unicornduke (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
unicornduke) wrote2019-03-11 09:56 am
unicornduke) wrote2019-03-11 09:56 am
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I'm having trouble deciding if I care about isolation of certain things in my field.
This is mostly important for my vine crops, squash and watermelons and melons. I've got all these varieties and I'm not sure if I want to try and maintain them as a variety (requiring hand pollination care probably) or if I should just let them all cross.
I've just found the solution while typing this out: both.
For melons and watermelons and squash, as long as you catch certain flowers early enough, you can tape them closed, self pollinate and get pure breeding varieties. But then if you let the bees do the rest, you can get a mixed population out of it.
I think I still need to figure out what I want from these things, because right now I don't know much more than: tasty.
Actually, for the squash, I've got a couple of different things going on. I've got a bunch of different types of winter squash and one summer squash. Now there's three types of cucurbita and generally they don't cross unless you're really trying. I've got one moschata (Seminole), one maxima (Jarrahdale) but I've got three pepo's listed for planting (Cornell Bush Delicata, Tondo Scuro de Nice, Winter Luxury). So for squash, the only things I need to do the isolation work is the pepo and given how different all of those varieties are, I really do need to hand pollinate them. Okay, well now I know.
Melons. This is primarily canteloupe types because that's what I like. The varieties I've got are Bender's Musk, Charentais, Iroquois, Minnesota Midget, and Tigger. One thing I found out when I was looking at the melon varieties is that Charentais will split or burst if it gets overripe, which is fucking hilarious. I am very concerned about getting fruit that I can eat from the melons and watermelons because I can't be at the farm much. I really enjoyed the Minnesota Midget I grew last year, it was palm sized and fucking adorable and nice and sweet. I think I'm going to ditch Bender's Musk, it apparently is a parent of the Iroquois variety so why bother. Hmmm. Again, these are all different types. I should probably do the isolation of most of these for this year and see what happens next.
Watermelons. I've only got two varieties I care about, Royal Golden and Winter King & Queen. Royal Golden has a yellow skin when ripe, but it's still a watermelon, which I find intriguing. Winter King & Queen is a storage watermelon and can be stored until Christmas (apparently). I can confirm they store at least a while even when sitting in the field. They had a bad year (I literally pulled every plant out by the roots while weeding and didn't do a good job putting them back in and I also didn't water them at all or really weed them properly) but they produced small watermelons and sized up by June and I didn't harvest them until end of August and the flesh inside was still tasty and sweet. Not as sweet as a regular watermelon but if you want to have something that last into the fall for some lovely watermelon surprise, I think that's a good way to go. So I will isolate these two and let the other four varieties cross.
I won't be able to trade or list the stuff that crosses because I know people like consistency. But I'll have plenty of other things to work with.
I'm not sure how I feel about maintaining heirloom varieties of things. I know it's good to do that but I find it to be such a pain in the butt, and I don't know if they're that much better than anything else I might shove in that space. I'm intrigued by the idea of landrace varieties and I suspect that's the direction I'll be heading with some things. But again, some varieties have cool traits that I want to keep separate. idek. plants are cool.
If I'm not sick, I'll be heading to PA this weekend and I can get a good look at my winter plants and see if they're alive or not and see how much fun it will be to tromp through all the mud.
This is mostly important for my vine crops, squash and watermelons and melons. I've got all these varieties and I'm not sure if I want to try and maintain them as a variety (requiring hand pollination care probably) or if I should just let them all cross.
I've just found the solution while typing this out: both.
For melons and watermelons and squash, as long as you catch certain flowers early enough, you can tape them closed, self pollinate and get pure breeding varieties. But then if you let the bees do the rest, you can get a mixed population out of it.
I think I still need to figure out what I want from these things, because right now I don't know much more than: tasty.
Actually, for the squash, I've got a couple of different things going on. I've got a bunch of different types of winter squash and one summer squash. Now there's three types of cucurbita and generally they don't cross unless you're really trying. I've got one moschata (Seminole), one maxima (Jarrahdale) but I've got three pepo's listed for planting (Cornell Bush Delicata, Tondo Scuro de Nice, Winter Luxury). So for squash, the only things I need to do the isolation work is the pepo and given how different all of those varieties are, I really do need to hand pollinate them. Okay, well now I know.
