The Garden of Woz...

[Whwoz]

Stick Insects,

there are some here who like to see Bingo (the Girl) and Joe (the boy, was originally JoJo). They have returned for there summer holidays away from the classroom. This is Joe, hope fully he will spread his wings properly and fly, in the meantime, his wings are folded and lie above his abdomen

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[Whwoz]

GoDawgs, you mention an electric neon daisy as one of the three above would you like seed from it? if so which do you prefer

[Whwoz]

Peas,

growing two climbing snow peas at the moment breed by am Aussie backyard breeder.

One is a yellow, that is of a good size, reliably throws 8 peas per pod, would best be described as being "sweet", not sugary sweet but that is the best way I can describe it. Given the name Joni's Taxi by the breeder, it is one that could be sold commercially with any problems

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The other one, a purple podded one by the same breeder called Heather, develops fiber as the peas, and pod, start to swell. This one would have 6 or 7 peas per pod, have not regularly counted them, and is tasty while flat and becomes less enjoyable when swollen. More breeding required with this one to have it ready to sell. Colour tends to break down in some of the plants as the pods mature also.

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The crossing of yellow and purple podded peas apparently can give rise to red podded peas, which a number of people are working on.

[bower]

Nice peas! I am one of the stick insect fans... they are amazing!!

[MissS]

As Whwoz knows, I really like those Stick Bugs. Thanks so much for posting them!

How old is Joe in that photo? How many instars (molt) do these stick bugs have down under there? He is winged so this must be his final instar?

[Whwoz]

Joe would be about 9 or 10 months old currently, Bingo is a few weeks older. Will post a photo of her soon.

They have 5 instars and yes, he would be in his last stage.

[Whwoz]

Bingo and Joe spent time in close company today and the resulting eggs will be a mix of male and female hatchings. If Bingo laid eggs without mating they would all be female. Not the best photo due to glass reflection

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[bower]

I kind of like that shot - the glass effects add mystery!

[Whwoz]

For those that want a better size comparison between the male and female

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they are certainly active in the sexual department, so far 2 session each roughly 20 hours long

[Whwoz]

We are finally getting a decent run of hot weather here, all the plants have taken off growth wise and are setting fruit. The youngberries nearly got past me, looked at them about a week ago and they were only just starting to show a few properly ripe, checked them Christmas eve, ripe berries every where. Managed to pick 40lb over the last 4 days, with more on the canes if we want them. Tayberries would have some ripe ones on them and the Jostaberries likewise if the birds have left them alone

[Rajun Gardener]

Nice harvest! I had to look those up and from the description they sound better than blackberries. How many plants do you have?

[PlainJane]

Love stick insects! Thanks for the photos and info. Fascinating!

[MissS]

Whwoz, how long does the the male live after copulating? My Praying Mantis males only live about 24 - 48 hours after mating. I don't recall the length of time for my stick insects here. Saturniade Moth males live only a few hours. Their whole body becomes flaccid as if every drop of fluid was transferred to the lady.

[Whwoz]

Rajun, I cannot accurately say 6 plants went in a number of years ago and at one stage I lost control of the plants. It is truly a thicket now, requiring a glove on one hand to move canes around for picking. Will be having an digger over shortly to do some work, will have the operator scrape the area and cut the Canes around the posts at the same time

[Whwoz]

Miss, I can't say with any confidence, but considering that they say males live for about a year and that Joe is roughly 10 months old now, he can not have much longer to live. Will post news of his passing on here when it occurs.

[Whwoz]

For those that do not know them, Youngberries

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A small handful picked for the tribes dinner

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A few berries and a leaf, bench boards are 100mm/4 inches wide

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One overgrown berry patch, long grass a result of the rains in August thru November when the ground was that wet that I could not get a mower on it without bogging it. When the ground dried, the ride-on mower blew its diff and have only just been able to source its replacement. Shed is 12m/40 feet wide., tank is 5000 Imp gallons

[Whwoz]

Tayberries, one of the more recent introductions. A youngberry x raspberry cross. Taste is very much to the raspberry IMO. Longer and narrower than the young berries

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A few Tayberries, I need to get them into a different spot so they do better

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Tayberries and leaf

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A comparison between Tayberries and Youngberries, same bench 100mm/4 inch wide boards

[Whwoz]

And the third berry picked today, Jostaberries, a complicated Gooseberry/American gooseberry/Black Current cross that was, I am told, cholicine treated. Cholicine is a plant DNA mutagen that doubles the number of chromosomes that a plant has, enabling plants that would not otherwise survive to do so. The plants are reasonably fast growers and take after the Black Current parent quite a bit. The berries also take after the Black Current, but without the typical black current taste. They are still tart and very nice to eat. They take about 5 or 6 years to really start to fruit properly and I was thinking that it was not cold enough here for them to fruit. Not so, lost a good crop last year to the 44C scorchers we had and the Indian Minor birds were starting to get to them, so I picked about a pound today.

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[Whwoz]

To the moderator who combined my two "Garden of Woz" threads, I thank you. I started one in the general discussion forum before the establishment of the GLOG forum. With the GLOGs establishment it was the more appropriate place for this thread and this merger accounts for the double ups that appear in this thread.

[Whwoz]

Sweet Peas

Pea seed harvesting time is upon me here, the first lot of Joni's taxi and Heather have both been harvested and shelled with some interesting results in the Heather's.

First up, and I forgot to get a photo, but will do as there are lots more Joni's Taxi to mature, is a brief comment about JT. It has the shrunken pod gene so it contracts around the seed as the pods dry. These are "sweet" (best as I can describe the taste) and are well liked by all. Most pods have 8 peas in them.

Heather, by comparison, does puffs up as the pods expand and it appears that, even though they were all selected from one seed several years ago, we have two versions: 1. as the pods swell these develop fiber in the pod wall and loose a lot of the purple color as the pods dry, and 2. those that do not develop fiber as the pods swell and hold the purple color better as the pods dry. these are to be preferred for eating and Heather has a distinct flavor that is not as well liked at home. Suspect this maybe due to the antho but not sure, purple edible podded peas are not very common here so I have nothing to compare against. The majority of pods would have between 6 and 8 peas in them, but they are not as consistent as JT. Attached showing the two variations of Heather, the seed from pods with fiber will be sprouted for eating as sprouts I think

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