Sunday, August 12, 2012

reproductive slowdown

the eastern gamagrass reproductive season seems to be winding down...there are still green seeds on the terminal spears but there are no new proaxes emerging that i can find...so as the remaining seeds mature i will do my best to collect them before the heads shatter...the zea diploperennis is beginning to bend down under the weight of the stems and leaves as they grow longer and as it does so it is beginning to develop support roots at the nodes to keep the stems up off the ground and out of standing water...they won't become as large as the ones on the northern tepehuan or the hopi blue , but they will become more noticeable over the rest of the season...so many of my jerusalem artichokes are bent over ( not broken though ) that i am wondering if something is bedding down in there...their behavior this season has been peculiar to begin with and i am somewhat concerned about what i am going to find at harvest...either very little or the plants have invested most their energy into reproduction rather than growth and there will be a bumper crop...the handle on my warren hoe is five feet long so i stood it up next to the hopi blue to give you an idea of its height...i am still totally geeked by it.

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