Mashua seedling germination has been very unpredictable. Another popped up today. It has been six months since this flat was sown.
And another!
Found a volunteer mashua from seed today. That’s a first. It is interesting for a couple of reasons. It was very deep - about five inches. It must have fallen off of the foliage at harvest time. Pretty impressive that it made that climb to the surface. It was also a very small seed - about half the diameter of the seeds that I save. That may indicate that mashua seed can be saved very early and still germinate.
And yet another. We’re now into the seventh month since sowing these seeds. Clearly, mashua has very irregular germination. This is like many wild plants, which tend to germinate sporadically as a survival mechanism. Because mashua has been traditionally propagated from tubers, this seems reasonable; propagation from seed has received little selective pressure through cultivation.
