Arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza) is just the sort of plant that I normally try to talk myself out of growing. It is delicious, but a real challenge to grow in most climates. It originated in the middle elevations of the Andes, a Goldilocks climate where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold, but just right. […]
In this episode of the Cultivariable podcast, I talk with Curzio Caravati of the Kenosha Potato Project and Kenosha Urban Farm Institute about collecting potatoes, growing potatoes in an urban farm environment, and growing potatoes from true potato seeds (TPS). Along the way, we discuss farmers markets, how potatoes can be classified by their agronomic […]
In this first episode of the Cultivariable podcast, I talk with Nathan Kleinman of the Experimental Farm Network about participatory plant breeding, sustainable agriculture, and some favorite plants like sorghum, chinquapin chestnuts, and perennial kales. The Experimental Farm Network connects breeders with trial growers all over the country, making it possible to speed up variety […]
I get a lot of questions about how to harvest and use sea kale as a root vegetable. Sea kale is more commonly grown for its spring shoots, but all parts of the plant are edible, including the roots. Plants that are two years old or more can produce very large roots that represent a […]
Overview Potato towers are a form of extreme hilling that uses a structure to add a foot or more of soil above the seed tuber. Towers are not a new idea, but they have only become popular in recent years. Potatoes are normally hilled up about six inches, whether they are grown in the ground […]
The majority of modern potato cultivars suffer from male sterility; they either produce little to no pollen or the pollen that they produce is not viable. Male sterility is part of a complex of traits that makes life difficult for potato breeders. Some varieties rarely flower at all, others will flower but rarely form berries […]
This post is not really meant to be read start to finish. The intent is that it will be picked up by search engines so that breeders and researchers working with these accessions in the future can find this information. We use accessions supplied by the USDA in some of our breeding work. This report […]
Last year, I put together a summary of potato color genetics and ever since I have been getting emails asking questions. A lot of those questions center on how to use the information. I’m happy to try to answer those questions to the best of my ability, because I think potato genetics are fun. This […]
Cultivariable is officially five years old! (In truth, we’re really closer to seven, but I can’t pinpoint exactly when the transition from hobby to business occurred and we got our first business license at the end of 2012. Five is about right for when I really got serious.) They say time flies when you’re having […]
A quick review for those who have not been following our ulluco work: Ulluco is a crop that very rarely sets seed. In fact, there are only two published reports of ulluco seed production: here and at the University of Turku in the early 1990s. There is perhaps one published report of seed being found […]