Foreign Pollen Follies
Autumn crop breeding update
Originally, I planned to complete preliminary work on a bunch of different new crops that I began breeding seriously this year so I could write up one big article on each species, but I think progressive updates on all of them is a more useful way to show the mindset and strategies needed to feel your way into the unknown. If you missed the start of this work check out the Four Flower Gauntlet.
The first crop to report on is the sword bean. In autumn 2023 I hybridised three different species, and in spring 2023 I planted out those F1 seeds. They grew into a wall of green on the bamboo trellises, flowered profusely, and podded sporadically while the pod sucking bug pressure was high over summer. Now the weather has cooled they have started podding more heavily, and seed should be ripe by late winter. It is not uncommon to see lower fertility levels in wide hybrids, so I am happy with the amount of seed that is forming. Breeding crops for seed production is easy since any plant which produces more seed will leave more offspring if you pool all the seed together. I planted three trellises, each with seed from one of the three mother species (but with unknown pollen parents) and slashed the vines that tried to climb between them, with the hope of keeping track of female parentage. The vines got away from me in autumn, so it looks like I will just be throwing all the hybrid seed together and selecting based on seed traits and production levels…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
