Hi there, Malte
I have been working on a population for a dozen years or more, think I started it in 2011 or something.
Have all the photos from previous years in hard drives from the deceased previous pc and laptop.
I started with a dozen long varieties, thinned to 10 best individuals of each. The first year I selected for drought (like I always do) and general resilience. At the time, I didn’t like the roots that much, I was growing them as a treat for my step-father who loves them. Three varieties stood out and ended up being intentionally overrepresented in the seeds collected that first crop.
The following growing years (4 or five) I selected exclusively for edible seed pods (and drought and general resilience and vigor, as always) as I discovered some individuals with really tender and big ones. I actually like them them a lot more than the roots. I had tried Rat’s Pod and another Caudatus…. they had been a disappointment.
Through the years, I selected for humongous seed pods, crunchy, juicy, sweet, less stringy and a bigger picking window (both because each individual pod remains edible longer and also because more indeterminate plants have a longer flowering and set pods for an extended period).
Upright/compact growing habit (I believe inherited from deep purple rooted individuals) never successfully selected for, as those plants tended to be more determined (=shorter production window) and more bitter&spicier (features I still don like that much)… they also tended to have less palatable (for my taste buds - very spicy) pods. But there is something there still to be pursued by someone that’s not me… these plants also tend to have a more bulky and compact initial flower shoot, that is actually very edible.
By then I started to notice that the roots had been becoming less palatable, uniform and more prone to disease and rot.
I decided to start selecting for the roots, maybe in the growing season of 2017/18.
I had mass sown a huge plot in order to select for early root development, with many thousands of individuals and while selecting plants to transplant I found one with absolutely no hair on the leaves. After checking thousands and thousands of plants I found a total of 5 individuals with very little to none.
That is somethin really common about breeding and selecting… you often have this grandiose theoretical idea, and then life shows you a much more interesting path.
So I grew those 5 plants in isolation and kept selecting this population for hairless plants in order to have really fast to produce from seeds, palatable addition to salads (news flash, insects like them a lot more, too).
So I was now (2019/20) direct sowing in situ (in November - center of Portugal) thinning out anything that had hairy leaves. Then selecting for the biggest root development at a younger stage. And finally for the palatability of the seed pods.
I also use to sow them in a couple of family and friends gardens and usually save seeds from prominent individuals.
And have also sown here in the garden at a later date (like February or March) and selected for root development in such conditions, as I found out that most of the plants were skipping good root development and going straight to flowering. I find that a very important trait to select for so these “spring selections” are always included in my Autumn sowings.
I should also mention that I used to have this “what if I could only have one Lettuce/bean/Squash/etc” mindset. I have always been heavily selecting for the most resilient plants I can. Having, not only a dual purpose variety like the “Shunkyo” one Carol Deppe talked about, but truly a “eat all radish”- roots, leaves, seed pods and shoots, was my objective.
But, because I was trying to create these “Apocalypse crops”, these ultra resilient, multipurpose populations… I also wanted this population to be usable as an effective biodrill, a vegetable hoe, like the “groundhog radish” variety - that could be used to drill into compacted soil in order to create deep channels (after plant death and root decay) that would accumulate water and organic debris, as a sustainable and low input way to improve soil fertility and workability.
I am now in a position in which I have several populations from previous years and have shared them (usually all mixed up) here in Portugal, whenever I can.
I have recently (2024/2025) made a mass cross of all the lines in order to shake things up and reintroduce vigor and resilience from the initial populations. Plants were direct sown in Autumn, and weeded and thinned only once. Besides that, 0 input = 0 water, 0 compost, 0 mulching, etc.
Three or four main phenotypes dominate root shape/color:
White - generally smaller and shorter roots
White with pink shoulders - something in between white and deep pink
Deep Pink - vigorous and deep roots that resist decay/rot better than other lines
Deep purple - vigorous roots, smallish seed pods, sometimes upright growing habit
General considerations:
More often than not, the darker the root, the spicier/more bitter the leaves and pods.
Plants become really big during seed pod formation (I grow mine close to wire fences for support)
My winters are mild comparing to most of the people I see around here but I always direct sow them in cold weather.
From all the vegetable species I have been playing with, they are the hardiest.
Will share seeds with you or anyone interested.
By the way, I really like the seed train idea and would like to be added.
Thanks
