open pollinating question

[miraz38]

Hey all! I'm starting to get the planting itch because the weather here in New York has been so beautiful....my question is this: many of the veg varities I have this year are open pollinated, and I was wondering how many plants I need to ensure that I get some harvest this year! Is four of each enough, or should I have more? Would two do? Also

Comments

[dark_phoenix54]

Question one depends on what type of plant it is. If it's corn, you need a fair block of it for good pollination. If it's a tomato or pepper, you only need one, because they have 'perfect flowers'- they have both male and female parts in each flower. I'm thinking that corn is really the only one you need to worry about. Probably a block of 6 plants x 6 plants would do, planted close

[virginiadear]

"...if you plant an early and a late variety, they will have pollen at different times and can't cross."

I know I have plenty to learn yet about vegetable gardening.
So far, cross pollination hasn't been an issue because I plant new seed every year (except for the volunteer cherry tomatoes which are just doing their own thing), but I've wondered what "early" and "late" mean when I'm browsing seed catalogs.
I've kind of assumed this early versus late refers in part to a plant or a variety maturing and fruiting, but does it mean "must be planted early in the season" or "is intended for planting late in the season;" or, does it mean "matures very quickly, requiring less time to mature and fruit," and "matures more slowly, requiring more time to mature and fruit?"

Many thanks!

[dark_phoenix54]

When a vegetable variety says 'early' or 'late', it refers to when it matures. If you plant an early cabbage and a late cabbage out in the garden on the same day, the early one will mature sooner than the late one; i.e., late varieties grow more slowly.

Hope you're enjoying your browsing; it's hard to pick from all those tasty sounding things!

[virginiadear]

Thank you so much for the elegantly succinct explanation! :^)

*sigh* I'm like a kid in a candy store with a nickel to spend. What do I select for my nickel's worth of candy? *grin* But I do enjoy the browsing! (Of course, if there weren't budgetary constraints, there is still the matter of space, no matter how intensely one may plant.)

Hee! A friend was browsing along with me, and remarked on several entries, "Wow---that sounds fantastically delicious!" Of course it does---no one makes a sales pitch saying, "Tasteless, bland, uninteresting and unattractive," or "Bitter, putrid and disgusting" although there are kids out there who are convinced that's exactly how spinach and liver for dinner ought to be described, or that parsnips are yucky and okra is just slime.

Thanks again! :^)

[miraz38]

Ahhhh perfect!! You answered all my questions!! Thanks for the link, it was super helpful. No corn this year (total fail last year, because of the pollination issue, funny...) but I do have peppers (bell and hot), tomatoes, cukes, melons, squashes, eggplant, radishes, beets, onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, broccoli and Brussels....and then there's the herbs....I may have gotten carried away this year. The onlything I have multiple varities of are tomatoes (I think I'm up to 7!), hot peppers and squashes. I was hoping to save seed this year, so I think I'm going to plant the different tomatoes away from each other and see what happens. I'm just hoping to GET some veggies this year, last year we lost most everything to Irene/too much rain/October snow!

Thanks again for your help. I love this community!