One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 29

How Many Crops of Onion Seed?

Does the growing of onion seed exhaust adobe land, and if so, how many years' cropping before it requires rest or fertilizing?

The growth of any seed crop, including cereal grains, of course, makes a supreme draft upon soil fertility. How long a certain soil can stand it, depends upon the amount of fertility it has when the draft begins. The best rough way to tell how it is going, is to watch the growth and crop, when moisture conditions are known to be favorable. If you get a good growth of the plant it is still good to make the seed.

Onions from Seed.

Will onions from seed mature the same season if they are irrigated? Some tell us they will not, so we would be very much pleased to hear from you.

Onions grown from the seed do fully develop during the growing season following the planting of the seed. In fact, nearly all California onions are grown in that way. Our growing season is so long that we do not need to use onion sets to any extent, as they do in short-summer climates.

Dry Farming with Chili Peppers.

If I set chili pepper plants down six or eight inches lower than the surface of the ground and fill in as the plants grow larger, will this help in case I could not get water enough? My soil is a deep sandy loam.

We have had between five and six inches of rain. Do you think water every fifteen days would be enough?

On such light soil as you mention, the plants can be planted deeply and a certain amount of soil brought up to the plants by cultivation without injury. As this plant has a long growing season and matures its crop rather late, you will undoubtedly need irrigation. Probably irrigation twice a month will be sufficient in connection with good cultivation, but you will have to watch the plants and apply the water as it seems to be needed, rather than by a specific scheme of days.

Harvesting Peanuts.

I would like information regarding the curing of peanuts. Should they be bleached, and, if so, how is it done? Does bleaching affect the keeping qualities?

It is not usual to bleach peanuts. They should be grown in such light soil that they will not be stained, and the common method of curing is to dig or plow up, throw the vines, with nuts attached, into windrows and allow them to lie a week or ten days for drying. Then the nuts are picked into sacks and cleaned before s.h.i.+pment in revolving drums, followed by a grain fan which throws out the light nuts and other rubbish. Bleaching would not destroy the keeping quality probably, but it would destroy the flavor and the germinating power. The latter would not matter, except with such nuts as you wish to keep for seed, because the roasting destroys the germinating power also, but sulphuring, which would reduce the flavor, would give the product a bad name. Possibly some growers do bleaching, but, if so, they have to be pretty careful about it. The cost of the operation would also be a bar to profit, for peanuts are grown on a narrow margin owing to compet.i.tion with importations grown with cheap labor.

Adobe and Peanuts.

Is adobe land good for the peanut? Is it harder to start than in other soils or not?

It is not good at all. Peanuts require the finest, mellowest loam with sand enough to prevent crust, and moisture even and continuous. The surface must be kept loose so that the plant can bury its own bloom stem and the under soil light and clean so that it will readily shake from the nuts and not stain them. Adobe is the worst soil you could find for peanuts.

Cutting Potatoes.

What would be the most profitable potato to plant in the Salinas valley, and how small can a potato be cut up for planting? How many eyes should each piece contain in order to make a good growth and be profitable?

Probably the best potato for your district would be the Burbank, which is largely grown near Salinas and brings the highest price. It is customary to cut a medium-sized potato in two pieces and a large one in four pieces. One can be very economical of seed by smaller cutting, but it would require the most favorable conditions to bring a vigorous growth. Probably pieces weighing not less than two ounces would be best under ordinary conditions. Potatoes which are rather small may be used for seed if well matured and have good eyes. It is dangerous, however, to use the small stuff - too small for sale. Unless the soil and moisture conditions are extra favorable, the growth will be weak and unsatisfactory.

Potato Planting.

How many sacks of potatoes are to be planted to an acre, and how many eyes are to be left in a seed? If, for instance, we plant seed with three eyes, how many potatoes should we get from that vine?

Potatoes are planted all the way from five to fifteen sacks to the acre, probably about ten sacks being the average. There is no particular number of eyes specified in preparing the seed, according to common practice. Good medium-sized potatoes are generally cut in two pieces crosswise, and large potatoes in four pieces, cutting both ways. There is no definite relation between the number of eyes planted and the number of potatoes coming from them. This has been the subject of innumerable experiments, and the conclusion is that the crop is more dependent upon good soil and favorable growing conditions than upon any way of preparing the seed.

Northern Potatoes for Seed.

Do you regard northern-grown seed potatoes sufficiently better to make it worth while paying freight on them from the State of Was.h.i.+ngton?

Experience seems to indicate the superiority of northern-grown seed potatoes, not only in this State, but on the Atlantic Coast, and they are largely depended upon. Systematic demonstration by comparative tests has been made by the Vermont station and preference for northern-grown seed seems, to be justified.

Potato Planting.

I have ten acres of land in Placer county which I propose to put into potatoes next spring. It has been recommended to me to put potatoes in as early as January. It seems to me that January is rather early; however, it is said that this land is in the orange belt and practically free from frost.

Whether you can plant potatoes to advantage in January or not depends upon the temperatures which you are likely to meet after that date, also whether the ground is warm enough in January, because there is no advantage in planting in cold ground nor in soil that is too wet at the time. The earliest potatoes, of course, come from planting much earlier than January; usually as soon as the ground is moistened enough in the autumn. The potato will stand some frost, but autumn planting is not feasible in places which are under hard freezing or receive too much cold rain water.

Potatoes Should be Planted Early.

I have Early Rose potatoes planted about May first. The tops look fine, but there are few potatoes and small, and, though not developed, have commenced growing a second time, sprouts starting from the new potatoes.

When should I plant and what care should they have?

Your potatoes act peculiarly because of intermittent moisture - the plant being arrested by drought and then starting again, which is very undesirable. To avoid this, potatoes should be planted earlier so as to get a large part of their growth during the rainy season. If planted late the ground should be well wet down by irrigation, and then plowed and cultivated, and irrigation should be used while the plant is growing well. If this is done, potatoes can be successfully grown by irrigation, but if the land is allowed to become dry the plant is arrested in its growth for a time and a second and undesirable growth is started.