Kwao Krua kao Root (Pueraria Mirifica)

This root has been slow to take to the soil but has finally started sending out roots.  Patience was needed since it was received four months ago.

No upward shoots so far though but we'll see how things go from here.

Unfortunately the tiger jaws plant has died.  Still not sure what exactly happened to it.  Just dried out from the bottom up.  My first guess is that it was in the wrong potting medium.

The redesign of amberroyer.com is nearly done.  Soon it will be more of a maintenance sort of situation.  Adding content from events, new publications, and the like.  More on the redesign and features in an upcoming post.  In the mean time you can still go check it out and see how things are coming.

Struggling Sprout

One of the seeds was having a bit of a problem getting out of the ground.  On more thing the testa does apparently is prevent the seed from sending roots into itself before coming out of the ground.

When I checked it I found that it had sent little roots into the seed holding it under the dirt while at the same time trying to get out of the dirt with this loop of a stem. I cut around the seed to free it from the roots and as you can see it is already coming up out of the dirt.  It had been completely covered before.  Just hoping it's not too late for it to develop properly or if this might be some odd way of twisting the trunk.

We'll see how it comes out in the next few days.  I'll try to make sure no new roots try to grab hold of it in the mean time.

Harvesting Echinacea and Other Root Herbs

Again we like to grow things that we can use but how do you harvest it?
Echinacea is one of the things we have growing in our garden but it's not the only root herb we have. The other one is orris root or bearded iris. I would suggest harvesting them and drying them the same way to preserve the roots for the most benefit.
Do not dig everything up at once unless you want to get rid of the entire crop. The roots will keep growing as long as you have some in the ground. Personally I like to keep 3/4 of the plant still planted so they will keep producing more roots.
When drying it's best to let them air dry for some time. I recomment drying orris root for several weeks in the sun. but if you're in a hurry you can always use a dehydrator. When it's dry you can crush it up in a morter orspice grinder.