Bok Choy: Completed Life Makes Way for New Life

Completing a Life Cycle.  From the spring crop of bok choy (Brassica rapa), I left two plants to complete their life cycle - seed to seed.  The plants produced bright yellow flowers, they were pollinated.  About 24 hours after pollination fertilization of the egg has occurred.  Flowers turned into capsulated fruits which contained seeds. 

Siliques

Dry and Alive.  When the pods turn brown then they are ready to be detached from the plant.  They were allowed to dry on the plant before they were harvested.   The seeds needed to be completely dry to maintain their viability.  At this point the seeds are capable of germinating once required environmental conditions are met.   

Carpels in a silique are separated by translucent tissue called replum.

House of Seeds.  The seed pods of the bok choy are called siliques.  Siliques are made of two carpels which are separated by a thin film called replum as seen on the photo below I counted 12 to 20 seeds contained in each silique and there are a lot of siliques per plant.

 Home-grown seeds ready for planting.

Home-Grown.  After getting the seeds that I need for this planting, I am keeping some for next spring.  The fall crop may not be able to flower since we are approaching shorter daylength.  (If I remember right, the spring crop bolted at 15 hours daylength.)  This practice of collecting seeds from your own crop helps save money.  The only time when this may not be recommended is when you are dealing with hybrids.  Seeds collected from hybrid plants are not guaranteed to perform the same as their parents. 

Egg cartons were used to germinate the seeds.

Recycled.  Egg cartons are easy to come by; they are biodegradable and their little compartments are large enough to support the fast growing seedlings until they are ready to transplant. At planting time the sections that contain the seedlings will be separated by tearing the carton without disturbing the roots.  

Tiny seeds meet the soil.

Fast Crop.  The good thing about bok choy is that there is hardly any dormancy period.  Immediately after the seeds are mature and dry, the seeds are ready to start life.  That is the reason I am planting again because I am almost certain that the plants will reach harvestable age before the weather gets cold. 

Two days after sowing the seeds - a new plant.

A new life has begun...a month from now the food will meet the kitchen...again.

For them - Water is Over-rated

Powdery Mildew on summer squash (Erysiphe cichoracearum)

These are no happy days for my summer squash - they are being "harassed" by powdery mildew.  There are different species of powdery mildew and they are plant-specific.  For example Erysiphe cruciferarum will infect crucifers while Erysiphe pisi prefers peas.  The pathogens that cause powdery mildew are unique from most leaf-infecting diseases because their spores do not require free water to germinate.  As a result they can infect their host plants in very dry condition such as ours. That is why in a time when blackspots and peach curl are all wiped off by the lack of moisture, powdery mildew is thriving happily.

The strength of this pathogen to withstand the lack of water can be totally reversed by water itself.  Hosing the leaves with water will do the trick depending on the severity or stage of the infection.  

Some literature on powdery mildew:

IPM-California

Powdery Mildew and  Resistant Varieties

Streptocarpus

Streptocarpus spp.

Inside Grandma's house a flower sits by the eastern window

Patiently it waits to feel the morning sun

But the sun has to traverse the canopy of the giant redwoods...

The time will come when the two meet again.

And yet it is not without difficulty for the Eureka fog often clouds the way. 

It stretches out its leaves to embrace the warmth of the magnificent brilliance of the morning.

The flowers blush as the sun's rays touch their petals.

Translucently delicate flowers float above the dark green scalloped leaves.

Grandma says - it has a name that sounds like a disease but the streptocarpus blooms all year.

With such gorgeous flowers it will surely brighten a gloomy day.

~ ~ ~

 There is something about that name.  One of the plants that caught my attention during our recent trip to Eureka was the Streptocarpus.   Although the name sounds like a strain of bacteria that infects the throat, this plant is safe to touch.  The name Streptocarpus comes from two Greek words (streptos which means twisted; carpus which means fruit) which refers to the twisted seed pod of the plant.   The twisting happens during the development of the pod as in the spiraling of tendrils.  Differential cell growth and interplay of plant hormones are responsible for this type of development in plants for a reason.  It appears that the twisting of the Streptocarpus pod releases the seeds as a natural mechanism for dispersal.   It's amazing to know that the God of the universe made sure that even this tiny plant was given a blueprint for a perfect life. 

Trivia question:  What bacteria family looks like a twisted string of beads when viewed under a microscope?   (Clue: Greek word kokkos means spheres or berries)

HortiCOOLture - Bolting Power

Agave applanata

This plant grows very close to the ground until it starts to bolt.  Then it sends out its flower up high for everyone to see.   This picture was taken at the UC Davis Arboretum a week ago.

Nocturnal Flower: Lagenaria siceraria

Lagenaria siceraria with nocturnal flowers.

Problem.  As I have mentioned earlier, I planted a variety of bottle gourd in my yard last spring and have successfully raised it to reproductive phase.  Hooray!  Several flowers - both staminate and pistillate have been forming daily starting from an early stage.   However, only one fruit per plant has developed and matured so far.  Back in the olden days in my grandfather's garden, I remember seeing several of green gourds of various sizes hang on trellises.  Using small twig, I used to write my name or draw hearts on the gourds that I can reach.   What's wrong with my plants?  How come fruit setting is so poor with my own plants?   I have made observations that might explain the sparse fruiting in spite of the flowers.

