Germination time for Brussel Sprouts.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?GYESR 27 March 2008. Germination time for Brussel sprouts.

Germination is always of concern to anybody growing plants. These Brussel sprouts seeds sprouted in five days utilizing the method shown.

The germination rate is 75% of the 12 containers planted. usually three or four seeds are placed in one pot, and eventually only one seeding will be left per pot.

If the other three pots do not produce seedlings, a plant will be taken from one of the pots that produced more than one, since I desire 12 plants.

The thrust of my post is that this simple method is effective, and no care is required until after germination. Immediately after the seeds emerge, the plastic cover is opened, and the seedling is exposed to as much light as possible.

The plants can be left in this container until time to place in the garden, and if too large can be easily placed to a larger container.

Attack on 'dusty' peat moss.

Peat moss use to have a chunky texture years ago, the stuff sold today is simply dust, any absorbent properties are probably not even present. The manufactures slurry the product for ease of handling, and this destroys the old chunky texture. I put ten bags about four yeara ago to mix with my garden soil in a relatively small area. It simply disappeared and I felt it did absolutely nothing beneficial.

How to Make Soil More Acidic (Decrease pH) Peat moss is acidic and will reduce pH, but there are other methods.

Some ornamental plants and fruit plants like blueberries require an acidic soil. To make your soil more acidic (decrease its pH value) you can use either aluminium sulphate or sulphur. Aluminium sulphate is the quickest acting as it will increase the acidity as soon as it disolves into the soil. The downsides are though that its effects can be short term and it is possible to over-apply it.

The more recommended but slower way to increase your soil pH is to use sulphur. Sulphur converts to sulphuric acid with the help of bacteria in the soil but this takes time depending on factors like the presence of bacteria, texture of the soil and moisture levels. This could take months if conditions are not ideal.

For my peppers (like a ph around 5.5) I feed them a cup of vinegar in water periodically during the summer, in the home garden. This is very local treatment. http://etooj.notlong.com/ 31 August 2007 Harvest of the produce from five plants.

Another way to decrease the pH is to use evergreen needles. There is no shortage of these in most areas.

My preference for making friable soil in the garden is small wood chips (rather than peat moss) mixed in the soil, along with compost. I find these chips disappear in a year, and I add about three inches evey year, and the level of soil never increases. There appears to be sufficient nitrogen in the compost to balance out that used in decomposing the wood chips, plus I plant a fall crop of red annual clover that fixes soil nitrogen. The proof is in the pudding. Here is the garden. http://poqua.notlong.com/ 27 June 2007 Zone 5B.

New Seeding Container

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?HACAS 22 March 2008 New Seeding Container.

While burning holes in a plastic cup for producing a seedling container the conventional method of making holes in the bottom stuck me as probably unnecessary. Why not make a small area to contain water.

I decided to make the drain holes in the side a small distance from the bottom. This leaves a small reservoir to keep some water . Usually this will be far enough from the roots to prevent damage, and hopefully will supply water due to wick effect longer than would be the case if the holes were in the bottom.

The seeds planted are Jade Cross Brussel Sprouts.

Anyway it is worth a try.

Physalis peruviana L (Giant Cape Gooseberry)

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?TACHZ 18 March 2008 Physalis peruviana L (Giant Cape Gooseberry).

This is the first year for this Giant Cape Gooseberry. It is similar to the Aunt Molly Ground Cherry, but the cultivar is taller. The plant is a perennial, but will be treated as an annual in my Zone 5. Four cultivars will be planted. Germination was 12 days using the high humidity enclosed pot method.

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/cape-gooseberry.html Information about Physalis peruviana L

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?YNYNM 3 July 2008 Giant Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L)
There are two plants in the garden, and both are thriving.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?BEOAT 21 July 2008 Physalis peruviana L (Giant Cape Gooseberry).
Growing well.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?SHRYY 25 August 2008 Physalis peruviana L (Giant Cape Gooseberry)
Physalis peruviana grows very slowly compared to the smaller Physalis pruinosa. The pods are much larger. There is fruit forming but still very small. Some of the lower leaves have yellowed from too much rain. The last two pictures depict the relative size of the pods of the two types of Physalis being grown in my garden.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?WMLAH Physalis peruviana L (Giant Cape Gooseberry).
Comparing fruit size of Physalis peruviana to the Physalis pruinosa. Physalis peruviana is taller plant, slower growing, and not as prolific as Physalis pruinosa. Both are similar in taste.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?MRTNV 19 September 2008 Physalis peruviana L (Giant Cape Gooseberry)
A liter of fruit was picked today. There are many unripe fruit on the bush, probably slow ripening due to relatively cool Fall weather. The berry is about the size of a large bing cherry, and has a pleasant flavour. The bush is about three feet in height and same in diameter. The berries are easy to pick since they stay on the bush and don't fall when ripe.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?QCALI 14 October 2008 Physalis peruviana L (Giant Cape Gooseberry)
The fruit is ripening slowly due to having a cool summer. The fruit is plucked off the bush, since it does not fall when ripe. These fruit make a pleasant raw snack. The plant is still producing flowers this late date, and there has been two days of frost over the last two weeks.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?DXSRN Summary: Growing experience Physalis peruviana L (Giant Cape Gooseberry).

Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry)

http://xrl.us/okz7q 18 March 2008 Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry)
The Aunt Molly Ground Cherry (Physalis pruinosa) (3 plants) were grown in 2007 with excellent results. This year I will plant four plants. Pictures will be posted as it progresses. The germination time was 12 days, using the enclosed pot method.

http://www.botany.com/physalis.html Detailed information about the cultivar.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?IOVFX 2 June 2008 Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry (Physalis pruinosa) Three plants were grown in 2007, and the fruit was so good, that there are five plants this year. The seeds were started indoors on 8 March 2008. The black fabric is to prevent the fruit from falling in the dirt, since when ripe the berries fall off the plant.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?FXTNM 3 July 2008 Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry(Physalis pruinosa) Thriving.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?HRUAT 28 July 2008 Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry) Some berries are ripening. They are good quality and quite large. The plants have many berries.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?VKGGF 1 August 2008 Ground Cherry (Physalis pruinosa) Picking of some capsules that have fallen. The capsule has to be a deep orange almost brown to be fully ripe. Thes plants are prodigious producers, and the main picking will commence in about two weeks.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?KIQIW 9 August 2008 Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry)
The cherry falls off the bush when ripe. even some slightly unripe envelopes fall. A ripe fruit has a dark yellow to slightly brown envelope. Fully ripe the fruit has a very pleasant taste, but even slightly unripe the fruit is acceptable. The picking today is only a minor event, since there will be many more fruiting bodies, which will be picked off the ground as the fruit ripens.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?OGBPD 20 August 2008 Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Mollys Ground Cherry) Fruit
The fruit falls off the bushes, when ripe. The fruit also ripens after being picked. With mosquitoes present, picking can be annoying, since both hands are used, one to lift the vegetation and the other to pick. I place landscape fabric under the plants to keep the berries out of the soil.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?GPKRK 24 August 2008 Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry)
About 5 quarts were picked today, which produced four cups of berries with the calyx removed. These will be cooked gently, sweetened with a couple drops of stevia and eaten as preserved fruit.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?PSXHC Summary: Growing experience Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry) .

Potatoes

Chitting http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?RNJJN General Overview from an Internet site.

Seed tubers are best 'chitted' or sprouted. Look closely at the potatoes and you should see more eyes at the crown - often there are three or four, sometimes five, in a cluster. On some tubers, particularly the roundish shaped types, they may be placed off centre. If these are allowed to grow they will produce mainly small tubers. Using a potato peeler or a small pointed knife remove all the eyes in the cluster by scooping approximately one eighth of an inch (3mm) deep, which should eliminate any regrowth. Without the crown cluster eyes, the tuber's food reserves will be directed to shoulder and side eyes. Reject all tubers showing the slightest sign of disease. Cutting out the diseased part, such as dry rot or gangrene, is no answer because if it is planted the diseased tubers will infect the soil.

Set treated tubers, crown up, on egg trays, thus allowing space for the sprouts to develop. They do not require high temperatures, but should be kept in full light and free from extreme cold or frost.This will encourage sturdy sprouts. Sprouts will form within a few weeks, dark blue or green, or deep pink or red, depending upon the cultivar, by planting time. By chitting we may select the eyes and encourage good sturdy sprouts before planting to produce earlier, improved crops.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?QOGGE Chitting Picture indicating procedure. 16 March 2008 My Chitting method.

Seed potatoes were purchased 16 March 2008. Some were already sprouted, so it was easy to remove the clustered sprouts. This is my method. I use a potato peeler and remove a plug consisting of the clustered sprouts. This is probaly only feasible in a home garden, due to the labour and expense involved.

The types of potatoes are Kennebec, Superior, Chieftain.

Although unsprouted tubers can be planted, the chitted ones benefit from their flying start, and vigorous sprouts. Early cultivars will crop sooner and more heavily if chitted, so I am told.

