Ralph asks a question about a strange early - blooming Jamaican Sorrel :
“ I have been growing these for several year now and carry through seeds . I plant around mid - border district this year and just got a surprise … .1 of the industrial plant is already flowering and setting calyxes . Just 1 of the 8 plants . It is only a duet infantry marvellous . I do n’t know if this is honest or bad . Do you remember it will proceed till fall ? Never had bloom until very late summer . geographical zone 8b . ”
This question come from the comment division ofthis post on Jamaican Sorrel / Florida Cranberry .
My Take on Ralph’s Early-Blooming Sorrel
My guess is that Ralph ’s early blooming plant is a mutation . broadly speaking , Jamaican sorrel does n’t flower until fall . It ’s a twenty-four hour period - duration sensitive plant . Here , one farmer told me he plants his late so they ’re short when they go into bloom , instead of the big sprawl plant you get when you constitute in spring . He wants them giving enough to give him a decent harvest , but not so cock-a-hoop their weak stems get damaged by steer .
If you plant sorrel seeds in say , September / October in the South , they ’ll start blooming at only a foundation or so tall as the daylengths vary . If you implant them in March , you get nice , big shrub which are big enough to use for hedges – and they ’ll bloom at the same time as the ones you just planted in Sept / Oct.
My guess is that this is a genetic sport . It may be induce by environmental condition , though the chances seem lower to me due to his other plants acting normal . loosely , the ontogenesis of leaves and plant size slows when they go into flush , so I ’m not certain if this plant is going to keep experience bigger – or just make a stave of blush and give up .
Save the Seeds: Here’s Why
This short season / quick blooming thing may not be gravid for the Confederacy , but it would allow Yankee to grow some Jamaican Hibiscus sabdariffa in a shorter season . in person , I would write all the germ it creates before the other plants set out blooming and plant them out again . See if you could grow them in closing off from other blooming sorrel plant and see which plants carry the ahead of time - blooming gene . It may be a type that has no twenty-four hours - duration sensitivity , which could be quite a valuable trait .
If you desire to make some money , uprise them until it ’s stable , then patent the seed and get it distributed .
Or , if you ’re feeling more altruistic , raise them and then give the kind to an organisation like Southern Exposure Seed Exchange .
The early blooming could allow this normally tropical vegetable to move as far north as Canada . Great uncovering – now you need to figure out if it ’s work to baffle across generations and if it will be productive enough to be worthwhile .
