overwintering success

[Douglas Green]

I spent an hour or so this weekend going over the pots in the solar
greenhouse so I could write Craig with my "have" list. It was really quite
educational.

I may have mentioned that the frost definitely got into the solar
greenhouse this year - it was below freezing for at least two weeks - the
min/max thermometers recorded a low of -10F.

The larger the tuber, the more prone it was to rotting. This is no surprise
as this data has been shared before here. Small pea sized tubers lived
while anything over that on tender species tended to rot (in the same pot).
There were some exceptions to this but for the most part, that's the
outcome. I now know that dry refrigerator storage and full pot culture is
in my future with many species.:-)

The source of seed was also a determining factor. A. flavum from our
gracious host M. Gouda did not survive at all - pea shaped or larger while
the exact opposite was true of A. flavum from M. Gussman - our esteemed
leader. The Gussman seed almost all survived - large or small tubers. These
pots were side by side on the plant tray and treated exactly the same.
While I shouldn't have been surprised to see this variability, I was -
given the extreme nature of the results (almost 0 survival on one hand -
almost 0 death rate from the other).

I suppose now, I'm selecting for cold hardiness as well given this year's
culling.;-)

This is all from seed sown in 1998 from the exchange (for which I'm truly
grateful) - I haven't started poking around in last year's (1999)pots as I
let the seedlings grow for two years in the same pot. I suppose the success
or failure of these seeds will become evident shortly when the night
temperatures start to rise and the plants start their spring growth.;-)

Doug

Simple Gifts Farm http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com
Garden Writing because I want to.
Sailing because I need to.