Melons. This is primarily canteloupe types because that's what I like. The varieties I've got are Bender's Musk, Charentais, Iroquois, Minnesota Midget, and Tigger. One thing I found out when I was looking at the melon varieties is that Charentais will split or burst if it gets overripe, which is fucking hilarious. I am very concerned about getting fruit that I can eat from the melons and watermelons because I can't be at the farm much. I really enjoyed the Minnesota Midget I grew last year, it was palm sized and fucking adorable and nice and sweet. I think I'm going to ditch Bender's Musk, it apparently is a parent of the Iroquois variety so why bother. Hmmm. Again, these are all different types. I should probably do the isolation of most of these for this year and see what happens next.
Watermelons. I've only got two varieties I care about, Royal Golden and Winter King & Queen. Royal Golden has a yellow skin when ripe, but it's still a watermelon, which I find intriguing. Winter King & Queen is a storage watermelon and can be stored until Christmas (apparently). I can confirm they store at least a while even when sitting in the field. They had a bad year (I literally pulled every plant out by the roots while weeding and didn't do a good job putting them back in and I also didn't water them at all or really weed them properly) but they produced small watermelons and sized up by June and I didn't harvest them until end of August and the flesh inside was still tasty and sweet. Not as sweet as a regular watermelon but if you want to have something that last into the fall for some lovely watermelon surprise, I think that's a good way to go. So I will isolate these two and let the other four varieties cross.
I won't be able to trade or list the stuff that crosses because I know people like consistency. But I'll have plenty of other things to work with.
I'm not sure how I feel about maintaining heirloom varieties of things. I know it's good to do that but I find it to be such a pain in the butt, and I don't know if they're that much better than anything else I might shove in that space. I'm intrigued by the idea of landrace varieties and I suspect that's the direction I'll be heading with some things. But again, some varieties have cool traits that I want to keep separate. idek. plants are cool.
If I'm not sick, I'll be heading to PA this weekend and I can get a good look at my winter plants and see if they're alive or not and see how much fun it will be to tromp through all the mud.
no subject
I'd be happy to buy the seed, or like, work out a trade, or whatever. We still haven't made the flax tools; I'm going to go see the ones in the museum at some point a little later in the spring. I guess we'll need them before autumn if we want to process your last year's crop.
(I've been pondering that I might try retting them in an abandoned 100-gal stock tank that's out by the yurt-- if I haul it off a little distance so the smell isn't oppressive, there's nobody else out that way who'd be bothered and I can just haul stream water up to refill it, and check on it daily. I can probably borrow a pump for the initial fill, even, if I wanted to be lazy, there's a little one on the chore truck that's movable.)
You're good at field variety trials, LOL. I have the problem that I think I've written enough down and I'll remember what I planted where, and then I'm like, what the fuck is this thing and why is it here? I'm not super organized.
But if I get Aaron involved, as I'll probably have to so as not to interfere with any of his plans, then I bet he'll show me how to take good notes. He has these exquisite little binders full of his notes now, going back all the years he's been there.
So you could stick all six varieties together and still save the seed and have it be the same variety it started? Cool!
Well, I got my little dime baggie of seed, too, and no idea what kind it is. I guess I'll just plant it along the edge of the patch and see if it's different. Unless you want any, but I can't see as it'd be worth it since I don't know what kind it is!
no subject
We can probably do some experimental retting in the spring/summer with some of last year's crop, just so we can get a feel for it, but that would be whenever you head to the farm for the first long visit. Try dew and water retting both? See what's more effort lol
I figured I would make all the sections the same size and as it turns out the largest amount I have for some of seed is 3 grams. So little! I'm going to do a 2x2 ft plot for each. So tiny! But that will allow me to isolate them pretty easy, maybe just grow something in between like a small grain.
I am organized, although it might be more like obsessive. This is my current winter/spring planting map. The numbers are the seed logs in my database (except for the center section which I need to change) that has all the info on where I got the seed, what it is, how much I have, etc. It's got more changes to go through......
I'll then have the larger amounts planted out with some for seed and some for fiber just so I can keep those large amounts being produced.
I've got one variety that has no name. The grower called it fiber flax so I've renamed it to the grower name. That's usually what I do when I get something with no name. I traded seeds with someone from India and named what he sent back after him since he didn't label them with a variety.
But keep yours! You can get experience growing it and see how it does! We can always get more later.