Chitting later season cultivars results in earlier foliage before blight or drought strike and they mature earlier and can be gathered before slugs damage the tubers, if these conditions are prevelant in your area.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?IQVHT 6 April 2008. Chitting after 21 days. The sprouts take the colour of the particular potato. The potatoes will be planted in about two weeks time.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?FOIUV 23 May 2008 Potato Growth. Potatoes are planted 12 inches apart, and row spacing is 18 inches.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?ZLQXU 31 May 2008 Potatoes hilled. It rained last night and the potatoes were hilled, and compost was placed in the valleys formed to trap the moisture and to add additional nutrients.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?HOMUR Potatoe 16 June 2008 Doing Well

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?QAWRI 1 July 2008 Potato Seed Pod

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?ADDQJ 15 July 2008 First harvest of potatoes. The ground is dry. The tubers probably wont grow much more. Most of the crop will be left until the tops die off completely.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?CCZOA 18 July 2008 How Potatoes grow.
The tubers are formed in a circle, at about the same level around the seed potato. There are no shoots emanating from the stalk. Hilling is necessary, since the tubers push through the soil, and when exposed to light they turn green indicating an alkaloid called solanine, which is harmful to ingest. The eyes of potatoes also have solanine, which indicates that they should be removed prior to cooking.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?DMKNV 18 July 2008 Superior Potatoes. Comparing chitted to Not Chitted Plants.
Two plants were compared as to the production of the potatoes produced, one seed potato was chitted, and the other was not. At first look, visual inspection indicates that the chitted plant produced larger tubers. I have 18 more plants to compare, so will have a better idea as to the merits of chitting potatoes.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?FOAWC 18 July 2008 Effect on a potato that is exposed to light

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?ZSMUK 4 August 2008 Digging some potatoes.
I dug four plants today to get a preliminary look at the merits of chitting or not chitting. It is hard to draw conclusions from this small sample. The Superior looks better not chitted, and the Chiefton looks slightly better chitted. I have more plants to compare. All plants are more than acceptable.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?CXZUR 11 August 2008 Chieftain Potato Comparing Not chitted to chitted by weight.
The samples of Chieftain taken today indicates that chitted surpassed NOT chilled by a moderately significient margin (699 grams). The chitted total weight was 2624 grams, and the not chitted was 1925 grams. The largest chitted potato weighed 724 grams and the largest not chitted weighed 440 grams.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?AUNKD 13 August 2008 Potato Seeds
Potato seed pods were collected from my potato patch. The pods were on the ground under the almost spent vegetation. I am going to treat the pods similar to drying tomato seeds (fermenting and drying), when the pods are a bit more dry. The seeds will be planted in a bed to form little potatoes and these will then be planted. Apparently seeds do not produce a similar potato as the parent, and revert back to characteristics of original parents. This is how new strains are produced. The tubers may be better or worse depending upon chance. I could only distinguish the Russian Blue in a separate patch, so mixed the Kennebec, Superior and Chieftain in one batch.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?SUTFA 15 August 2008 Superior Potatoes from 12 plants
Digging the last of the Superior Potatoes. There were 12 plants in total remaining, and two were chitted. The average weight of the chitted potatoes from each plant was 1630 grams, and the average weight of the not chitted was 1403 grams. No conclusion can be drawn from this small sample regarding chitting for Superior potatoes, but not chitted has a slight edge. The total weight of the 12 plants was 17.29 kilograms or 38 pounds. Planting to harvest was 119 days.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?MWPZB 19 August 2008 Chieftain Potato Harvest 10 plants
The last of the Pontiac Potatoes were harvested today. The total weight was 20kg or about 45 pound, or about 2 kg or 4.5 pounds per plant. My thinking is to chit the potatoes but do not remove any eyes, since my belief is the more vegetation present the healthier the tubers. This is just a view at this time.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?BQJFO 20 August 2008 Kennebec Potatoes.
Kennebec Potatoes harvested today. The tuber has some angular features, and I will not be growing this type next year. My opinion is Superior and Chieftain are better choices. There is no significant difference between chitted and NOT chitted. I will chit next year without removing the main eye cluster, which I did in 2007. Total weight was 23 kg from 13 plants for an average weight per plant of 1769g about 4.4 lbs per plant.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?WWZGR 20 August 2008 Potato Storage
Common paper yard bags were used for storage. These are reasonably light proof, and allow some air to penetrate, and are readily available. The potatoes are stored in the coolest part of my house in the dark, under the basement stairs.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?PRMZO 21 August 2008 Russian Blue Potatoes

One plant was dug today. the total weight of the tubers was 1800 grams or about 4 lbs. The vegetation was still green, so it is a bit early to remove from the ground for full production. A few of the tubers were cooked in a Dutch Oven at 400F for 50 minutes. The texture is more fine grained than most potatoes, and the tuber heavier than most potatoes of the same size. I ate skins and all, and other than the colour one would hardly know the difference from our normal potato. This potato originated in South America, and only in recent years is it becoming more popular. I have six more plants and will dig after the vegetation dies.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?OLMNY 30 August 2008 Russian Blue potatoes dug today.
Total weight 26 lbs from 6 plants for an average weight of tubers per plant of 4.3 lbs. Seed was planted 15 May 2008 for an in ground time of 106 days. Conditions were probably ideal.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?WLIWD Potato Diseases

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?DLIZU Summary: Potato Growing experience.