|
|
Post by macmex on Dec 5, 2021 6:32:58 GMT -6
I have a new variety of sweet potato, growing under lights. A friend sent me Vietnamese Red, which produced very heavily for him in Michigan. But the roots are already getting soft, so I decided to bed them and try to get them through winter that way.
Yesterday I spend a fair amount of time cultivating in our blackberry patch. A few years ago Hank gave out a whole lot of starts of a thornless blackberry he grows. I was so pressed for time that I just took wad of them and healed them in, right in the front of my main garden. Well, I think this is year three and they go to town every summer, producing lots of wonderful berries.
We picked out a spot on the other end of the garden to dedicate to blackberries. This last spring I took sprouts and transplanted them there but the weeds took over and I never watered. The little bushes are still there. So I want to cultivate, add humus and mulch. We're going to remove the bunch in the front of the garden but not before we have something respectable going in the back. I honest think that the blackberry is the best berry crop for our climate. Don't know what variety it is that we have, but it is simply the bomb!
Now would be a good time to cultivate a patch and plant parsnips. We'll see if I can get to it.
|
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 5, 2021 19:53:25 GMT -6
Last year, about this time, I dug up several thornless blackberry starts from those that Hank gave us. Everywhere the runners had touched the ground, they took root, so I dug the rooted parts, snipped them from the main vine, and transplanted over a dozen of them to another part of my garden. I now have them started in 3 different places, due to their ability to multiply in that manner. Someday, hopefully, I'll have quite a large patch of them going out there.
Bon,
I saw a truck on the side of the road a few years ago, selling sweet potatoes similar to what you described. They were huge! Like football-size huge! The grower said they were Evangaline variety. When I got home, I looked that variety up and found this:
Product information "Sweet Potato Evangeline"
In our trials, Evangeline was the most profitable orange variety in 2015 - and it was also the variety with the highest ornamental value. It has beautiful, wine red shoot tips which, in addition to its usefulness, makes it (a valuable and versatile plant for gardens and containers).
Growing season: 120 days to harvest, can be cultivated even longer, then record large tubers grow.
Growth/health: Healthy, slightly taller and more upright than other varieties.
Yield: Very high, was the record variety in our trials in 2015.
Tubers: Has the largest tubers of our varieties (record tuber weighed over 3 kg in 2015).
Flavour/suitability: Has the highest sugar content of all the reference varieties, 2-3 times more than the old standard variety Beauregard. For desserts, savory baked potatoes; can also be prepared in the microwave.
Sounds like if you could locate that guy again, those might be a good variety to snag a start from. Then, you could grow them next year, by propagation of one of his potatoes.
 These are a few 2015 examples of what I grew from the Evangeline sweet potatoes that I bought from the back of the truck I saw in the Autumn of 2014. This photo was taken the day of my harvest on November 22nd , 2015. That is a half bushel basket they are sitting in.
 No, this is not a potato faced, siamese twin; it's my beautiful daughter, AshLee, holding up one of the Evangeline sweet potatoes that we grew that summer. (She hates it when I post this photo, but What can I say?) I love this photo! For some reason, I can never get her to hold up a turnip for me to take a picture of. 
|
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 5, 2021 23:42:56 GMT -6
Those huge ones look cool, but my wife hates it when I bring them in and she tries to butcher one of them with a regular kitchen knife. I've had to take some of them to the shop in years past and cut them in two or three or four pieces with a hand saw or a band saw. The little tubers about 2" inches across are way easier to work with. One advantage of the larger ones is that they are not fibrous at all. Sometimes, the smaller sweet potatoes are quite fibrous, especially toward the apex of the root junction.
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Dec 6, 2021 4:52:14 GMT -6
Bon,
Sweet potato vine is very very highly esteemed by our herbivores. If I try to carry an armload of vine from the garden I am instantly mobbed by goats, sheep, our cow and horses. I try to favor the rabbits and confined goat bucks with the sweet potato vines, since they can't go looking for succulent treats in the field. I fed the rabbits on sweet potato vines for over a month this year and I think they pouted about that long when I stopped and started giving hay 
Due to health issues I got most of my sweet potatoes in about a month later than usual, this year. Still had a good harvest. The average size root this year is closer to what most folk prefer and consider ideal. I personally love the huge roots. Though a bit more work to prepare they sure make one feel a sense of accomplishment at harvest time. They keep well and I just bake them longer, whacking off pieces each day, thereafter, until we've finished a root.
I have a Grand Asia root in the fridge right now which weighed something like 7 pounds at harvest. We baked it and I've carried pieces to work for my morning break.... not quite finished.
With Beauregard and Evangeline I suspect that growers value their qualities because they can plant late and harvest early, still obtaining the ideal size customers prefer.
|
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 7, 2021 19:51:05 GMT -6
Sweet potato vines make excellent fodder. They also make excellent compost. I've also heard they make good greens, but I've never tried them because by that time of year everything is going bonkers in the garden and we have regular greens to eat.
This evening, I made sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, and while the oven was hot, I threw in 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies. I set a small sweet potato on the rack beside the pies and had it for supper while waiting on other things to cook. I like the smaller ones like that because they cook so much faster.
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Dec 8, 2021 6:50:14 GMT -6
Ron, have you tried the Japanese White sweet potatoes yet? What's your impression of them?
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Dec 11, 2021 15:59:03 GMT -6
Bon,
I think it would take a monumental amount of resources to protect them against a really hard freeze but one never knows what might happen. It's possible the plants may somehow make seed even without protection.
