Author Archives: bill

Mashua: Subterranean Seedlings

Mashua seedlings continue to arrive at their own slow pace.  Every time I get to thinking that the flat of mashua seed is done for the year, another pops up.  Mashua seedlings are surprisingly shy.  There is a lot going on under the ground.  I grew a few seeds in a pot where I could […]

Yacon & Ulluco from Seed

This post marks the relocation of Wetting the Beds from Google Blogger to the Cultivariable web site.  You will find all future posts here and hopefully I have migrated all of the old posts over here more or less seamlessly.  Existing links to posts should still work, but will bring you here instead.  The reasons […]

Mauka: Going to seed

I was lucky to get a few seeds of the mauka (Mirabilis expansa) variety Blanco last year.  They grew very well, although a fairly late start meant that they didn’t produce substantial roots.  I had two immediate goals for these plants: to keep them alive over the winter and to get them to produce a […]

Oca: Crunching the numbers on 2 years of oca from seed

Last week, I answered the most frequently asked question that I receive about oca.  This week, I am taking on the second most common question: What are the odds that I will get a variety worth keeping from oca seed? Oca, as an octaploid, is a fundamentally heterozygous plant.  Every oca seed produces a different […]

Know Your Andean Root Vegetables: Part 2

Here is the second of our Andean root vegetable fliers.  This one has the lesser known Andean crops: Achira, Ahipa, Arracacha, Maca, and Mauka.  There is a link to the full two-page version below.    Click here for the two page PDF.    

Know Your Andean Root Vegetables: Part 1

We have been very lucky to find an artist who can translate my crude scribbling into a beautiful finished product.  Here is a handy introduction to the major Andean root crops: Mashua, Oca, Potato, Ulluco, and Yacon.  There is also a two page flier with the same information attached below.     Click here for […]

Mashua and Ulluco: Rainy day seedlings

Mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum) is one of the few Andean root crops that is reportedly easy to grow from seed.  It is happy self- or cross-pollinating and produces lots of flowers which grow into clusters of 3 to 4 seeds.  The seeds are regarded as easy to germinate.  They come up sometimes as volunteers in mild […]

Ulluco: If you’re not bored yet, I’ll keep working on it

Well, it appears that we have cracked the ulluco code.  Since our first volunteer seedling last year, we have now sprouted three more seeds under controlled conditions.  I couldn’t be more pleased.  In addition to being one of my favorite plants, I’ve spent more time in the pursuit of ulluco seed than anything else that […]

Ulluco: Seedling Progress

On February 6th, I noticed that our first ulluco seed had sprouted in the greenhouse.  In the three weeks since then, it has grown pretty rapidly, judging by the results reported by Lempiainen in 1989 in the paper Germination of the Seeds of Ulluco.  As of today (day 21), the seedling has opened 3 sets […]