dormancy without the help of a peroxide soak...so after i got home form campus i went and had a look...most of the ears have shattered...a few had some stray seeds, and a couple were intact...so i gathered them up, brought them in, soaked some brown paper towel in water that had been siting out for a few days, and popped them in a baggie narked with today's date...then i put the baggie in the box with the rest of the seeds i am trying to germinate ( and which i have moved to a place warmer than the basement to speed things along a bit )...now we wait some more.

yema de huevos

the last ten yema de huevos tubers from the second generation have been sprouting for a while now but they have begun to shrivel so it was time to plant...i shallowly filled pots that came to hand with potting soil and put the tubers in with the intention of "hilling" them as they grow...no tubers will grow beneath the level these are planted at so i put them deep in the pots leaving room for tuber growth...it's almost too late for these...the potatoes i planted at the end of last year should produce tubers for planting in april and i have a few i started this year that should be ready to go in in may...these should be done by mid-june at the latest which will allow a staggered potato planting and a fall crop in late september or early october...we will be tuber rich in the community garden this coming season if this all works to fruition...anyone who favors yukon golds should like these little guys ( they will not be large tubers...i can understand stunted tubers from the indoor harvest last december, but the fall harvest of outdoor grown tubers didn't see any much more than an inch in diameter ) and i am curious to try them myself...bite sized spuds.,..boiled and seasoned, topped with a butter sauce...i, for one, think that sounds inviting...it's getting crowded down there under the lights...thirty-nine plant in residence so far and these will push it to forty-nine if they all work...new teosinte plants from the last soak ( see the next post ) will push it past fifty...there are limits to what can be done without further investment in lights, fixtures, and space...part of sustainability is respect for limits...my conclusion here is that the basement seed potato/teosinte/whatever else crops up project has pretty much reached its full size...more as it happens.