Do you have seed in reserve?
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Dec 11, 2021 18:16:24 GMT -6
I'd heavily mulch the plants you have as the roots might make it through the winter and produce more flowers and seed, come spring. Sounds like a good one to try and produce seed from.
|
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 13, 2021 8:46:10 GMT -6
Bon, that looks like a really cool and interesting plant. I had never seen one until I looked up the Burpee description of them this morning. What crazy things God does. Plants, birds, fish, animals ... it's hard to pick a favorite thing to brag on him about. So many colors, so many intricacies, so many varieties! One lifetime is not enough to even observe the vastness of his creation, much less experience the subtle nuance of each one.
Best of luck with your Dragon Radishes.
|
|
|
|
Post by chrysanthemum on Dec 16, 2021 17:40:07 GMT -6
Bon, I sure hope that rain came through for you and diminished your pain.
I was just thinking that I might need to germinate some broccoli to add to my beds. I need to think about sowing some cover crop daikon in the open areas and retrying on sugar snap peas. I had really poor germination with those.
|
|
|
|
Post by chrysanthemum on Dec 18, 2021 10:05:21 GMT -6
Glad you’re feeling better.
I had some pet rabbits when I was little, but I don’t know much about raising them. Is winter an usual time for a litter?
I’m going to see if I can start some more cole crops today. I have a few in the garden that have been really chewed up by caterpillars despite my efforts to hand pick. We’re supposed to have a bit of cold moving in so that should stop the butterflies/moths for a little time at least.
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Dec 19, 2021 6:11:55 GMT -6
Bon,
I've started using LED lights for my plants and they are head and shoulders above the old fluorescents. I'm sure you'd find them very useful. You don't even have to have them practically touching the top of the plants as they are so much brighter.
I've had problems getting rabbits to conceive this fall, also. To be exact, I'm still having trouble with one doe. She's a first timer for breeding and I put her in the breeding line up ahead of a proven doe, just to make sure she didn't get fat before having her first litter. But I've been trying to get her to "take" since August and ... no luck.
Today I will breed the proven doe. In a month I may eat the one who didn't take. We'll see. I think the problem has to do with our unusual weather.
I have a large black doe who is now on her fourth or 5th litter (first for this season). She conceived after only a minor struggle. Her kits are presently about 3 weeks old (8 of them) and they are really chubby little ones.
|
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 19, 2021 17:42:09 GMT -6
bon,
Since LED direct wire lamps have become so much less expensive, a person can afford to rewire an old fluorescent fixture to run an LED lamp directly off of 110 power by eliminating the ballast. I've changed every light in my house and every light in my barn to LED. They are so much brighter you wouldn't believe it! Easy to rewire too. The cost of the LED lamps used to be very prohibitive, but now, they are comparable to regular fluorescent in price.
They also make, "Plug and Play" type LED lamps that run off the old ballast, but that would keep the main problem of fluorescent lights in the loop; the ballast in one of those is the main drawback to the fluorescent setup. Getting rid of the ballast would be a huge improvement and well worth the effort of rewiring the fixture. Having that knowledge might save a person the cost of needing to buy a whole new light. The direct wire lamps are going for around $3.50 each right now, down from $10.00 about a year ago. The new LED lamps are T8 in diameter, but the prongs are the same distance apart as the old T12 fluorescents.
All light bulbs are measured in eighths of an inch. T8 means that the lamps are 8/8" in diameter, or 1" inch. T12 just means 12/8" in diameter or 1-1/2" inches. The old PAR 38 flood lights just meant that they were 38/8 in diameter or 4-3/4" inches. Who knows why they adopted that system? Maybe, the first Electricians were ex-plywood laminators? 
|
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 20, 2021 19:14:42 GMT -6
Bon,
I don't know very much at all about the color spectrum needed to grow plants. Someone else other than myself would be better help there. All I've ever tried were the 6,500k fluorescents. I've not tried growing anything under LED lighting yet, as I'm kind of new to this technology. I'm still reading up on it myself.
|
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Dec 21, 2021 8:18:27 GMT -6
Bon, if you ever need more breeding stock let me know. I am maintaining this line, even inbreeding, as I have come to the conclusion that rabbits are very resistant to inbreeding depression. I guess I'm line breeding. I do bring in some outside stock but am aiming to keep the traits I have.
I learned an interesting thing about the genetics of this line of rabbits. All the checkered types carry a gene which causes an occasional flaw in the colon of a rabbit. I think they call it "mega colon." Without special medication the affected animal dies a premature death. I believe I have seen this in my rabbitry once. In a nutshell, rabbits with the checkered genetics will throw kits with heavy checkering, light checkering and solid black individuals. Some of the individuals with light checkering will have almost no black marks on their bodies, only around their ears and mouths. It is these individuals that most likely carry the lethal combination of genes. I had set aside one such doe for breeding. She did well for a couple litters and then, suddenly died. Mega colon is a condition of dysfunction of the nerves in the colon, causing digestive issues. At any rate, I'm still good with the checkered lines as long as I don't keep breeders with the light checkering.
The checkered rabbits (and solid blacks from them) seem to have a generally good disposition, rapid growth rate and excellent litter size.
About the grow lights: we purchased some inexpensive LEDs online, which were specifically sold for plant lights, and they came with red and blue lights. We're using them in our family room to keep Jerreth's plumaria and a small banana plant going through the winter. They look kind of "funky," but they do indeed work. The plants seem to do very well under them.
|
|
