MikeH
New Member
Posts: 13
|
Post by MikeH on Dec 1, 2012 4:52:09 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by blueadzuki on Dec 1, 2012 20:07:29 GMT -5
Count yourself lucky to have gotten that. I planted 9 seeds this year, and got a total of 0 back. Every time the plants flowered, the drought came in and shriveled them, taking out any chance of the flowers "taking" and usually killing a few outright (I had 6-7 plants when the first came up, 3 after the first round of drought, and 1 after the second. Finally one flower on the last one finally took, and I was wating eagerly for the pod to mature.....only for a final end of season drought to come in and take every leaf off the plant. The pod struggled along for another few weeks, then finally conked out, leaving a "seed" that was just a bleb of green tissue that dried down to nothing.
|
|
MikeH
New Member
Posts: 13
|
Post by MikeH on Dec 14, 2012 21:52:05 GMT -5
I do. I was also trialling low alkaloid sweet lupines that are frost hardy. They did not lie the drought conditions of this summer at all. Some withered and died while the rest did nothing. When the drought and temperatures broke in September, they made up for lost time but there wasn't enough warm weather left for the seeds to mature. I have seeds left so I will try again next year.
|
|
|
Post by blueadzuki on Dec 15, 2012 19:53:19 GMT -5
For myself, next year I am mostly playing around with Andean lupines (Lupinus mutabilis) since I found some large bags of them in the Latin supermarket near me. Mostly white seeded, but by careful serching I have found 5-6 that have brown mottling (I suspect that colored seeded ones will be higher in alkaloids (and hence, will take longer to process to edibility) but that the alkaloilds will make the plants more resistant to drought and pests.
|
|
|
Post by blueheron on Dec 16, 2012 20:32:42 GMT -5
Mike generously gave me 5 seeds, which I carefully tended to and was able to grow all into healthy plants which produced about 65 seeds. Now, only 1/3 of these appear to be of the size I remembered of the original five. I grew each plant in their own 10 gallon pot, with Fafard seedling and organic mixes, and watered once or twice a day. Overdoing it, perhaps, but I wasn't taking any chances with these rare seeds.
Call me crazy, but I've just started 3 seedlings today, in the hopes that they can grow indoors over the next few months with enough heat and light. If it works, I hope to have extra seeds to grow outdoors next spring.
|
|
MikeH
New Member
Posts: 13
|
Post by MikeH on Dec 17, 2012 4:21:28 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by blueadzuki on Dec 17, 2012 9:20:30 GMT -5
That's something to look into in future years. This year I want to work with the seed I already have (since the alternative is simply tossing it all out, which seems a waste) First and foremost I want to check that L. mutabilis will actually grow for me. Back when I tossed out the last batch of seeds on one of the mulch piles (for space reasons) I couldn't help noticing that only one seed germinated and that quite poorly (in contrast when I toss out rice beans, or soybeans or pretty much any of the other legumes I play around with, the whole surface of the mulch pile gets a coating of sprouts) So I want to see where the problem was; whether it was the seed itself (when you buy imported food seeds at the grocery store, there is always the specter of the possibility of them having been irradiated before they got into the country) the year (this year was pretty lousy for most of the volunteer legumes, except for the soybeans, everything else not intentionally planted didn't do much) or the place (with all the beans I have tossed there over the years, that mulch pile has a nitrogen content WAAY above what it should be. It smells like dog dung, and is the only thing I know that can actually KILL wineberry canes) One I've gotten my parameters straight, THEN is the time for getting my hands on elite material from GRIN.
|
|
|
Post by The Accidental Gardener on Jan 13, 2013 22:14:06 GMT -5
I'm new to the board and to the whole concept of seed swapping. Where's a good place to start?
I would like to try my hand at growing Altrei Coffee, but I can't find any seeds for sale. We have many ornamental lupins growing in our yard and they seem to love it, but I don't know how similar the growing conditions are for these Alpine Lupins. I also have a small greenhouse and lights for starting them indoors before the growing season. Does anybody know where I can get a hold of some seeds?
|
|
|
Post by blueheron on Feb 2, 2013 20:10:01 GMT -5
Accidental, PM me.
I have a few left to share before I go into full on production this spring.
|
|
tl
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by tl on Feb 20, 2013 15:37:19 GMT -5
Hi all, I have just purchased a few bean seeds from the Seedzoo; and wondered if anyone had grown them and had info to share? My beans: Ivejan Mottled Gori Giant Bean Armenian Giant Black Bean
Or if you have any info on the other Central Asia/ Georgian area beans from the Seedzoo, I am also interesed.
I am hoping they are pole beans! Thanks
|
|
|
Post by blueadzuki on Feb 20, 2013 17:20:53 GMT -5
Armenian Giant is also on the list of bean I am planning to order and plant this year, so while I can'y give you any advance info on whether they are bush or pole, I can at least report back myself on how they do for me over the coming year. About the only one I can sort of report on the growth habit of is the Fort Portal Jade, since I grew that last year. That is most emphatically bush type (in face, it is a very, very short bush type). That particular bean no longer is listed in the seed zoo, so it presumably is sold out. However since it has been established that the Bantu bean(which is still in stock) shares a lot of similarities with the Fort Portal Jade, I think it is a fairly safe bet that is bush as well. BTW when you armenian giants actually arrive I would be interested if any of them are in fact speckled as opposed to flat black. It LOOKS like there is a speckled one in the stock photo, so the trait could run through the strain.
|
|
tl
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by tl on Feb 21, 2013 11:11:48 GMT -5
Let's compare notes at the end of the summer. I also ordered the mottled squash as an experiment.
|
|
|
Post by blueheron on Apr 17, 2014 15:23:27 GMT -5
Hi folks
Been a while since I posted on here, but wanted to let you know that seeds are available from Baker Seeds now, through their "Explorer" series. 10 seeds for $4.50. I picked up a few packages since my attempts at growing these last year were disastrous. I had 30 plants going, and managed to only obtain about 10 seeds. I still have around 30 of the original ones I grew from the 5 seeds Mike gave me, and will try those again this year with the Baker ones thrown in too.
Cheers
|
|