A Seed Saver's Garden

[Zeedman]

'Sweet Banana' peppers. A very common variety, but I've never grown it before. I like the smooth flesh! But the bell pepper crop this year has me reconsidering bell pepper grow outs in the future. While there is more usable pepper flesh in bells, they just don't make many fruits compared to most hots. And the seed production will not be comparable. We'll see in September. My how I miss my 'Rooster Spur' peppers

I agree about the bells. Low yields for the ones I like, and very temperamental from year to year. I lost a lot of bell peppers to rot nearly every year; and after getting only one good pepper from 9 plants (!!!) I finally decided to stop growing them.

Most of the sweet peppers I grow now are either pimento or paprika types. They are far less temperamental, have flesh as thick as bells, and have a very high yield potential. Of the sweet peppers this year, Greygo is a large pimento, and the only sweet pepper I grow each year. Bacskia (and a Bacskia cross I'm trying to stabilize) are sweet paprika types. I'm also growing the large conical sweet peppers Amfora and Elephant's Ear, both of which have thick walls.

Weather has prevented me from covering the caged peppers until today. Before covering, I need to remove any open flowers and peppers which have already set, since their purity is doubtful. It would probably make you cry to see all of the peppers which were destroyed from 42 plants. Several dozen were large enough to be eaten, so we kept a few & gave most of those to DD, because the grandson likes to eat them out of hand.

 

[heirloomgal]

I agree about the bells. Low yields for the ones I like, and very temperamental from year to year. I lost a lot of bell peppers to rot nearly every year; and after getting only one good pepper from 9 plants (!!!) I finally decided to stop growing them.

Most of the sweet peppers I grow now are either pimento or paprika types. They are far less temperamental, have flesh as thick as bells, and have a very high yield potential. Of the sweet peppers this year, Greygo is a large pimento, and the only sweet pepper I grow each year. Bacskia (and a Bacskia cross I'm trying to stabilize) are sweet paprika types. I'm also growing the large conical sweet peppers Amfora and Elephant's Ear, both of which have thick walls.

Weather has prevented me from covering the caged peppers until today. Before covering, I need to remove any open flowers and peppers which have already set, since their purity is doubtful. It would probably make you cry to see all of the peppers which were destroyed from 42 plants. Several dozen were large enough to be eaten, so we kept a few & gave most of those to DD, because the grandson likes to eat them out of hand.

Are you sure you need to de- flower and de- fruit them? Maybe you've tried otherwise and seen crosses? I isolate too in my hothouse, but I also have planted A LOT outside without any protection, sometimes right close together. My big grow out last year showed no crossing in any of the non protected plant seeds! So the 'books say' isolate or cover, but I think it varies from garden to garden. Some people have more bees etc. than others. Maybe you won't get as many crosses as you expect?

What is with the rot? I'm seeing a bit of that, especially in tiny fruits?

 

[Zeedman]

@Bluejay77

When you have a moment take a look at post #90 on here, sixth pic down is 'Mitla Black' showing those very pointy leaves and looking so different from the rows beside. It could be a seed borne issue, but it also makes me wonder if my seed source's soil selects or moves toward this foliage type. They've probably been saving their bean lines for many decades. Just a thought.

Mitla Black probably looks different because it is a different species - Phaseolus acutifolius (tepary bean). To quote from the Wiki:

The specific epithet, acutifolius, is derived from Latin acutus (pointed, acute), and -folius (-leaved)

So that leaf appearance should be considered normal for Mitla Black. It seems odd that a P. vulgaris bean would display the same foliage characteristics... but it would be just as unusual if an entire row of beans was infected by a pathogen & showed identical symptoms from otherwise healthy plants.

 

[heirloomgal]

Mitla Black probably looks different because it is a different species - Phaseolus acutifolius (tepary bean). To quote from the Wiki:

So that leaf appearance should be considered normal for Mitla Black. It seems odd that a P. vulgaris bean would display the same foliage characteristics... but it would be just as unusual if an entire row of beans was infected by a pathogen & showed identical symptoms from otherwise healthy plants.

