The male (called a "drake" in the business) wss acting very aggressively toward the ducklings. He is spending the night in a dog-crate while all of the girls (until proven otherwise) spend the night together. When I left the girls, the two grown-up were schooling the newbies on the pecking order.
Odds of all four ducklings being male are (1/2)^4 or about 6%. Odds of them being all female are the same. So there is an 88% chance that the four new ducks are of mixed sexes and I will have a flock of both KC ducks (i.e. girls) and I will keep one drake.
Speaking of which. One of Southern Belle's male rabbits gave birth this morning. She had assumed Bingo was a boy based on what the seller told her...she never checked.
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| Looking up the rows of the potato patch. |
We had about a half-inch of rain today and the weather-weenies promise another half-inch tomorrow. We needed it. That will bring our total May rainfall up to about 1.5"
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| If you zoom in and look for a horizontal row of tiny green sprinkles across the center of the frame, you will see that the rutabaga seeds are up. |
How long will well cared-for clothes last?
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| I cajoled Mrs ERJ into modeling her favorite jacket for the blog. |
This is her spring/fall, walk-in-the-woods and camping jacket. It is over 40 years old.
She also has a pair of sweat-pants and a matching sweat-shirt that is at least 38 years old.
One of Mrs ERJ's most endearing traits is that she values paid-for, reliability, quality and steadfast endurance over new-and-shiny.
Scarifying Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) seeds
I opted for the boiling water treatment, a method that still strikes me as impossible.
The literature from scholar.google.com suggested that 10-to-15 seconds of dumping the seeds into boiling water and then a quick cool-down by adding tap water. Then a 24 hour soak in water at room temperature was a good method.
The literature universally give soaking in concentrated sulfuric acid higher germination rates but boiling water is easier to come by.
I brought about one quart of water up to a boil in a 3 quart pot. I dumped in 50 grams of Black Locust seeds that were harvested in 2024. Due to fiddling around, the time was closer to 15 seconds than 10 seconds.
I weighed the seeds after the 24 hours of soaking and they weighed 142 grams, so the impermeable seed-coats on most of the seeds were breached.
The seeds will be mixed into clay balls and planted in the next week. They are sitting in the refrigerator until that can happen.
Even with her jacket on Mrs. ERJ looks very trim and fit. Good for her as that is not common for her age.---ken
ReplyDeleteYes. She is in very good shape for a forty-year-old.
DeleteShe smiles when I tell her that.
She *might* be just a little bit older than that.
Not sure how necessary that is. Got a lot of bagged leaves last fall from the neighbor. They got buried in the garden and this spring lots of locusts are sprouting. I think freezing/thawing is good enough.
ReplyDeleteBlack Locust is a "fire-ecology" species. While there is some genetic variability within the species, it depends on its seeds lying dormant near the surface of the soil until a fire clears the vegetation thereby ensuring full sunlight for the new seedlings.
DeleteFWIW, the seeds of the Black Locust adhere to the sides of the pods and they are blown across the ground or snow-crust by the wind. Presumably, they can travel more than a 1/4 mile from their point-of-origin.
The advantage of referencing peer reviewed literature is that one hopes that their testing comprehends a wide spectrum of Black Locust genetics.
Finally, there are many locust species in the US: Honey Locust, Water Locust, Clammy Locust, Bristly Locust, New Mexico Locust and, of course, Black Locust.
I have to go with the research on this. From personal experience, Staghorn Sumac (another fire-ecology species) seedlings pop up like mushrooms around campfire sites but very rarely any other places.
I've got underwear older than you!!!
ReplyDelete... was always struck by that one when I was a young working lad, now I can actually say it. Sigh...
"The literature universally give soaking in concentrated sulfuric acid higher germination rates but boiling water is easier to come by."
ReplyDeleteAlso, a mite less dangerous. Having had to clean labware in sulfuric acid in a fume hood once upon a time, it seems like there should be less desperate ways to increase germination.
Seeing as how sulfuric acid baths and boiling water are rather rare in a natural environment, how about an overnight snooze in the freezer followed by a quick post-thaw pass with a propane torch?
ReplyDeleteA ground-fire before the dead grass greens up or a ground fire that rapidly consumes dried leaves will cause a variable amount of "heat treatment". The horizons closest to the top will get longer periods of "steam" heat. Horizons that are progressively deeper will have proportionately less heat.
DeleteSo, even though the seeds are not exposed to boiling water, they are exposed to boilED water in the form of steam. Those rapid ground fires also clear away the plants and dead material that would shade the young seedlings, so "heat treatment" via fire synchronizes germination with exactly when the surface is most likely to foster strong seedling recruitment.
I am more confident in my ability to evenly expose the seeds to an appropriate amount of heat with boiling water than I do with a propane torch.
Huh. Botany be complicated. Thanks for the explanation. I must say, though, playing with a weed burner with a 20 lb propane tank sounds like more fun than boiling water.
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