Explanation. The Lagenaria siceraria bears flowers that open at night.   They start to open at about 6:00 pm and remain open till the next morning - when they get spent under the scorching sun. Consequently, pollination happens at night also.   The plant depends on a nocturnal insect to pollinate its flowers.  Hawk moth has been reported to pollinate gourds.  Although I have not made the observation myself, this idea makes sense as most species of moths are nocturnal (they are active at night).   But there's one problem - with our dry climate, there is a lower population of these night-time pollinators in the area.   My theory is that the problem is due to limited night-time pollinators. 

Solution.  When planting Lagenaria siceraria in the future I will also include planting more plants that open at night to attract night-time pollinators in my garden.   If my theory is right, then increased attractants should result in more fruits. 

 

Developed fruit

White Flowers attracts nocturnal pollinators.

Well developed Fruit:  Two feet + long

Developing fruit

Opened Flower - Picture taken at 8:00 pm

Open Staminate Flower:  Picture taken in the morning

 Staminate Flower

The Lagenaria siceraria  produces well in a tropical environment but not in the semi-arid conditions of my garden.  Sometimes we transfer an organism from one to another location and expect that it would behave similarly.   Unless we can simulate the conditions of the old place then we are just dreaming.  

Big Tomato

A tomato from my garden.

When you blog you are sure to stir curiosity within your community.  Recently I've stepped into Blotanical  - "the city of botanist who blog".  Some of my new acquaintances have been wondering where in California I garden.   I though that an answer that would stick is appropriate for this question.

My tiny garden is located near The Big Tomato.   Sacramento is The Big Tomato!  It is in this area where more tomatoes are produced than anywhere else in the world.   Now imagine driving thirty five minutes east of Sacramento - and you'll hit El Dorado Hills.  That's where I garden.

 

Tomatoes:  A common summer-sight on the freeways around Sacramento.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Promise of More Food

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)

One more month of summer to go, the weather is still pleasantly warm and the plants are continuing to produce.   Lower temperatures will allow the plants to even grow better up to certain point.  Gardeners need to be aware that the change in daylength is going to be the determining factor whether to keep annual plants in the garden or not. 

Bell Peppers (Capsicum annum)

The bell peppers are still producing - in fact the plants are too small for the yield that they produced.  A simple tomato cage was used to prop the plant up.   The green bell peppers are the immature version of the red, yellow or the orange bell peppers.  I'm not sure if we could wait for the red color of the pepper.   I can see Hamburger-Stuffed peppers as the destiny of these ones.

   

 'Fresno Chili' (Capsicum annum)

It is interesting to note that these two varieties of peppers not only are different in the shape and size of their fruits but the growth habit of the fruits are contrasting.  The bell peppers are growing downwards while the 'Fresno Chili' fruits point upwards.  Could this be due to phytohormones or gravity? 

It

 Increased occurence of female flowers.

Increased fruit setting.

The summer squash (or zucchini) have been flowering for a while but production has been low up to this point.  Fruits would come at a slow rate of one every couple of weeks.  Unlike before when most of the flowers they produced were staminate (male), now several pistillate (female) flowers arise resulting in more zucchini fruits.  In some cases the cause of low yields is the absence of male flowers.  Commercial growers have to resort to using growth regulators to induce more male flowers.   Even if they don't turn into fruits, staminate flowers are the source of pollen that fertilizes the pistillate ones; without them there would be no fruit production.

Eggplant (Solanum melongena)

I purchased unlabelled eggplant seedlings from the farmers market last spring.  I am not sure what variety they were.  The vendor told me that it was a Japanese eggplant.  I was going to assume that it is 'Ichiban', a variety I am very familiar with, but the leaves were not the same.  The growth habit was different and now the fruits do not have the dark sepal.  Whatever variety it is, this plant looks very prolific considering how sparse the leaves are.                     

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum 'Better Boy')

The tomatoes are continuing to grow.   The relatively cooler temperature this year is conducive for fruit setting.  It does not look like they are going to slow down anytime soon.  However, the shorter photoperiods will soon interfere with the photosynthetic rate of the plants.   I have six tomato plants and we harvest way more than we can eat.   We have to get creative in the way we use them. I found out that the best ways to our good utilize the bigger tomatoes is to make Bruschetta.   In our house, cherry tomatoes are eaten like grapes for snacks.  My kids would watch TV with a bowl of tomatoes on their laps.  Who needs junk food when the tomatoes are so sweet? 

 

Unripe Cherry Tomato 'Sweet 100'

Here in California the weather is so mild that tomato plants can remain green till Thanksgiving.  However, the fruits will grow at a much slower rate due to the shorter periods of exposure to sunlight as the days get shorter. 

Eating home-grown foods are in.  Enjoy the fruits of your garden while they last.