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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Today I spotted something in the greenhouse that made my heart skip a beat: a tiny bit of green rising from the surface of a flat of ulluco seed. Of course, weeds do occasionally make it into our potting mix, so I carefully removed the sprout and confirmed that it was indeed coming from an […]
Plant breeding takes a long time, so 2015 projects will look a lot like 2014 projects, and 2013, and 2012, and so on. I make it my policy to bite off considerably more than I can chew each year while imagining that it will be different this time. 2015 will be no different, as we […]
We sold out of true potato seeds very quickly this year. Normally, people buy one packet and that is usually done along with a larger order. This year, over a period of a few weeks, we had a lot of orders for nothing but potato seed and in quantities of 4 packets or more. That’s […]
This post is dedicated to all of the yacon spammers trying to put comments on our blog and Youtube videos peddling their pills and potions and stealing our images. Yacon can help you to lose weight and make you happier! I am certain of this. Here is the secret: 1. Get yourself a yacon plant, […]
I was lucky enough to get a few mauka seeds this year and had good results growing them out. We grew a few in the greenhouse and others in an unskinned hoop house, planning to skin it before cold weather arrived. But, cold weather arrived unexpectedly, so that didn’t happen. I dug the eight unprotected […]
Last year I was surprised to find that a few of my ulluco plants were setting seed. This year, I improved on that by producing a much larger amount of seed. I’ve learned some interesting things along the way, such as the fact that 86% of the ulluco seeds do not contain fully developed embryos […]
Here is a slideshow of new oca varieties harvested in 2014. I’m pretty happy with the results so far.