Chance Selva

Here’s a photo so P. walteri from Florida.  This would be great to cross into a heterophylla or virginiana type.  This species is hardy to zone 7 or 8 depending on the source.  The seed I got are from Florida so maybe only 8, the cross should work though and be able to combine better hardiness with bigger berries.

Garrett, nice size husk on that one, wonder about the berries.  

Patrick,  the tall longifolia I’m very interested in, let me know if you produce excess seed.

I looked through the Untangling Physalis document that was mentioned above.  It talks about some of the crossing done.  Here is an image of the tree.  Most of the crosses documented are within the D clade, these are North American species.  Peruviana is in the C clade, with some North American species, longifolia being the hardiest in C.  The D clade sections can do some intercrossing because they’re closely related.  I picked up some P. walteri seed, which looks to have a great berry size for a wild species.  This could be crossed into virginiana or heterophylla to increase cold hardiness.

The other way to go about it which is more enticing is to use the longifolia to cross with peruviana, which is the best bet since they are both in the same clade and subgenus. Crossing across clades  tends to result in nil seed.  The way to proceed it seems to me is start breeding the tall longifolia types, perhaps hybridizing first with a related species like hedaraefolia, but either way start selecting for habit and berry characters, like clumping instead of running.  Then convert the longifolia selection to 4n before crossing it to peruviana.  

Patrick Marchand wrote:So unfortunately, most of the plants got mixed up during a move and there are many I can no longer identify. I'll be posting them on INaturalist in the hope of getting an identification, but I think I'll have to try again next year. I might try to grow less varieties but in bigger quantities.

Probably angulata: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/89217232
Heterophylla or Peruviana: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/89216808
Longifolia, Hispida or Virginiana: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/89216371
P. Virginiana or P. Heterophylla: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/89215642
Probably angulata: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/89215019

Any help identify them would be greatly appreciated.

Patrick, that longifolia you have is var. longifolia.  I have var. subglabrata, which has more angled leaves and purple anthers instead of yellow ones.

Harvesting some Physalis longifolia var. subglabrata soon.  Does anyone want to trade?  Looking for other longifolia seeds, heterophylla, virginiana, hederaefolia, crassifolia.  Especially seeking taller plants (some longifolia get up to 3 ft.) or larger berries, and clumping kinds.  There was some P. walteri on eBay recently.

Hey all, I’m looking for seed or root cuttings of this species.  Have lots to trade.  Thanks!

This design wasn’t ever made as far as I understand, so I’m not sure it can be written off on the basis that it would exist if it worked. There was a group that tried a certain design of a Schauberger plow but not this one from the original drawing.  Big rocks could pose an obstacle, but they can pose an obstacle for a lot of implements.

What do you all think of this sort of vortex plow design by Viktor Schauberger?  The idea appears to be to disturb the soil starting out like a normal plow by inverting it and then flipping it back round so the soil horizons are ultimately the same.  Will this work?  If it does, it might be interesting to use it in say a strip till system ala Elaine Ingham with perennials recolonizing the edges while annuals take up the center of the strip.  Anybody do 3D design want to have a go at it so we can 3D print a small scale proof of concept?  My friend who does excellent 3D design work says it would take him about 6 hours to pull it off, we could crown fund it if people want to investigate.

Yacon and air potato

Zone 7a, mid Atlantic bio region.  There are some nice looking complex hybrids with Passiflora incarnata, cincinnata, and edulis.  Most all should be zone 7 hardy.  I like this one. Won’t be able to try the fruit till next year.

Photos of the flower from a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately this seedling doesn’t accept incarnata pollen, despite being 1/4 incarnata.  It appears to have some pollen but it’s a bit sticky and I haven’t tested its fertility.