Friday 30 December 2011

Oca Breeder-Packs Up for Grabs!

I'd been planning to be able to send out small packs of true Oca seed (TOS) to any interested growers, but it turns out that TOS was the preferred high-protein snack of a particular ex-mouse, and my bountiful stock has been decimated (in the modern, not the relatively trivial Roman army sense).

So I'm doing the next best thing by offering packs of tubers suitable for breeding.
These consist of a range of tuber varieties that I can guarantee from previous experience contain the necessary potential flower power and variance to allow successful pollination. You will notice my careful use of the word 'potential'; any grower will still have to provide suitable conditions, have a climate that favours flowering, spend time and care pollinating, and additionally have fair luck to obtain simultaneous flowering of dissimilar flower forms. There are more full details of the process here.

I'm offering these free (postage costs appreciated), or for swaps. Stake your claim as a comment below (first come first served), and  send me an email (obtainable from my Blogger profile) with your postal details.

By the way, if you want tubers just to grow a crop, these are not necessarily the most productive varieties, and you will do better by obtaining tried-and-tested stock from Real Seeds.

Update 13/1/12. I've just sent out the packs. Here are the tubers sorted and ready to bag...
Everybody gets about nineteen varieties, one tuber of each. I've selected them from productive healthy plants, and have chosen the cleanest, best-shaped, unbranched tubers. They are not necessarily the largest, but there are no tiddlers either. Mid styled flowerers are in the majority, but there are definitely some of the other flower types in there.
Some of you are getting other seeds etc thrown in by arrangement. They are labeled separately.

The offer is now closed. Good luck for this year Oca breeders!

14 comments:

  1. David Taylor30/12/11 6:39 pm

    I would love a pack to expand my range! I will pay for postage and could send some of my seeds back to you if you want!
    Ill email you tommorrow :)
    Regards
    David

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    1. is it arracacha mandioquina how do i get it??

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  2. I'd be extremely grateful! I don't know whether it's possible to breed oca as far north as Birmingham, but I'd very much like to find out! Email coming up.

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  3. I'd really like to join the "searching for long day-length oca" project. I have other sorts of seeds to swap if you wish.

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  4. Very generous of you. I'll stand way at the back of the queue after the more local and deserving folk, waiting patiently for the day when the mouse is on vacation. :D

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  5. Great idea! I will join in with planting Oca varieties in Shropshire and will try to make some crosses IF they flower so as to select for day length neutrality. Its not fun waiting until december to 'hope' that your crop has worked!

    Steve Jones
    (weadyjones1@hotmail.com)

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  6. Here is Niagara Falls,Canada.
    Would you allow to send me one pack as seed sample?
    If yes, I will send you charge.
    Woo Lee
    jbl4430@gmail.com

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    1. Hi Woo. I'm afraid I've closed the offer now, and am not in a situation to send tubers. What is the Canadian policy on biosecurity?

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    2. Thanks, I got from Peace Seeds (USA).
      Canada custom allows small package of tubers---groundnut, oca, mashua, jimaca bean--

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  7. That mouse should have been tortured... anyway, have you kept your true oca seeds experiments? I'm currently growing true potato from seed and would definitely investigate the oca, if you could spare some true seed...

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    1. Hi era uma vez. No, a quick death is better.
      Unfortunately it was another poor year for collecting true seed, and I only obtained enough to sow a small tray. None to spare I'm afraid.

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  8. Hi Ian, funny I just made a post re a future project for me - oca seed sowing, I'm looking for advice really and I wondered how you got on with seed sowing? Hope it is ok to link forum http://www.growingfoodsavingseeds.co.uk/

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    1. Hi Jayb, probably treating the seed as you would tomato seed is a fair strategy, but expect a variable and extended germination period. There is more information here: http://oca-testbed.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/true-oca-seed-germination-and-selection.html

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    2. Thanks Ian, I missed that!

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