creating landraces

[keen101]

Originally posted by Rain_Frog:

Have you thought about growing Seminole pumpkin? That's one wild moschata type that would be excellent to grow.

Does anyone grow Cucumis melo var. chito? I have heard it's native to North America, so it *might provide more resistance to cucumber beetles. But I've read that "vine peach" is relatively bland.

No, i hadn't thought about Seminole Pumpkin. I will keep it mind for the future. The wild one from utah is a maxima.

I grew a "vine peach" last year. It was like a tiny canteloupe. And YES it was EXTREMELY BLAND. Might be interesting if it was included in a landrace and improved for flavor.

[Blackthumbmary]

Rain Frog - If you are looking for muskmelons ('cantaloups') that do well in clay soil, I suggest both Pike and Kansas melons. I have grown them with repeated success in heavy clay soil. Pike was supposedly developed to do well in clay soil. Both varieties are fairly easy to find. Kansas tastes slightly sweeter then does Pike, in my experience..but both have a really nice flavor.

[Rain_Frog]

What about bacterial wilt? That seems to be the most difficult problem I've had with Cucumis.

[Rain_Frog]

This is going to get interesting. Here is what I planted of Cucumis melo:

melo hybrid swarm
diverse muskmelon
store bought muskmelon grown in Guatemala
Athena F2 seeds from store

Known varieties:

Juan canary melon (F2, since it was seed from a store bought fruit with unmonitored pollination)
Charentais
Minnesota midget
Noir des Carmes
Cool Green honeydew

The "known" varieties are transplants I grew from seed in peat pots.

I also planted some landrace watermelon seeds.

[Rain_Frog]

an update:

The hybrid swarm, Athena F2s, and diverse muskmelons were planted a month later than the ones I started from seed-- hybrids and heirlooms. But now, some of the hybrid swarm melo are even larger than the plants I started in pots!

It's really neat. None of my melons have set any fruit though. I suppose the intense heat is the major factor.

[spacecase0]

I suspect the weather this year is messing with many breeding projects,
that is unless they are currently selecting out for plants that do very well in high heat

[Rain_Frog]

Since my pole beans never sprouted in this midwest heat, I planted some more melon seeds a few weeks ago in their place. I forgot to water one day, and all the F2 Athena melon and generic muskmelon seeds died, but several "false charentais" made it.

These are not the same plants in my cucumis melo only patch. So, I guess by accident I'm selecting these new plants for drought and heat tolerance.

[hementia]

I have been growing 5 heirloom collections of lima/butterbeans plus 6 named varieties and select those that are of a different color or multi colors
So far I have had excellent production.
As is the same with the cowpea selections

[Rain_Frog]

So far, Minnesota Midget, Noir des carmes, and the landrace plants are producing fruit, but nothing can be harvested yet.

I've seen female flowers on the Cool Green honeydew, but none on the Charentais. The Charentais is the weakest melon I grow.

What's awesome is that the landrace ones were started more than a month later than the hybrids and heirlooms, yet producing fruit before or roughly the same time as the other ones.

Noir des Carmes has fared the best out of the heirloom melons. The Minnesota Midgets have more pest issues in my garden.

[lawrencehayden]

A landrace is a local variety of a trained pet or flower types which has developed mostly by organic procedures, by variation to the organic and social atmosphere in which it lives. It varies from a official reproduce which has been precisely meticulously purposely to comply with a particular official, purebreed standard of attributes. Landraces are usually more genetically and actually different than official types.

iPhone application development

[zebraman]

Landrace SPAM!

[Rain_Frog]

As sad as it is, most of my melons were destroyed by cuke beetles once the weather cooled. The landrace melons that were exceptionally vigorous were the first ones to get attacked.

But there is some good news. The biggest canary melon is still alive (declining though now its the end of the season) and produced one large, relatively tasty melon, but it was green inside like a honeydew. So, probably a cross.

With the exception of Charentais, most melons that were least attacked and survived or survived longer were honeydew / canary melon types. I have one landrace plant from Joseph Lofthouse that is producing honeydew type fruits.

Most of the honeydew's and the canary melon's fruit was also unharmed.

While I'm frustrated that most of my hardwork was destroyed by cuke beetles, I have selected plants that are resistant or more tolerant towards bacterial wilt, cuke beetles, drought, excessive heat, and clay soil

All fruit less likely to be attacked by beetles and other pests started out as hairy. Some varieties of melons had smooth fruit in early stages. Also, the rind was hard and smooth.

[keen101]

I was alerted to this video on another forum, but i found it to be excellent. Especially it's mention of landraces and about how important it is to adapt crops to your climate.


Debunking the Hybrid Myth - John Navazio at Seed Savers Exchange