There has been controversy with the bean. Most claim now it is not a tepary, but a vulgaris, that it got mislabeled along the way.

 

[Zeedman]

Are you sure you need to de- flower and de- fruit them? Maybe you've tried otherwise and seen crosses? I isolate too in my hothouse, but I also have planted A LOT outside without any protection, sometimes right close together. My big grow out last year showed no crossing in any of the non protected plant seeds! So the 'books say' isolate or cover, but I think it varies from garden to garden. Some people have more bees etc. than others. Maybe you won't get as many crosses as you expect?

What is with the rot? I'm seeing a bit of that, especially in tiny fruits?

My pollinators (mostly native bees) are very active - I would definitely get crosses from open-pollinated plants. One of the peppers I am trying to breed began as a two-parent cross which showed up in an open planting. When I did a large trial planting of that cross the following year, there were obvious crosses from every other variety it had been grown with!

In fact, I have been getting more crosses than I am comfortable with even from the covered peppers... and thus far, have not determined how that has been happening. One variety I grew last year (Korean Dark Green) had 2 crosses out of 6 plants - which is a pretty alarming percentage from supposedly fully-isolated plants. Both of those crosses appeared to be from the same paternal line (and were actually interesting). The only seed I saved from that cage was the cross, because it may be worth developing in the future. Meanwhile, I am growing Korean Dark Green again this year in 3 separate cages, in hope that one of those cages will produce pure seed.

From 2000 to 2017, I often positioned the pepper cages in the rural garden in one area, side-by-side, separated only by 3'. Obviously that strategy was not effective. So starting last year, I have distributed the cages in locations scattered throughout the gardens, never closer than 20' from another cage. This year, Bacskia, Beaver Dam, and Greygo are being grown from last year's seed; I will be watching for any crosses.

Oh, the funny thing about most of my pepper crosses, is that they nearly always show desirable characteristics - if they could be stabilized. I am attempting to stabilize 3 of those crosses (with a focus on high yield/short DTM) and there are a couple more I've saved seed from that might also be worth developing. But because my main goal is preservation of heirlooms, the amount of effort I can expend in breeding projects is limited.

 

[Zeedman]

There has been controversy with the bean. Most claim now it is not a tepary, but a vulgaris, that it got mislabeled along the way.

Weird, we seem to be criss-crossing two different conversations. I'm getting dizzy...

I've read some of the controversy regarding the species identity of Mitla Black. Some claimed it was a P. vulgaris / P. acutifolius cross, and the foliage certainly does lend some credence to that claim. Since I don't grow it, I haven't made an effort to follow up on the issue, and am unaware of any definitive research one way or the other. But regardless, all that really matters is whether it is a good bean or not... and yours seem to be doing well. I look forward to your harvest evaluation.

 

[flowerbug]

What purpose did the spikes serve? To keep out animals?

it makes it harder on both bugs and animals.

 

[heirloomgal]

it makes it harder on both bugs and animals.

and humans

 

[heirloomgal]

The blue/purple colour on 'Cosmic Eclipse' is a type of blue 'suntan'. When I move back one of the branches you can see its' tan lines. I should put a star sticker on one of them.

First black currant haul, ever. Finally it's starting to produce! Much more to come it looks like, and lots of new wood too.

Soybean leaves getting munched. I guess I should spray with neem, not sure what will work since I don't know who's eating them.

'Passage to India' bloom

'Maine Sunset' bloom

'Golden Wax' finally catching up as it was the last bean I planted.

Gazania

Sesame seed plant experiment - these were grown outdoors. I didn't have much expectation for them, but they are blooming only one week behind the hothouse ones. That's unusual since hothouse grown plants are usually so far ahead. I guess this is the one plant that appreciates this heatwave!

'Shirolustuca Kovina' bloom

My strange leaved 'Vermont Cranberry' plant has reddish bloom buds. I wrote to the company about it, haven't heard back yet.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@heirloomgal,

I heard back from my Idaho Falls bean farmer and he really didn't give me a definitive answer. He thought maybe herbicide drift might be what it is affecting your Vermont Cranberry grow out, but your other beans don't have that appearance. Do you have any farmers that have fields somewhat near you?