May Lotito

We received the much needed rain of 2", thankfully. The drought is hurting local economy and ecology as well. A repeat of last year, wet spring delayed haying till July then the pastures failed to regrow facing summer drought. Only get one cut of hay a year while many places are over stocked with cattles. Trees are slowly dying, even oaks.  I see fewer wildlife as well, from the amount of road kills I encountered.

My garden bounced back when temperature went down below 90 two weeks ago, so I am going to try keeping the warm season crops going longer. I still have over 100 figs, lots of green tomatoes and young chayotes to save.

The potted plants look great. They still need several weeks for seeds to mature so I would protect them from potential frost. I save large cardboard boxes and just invert them over the plants. If it's freezing temperature, I add jars of hot water around the plants. In the Stony Creek Colors video, the author mentioned that old seeds of Japanese Indigo don't germinate well and fresh seeds should be saved every year.

See how this sakurajima daikon is exploding! I read a research paper saying that it has higher level of trigonelline than coffee beans, a vitamin B3 derivative that is beneficial to the vascular system. I planted one this spring too and the root grew to soft ball size before flowering. Then the June flood killed it. I should've planted spring root crops in raised mounds or furrows.
First significant rain in three months is finall coming next week but frost is on the horizon. I've never realized how crazy the weather is in the Ozarks until I started gardening.

I have cracked the white oak acorns, a few of them have weevils. I need to go back and collect more to do the soaking test. None of the small acorns are floating.

Acorns are start to mature and drop here. I had a hike last week and took pictures of wild white oak (Q. alba) trees. The acorns are way bigger than those from my red oaks.

We all LOVE Cherokee Purple! Why they are not sold as starter plants or fruits in the store? The flavor is so rich and amazing. One has to grow his or her own and taste the vine ripe fruits to enjoy this marvelous variety. I have more tomato seeds than I have room for and every year the Cherokee purple is the keeper. It is also the hardest one to get perfect fruits. I usually get concentric cracks around the shoulder. The cracks make the fruits susceptible to mold so I have been taking the issue very seriously. What I found is that Cherokee purple needs higher level of calcium and boron constantly to produce crack-free fruits.  I put lots of organic matter in the soil but tend to get flood in spring and drought in summer so the nutrient flow isn't matching the plant's need. It's far more sensitive than other varieties. Anyway, I am looking at it as the hallmark veggie of fertile soil, and likely the tomato would be more nutrient dense as well. I am making progress improving my soil and hopefully next year I will have more and better harvest of tomatoes.

Thom,
Wish mother nature could spare us some rain here. We only have one inch of rain since August 1st.

Some people have garden sitters to harvest cucumber, zucchini, okra etc while they are away to keep the plants productive. But if only the sitters know the difference between a summer squash and a winter squash! Maybe you can ask farmer friends for help should this happen again.

Five ears on a single stalk is interesting. Have you checked if they all have kernels? I got one plant with multiple ears, even on a single shank but that was due to failed pollination. The corn kept trying to channel the energy somewhere.

Christopher,
Maybe the short season mountain Morado will suit your area. I experimented with a late planting on August 25th and they are tasseling and silking now in just 35 days. I might get some sweet corns in three weeks but I mostly grow them to build up soil biomass.

Japanese indigo is easy to grow from seeds. Here is the patch in mid July less than two months of sowing. Look how lush and  green the leaves are. Indican is synthesized from glucose and amino acid tryptophan. So when there are robust photosynthesis and plenty of nitrogen, the indican level is high. I should've done the extraction back then. Now after severe summer drought, the plants are very sad looking, despite regular irrigation. I wouldn't be surprised if yield is low from the final cut. These are planted in a less fertile spot. I have a few clumps for seed saving that are healthier.

According to the public quality report, my local tap water pH is about 7.8 from over 1000 ft deep well. Hardness is very high at over 250 ppm. The high calcium ions could strengthen the cell walls and slow down leakage. Besides,the indigo plants are grown in full sun so they have thick and tough leaves that remain turgid in water for a long time.

Common 5% white vinegar pH 2.5 is diluted in tap water to reduce pH. I go no more than 1 table spoon to 2 cups for fast small scale extraction. For large scale extraction from mature plants, which I haven't tried this year, I plan on reducing the ratio to 1:100 or lower and soak up to three days.  pH in the soaking water would be around 3 to 4.

Beta-glucosidase, the enzyme that breaks down indican into glucose and indoxyl, has optimal activity around pH 5 to 6.  The simplest way is to add hydrated lime powder to both increase pH and precipitate indigo pigments (method #1). I prefer adding small amount of washing soda just enough to have indigo forming, then adding calcium for precipitation ( method #2 and #3).

I tested both hydrated lime Ca(OH)2 and calcium chloride for indigo precipitation. The former one results in bulkier aggregates easy for filtering and the latter gives finer and more unstable precipitation. The supernatant from hydrated lime is very alkaline and needs to be neutralized before discarding, while that from soluble calcium is less harsh. Or I can just let the blue water sit for a long time and indigo will settle at the bottom eventually (method #4).

Of the four options, some is faster, some is easier, some requires less material, some gives higher purity. It's personal choice which one to use so just play around and have fun.

Using a black light flashlight to visualize indican leaching

One of the the challenges of indigo purification is that the precursor, indican, is colorless. It is hard to tell if the soaking is successful because of this. Usually people wait till they see oxidized blue indigo film on top of the water. Yet if you soak young P. tinctoria leaves, without the interference of pigments from old leaves and flowers, you will notice the water is turning a bit green antifreeze-like under the sunlight. If you use a UV flashlight, the green glow is very prominent in the dark. I am not sure the mechanism of this and no literature shows indican is fluorescent, but indican contains a indole moiety that potentially can absorb UV. Maybe there is something else binding to it that together they give out the bright green fluorescence. Nevertheless. I find that the optical density of green fluorescence correlates positively with the yield of indigo and use it to optimize soaking conditions for maximum indican release.

The contrast between soaking in alkaline tap water and acidic water with vinegar added is very dramatic as shown below. That'show I come up with the amount of vinegarto add abd the duration of soaking. If you use rain water, or well water, or less alkaline tap water, my numbers probly don't apply. By using a blacklight flashlight, you would be able to see wether the soaking is working and decide on the right amount for yourself.