I have a confession to make. I no longer rush out every morning to scan the oca (Oxalis tuberosa) patch for pods. In fact, I often let a week go by without looking at them. What a difference a couple of months makes! Back in July, I was checking them twice a day, pollinating by […]
It was only seven weeks ago that I posted about what then seemed a significant achievement: the collection of 1,000 oca (Oxalis tuberosa) seeds. This week, I passed 10,000. My better (and funnier) half frequently teases me because I said at the beginning of the year that I would be satisfied if I got just […]
These are the instructions that I am sending out with packets of oca (Oxalis tuberosa) seed. These instructions reflect the techniques that have worked for me so far, but I am sure that there is room for improvement. If you find a procedure that works better, please let me know. Oca seed does not appear […]
On August 7th, I started a quick and dirty experiment to see if any of my oca (Oxalis tuberosa) seeds would germinate. Most seeds have some dormancy and won’t grow until time has passed or specific conditions of temperature and humidity are reached. I separated 60 seeds into three groups of 20. I soaked each […]
Six to eight inch cuttings are just right I wrote a couple weeks ago that I was going to try a few experiments to determine how to harvest the most oca (Oxalis tuberosa) seeds with the lowest losses (the two kind of go hand in hand). The verdict is in: indoor cuttings have provided significantly […]
Today, my oca (Oxalis tuberosa) seed count stands at 1,022 for the year, which means that I have achieved my goal, with three or possibly four months left before the first frost. I have 123 pods maturing on cuttings indoors, which should yield about 900 more seeds by the averages and more than that bagged […]
Ten freshly minted oca (Oxalis tuberosa) seeds awaited me this morning, the results of cross OC13-S10x04-05, Hopin x Unknown Orange. Although I’m sure this will soon lose its thrill, it was nearly as exciting as the first few seeds that I collected. Ten seeds seems like a pretty respectable yield, although, according to my research, […]
I’m sure you remember George Bush’s speech on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, backed by a giant banner that declared “Mission Accomplished.” This demonstrated that any mission can be accomplished, so long as you define the goals narrowly enough and also that even accomplished missions are likely to be part of a much longer campaign. […]