Chickens laying through winter with lights

Our chickens, like all chickens, don't lay very well over winter.  The pineal gland in their brain detects the reduced hours of sunlight, and they either lay less or stop laying eggs entirely.  For young pullets, this is normally not an issue and they still produce enough eggs.  For older hens, this can mean months of no eggs.  

Our hens are getting old, they are six or seven years old now.  I should have retired them the previous winter, but didn't, and for a number of reasons (one being sentimental) I didn't retire them this winter either.  

We only eat the eggs our hens lay.  Even when you include the cost of buying point of lay hens, their eggs are still considerably cheaper than supermarket eggs.  Our older hens largely stopped laying when winter started.  We were getting one egg every few days, which is dreadful when you are feeding eleven hens.

When we had acreage I bought some garden solar spotlights.  I put them in front of the chicken tractors over winter, and they increased the number of light hours enough that we got a lot of eggs over winter.  I haven't done this for a few years and thought I would do this again.  My hens are now in a shed instead of a chicken tractor, which has changed things. 

The solar lights work well if they can get sun, and can shine directly into the coop.  This was perfect with a chicken tractor.  With our current set up this wasn't working well as I can't get the right angle.  I had one light in the ground, another light on the fence, and between them could not get the right angle.  

Solar spotlight for eggs

Solar garden spotlight for chickens

I couldn't get the angle right

I like the solar lights because they are cheap to buy and free to run.  No point spending a lot of money when the whole idea is to save money!  

The solar lights do not pose a fire risk, or need an electrician.  They are bright enough for a few hours that they increase the number of eggs laid, and they dim out each evening so the hens are not surprised by it immediately turning dark. 

These solar garden lights are about ten years old, perhaps more, their light is dim and they were not working overly well.  So we decided to invest in a new solar light. 

The new one we got has two lights.  It has a small solar panel, and a short lead that is connected to the lights.  This means I can put the lights in the chicken house and angle them where I want light, and have the solar panel outside where it can catch sunlight.  

Solar panel is sitting on the roof, and the light are inside the shed under shelter.

Solar panel on the roof

Lights inside and pointing where needed

Having two lights means I can change their angles and have them face wherever I want.  This worked well.  We went from one egg every few days, to a few weeks later getting 3 or 4 eggs per day.  This continued all winter. Perfect!  

As you can see below, we have a lot of hens.  They are old, and it was winter, so it is expected that they would lay no eggs until late spring.  Getting a few eggs per day is all we need.

As you can see in the photo, these solar lights do not produce huge amounts of light.  This amount of light is enough to induce them to lay.

View from outside the chicken house at night

Solar light on chickens over winter

People have some concerns with inducing chickens to lay over winter using supplemental lighting.  Some concerns are valid, others less so.  I thought I should mention some of these concerns here.  

I haven't used lighting in a few years.  When I do use lights, I only ever use them over the winter months.  I remove the lights when the day length starts getting a bit longer.  I am not sure, but think if I had the lights all year it would probably stress the birds and lead to them having a shorter life.  If you add lights to your chicken run, only do so for the shortest months.  There is no need to have them under lights all year.

Chickens have all the eggs they will ever lay inside them when they hatch.  I used to worry that adding lighting would mean they may lay out all their eggs too soon and then be barren in their later years. I am glad to say that this is not the case.  A vet told me they chickens have thousands of eggs inside them, they lay a small fraction of these over their life and the vast majority are never laid.  According to the vet, adding winter lighting can not make chickens lay out all their eggs too early in life.  This is reassuring to know.  

Some people worry that the chickens will not moult if given extra light.  This is not the case with these solar garden lights.  The lights are not bright enough to prevent moulting.  The chickens still get enough environmental queues to moult when they need to, and they tend to stagger moulting with some hens moulting and others still laying.  I currently have 11 old hens, and was getting 3 or 4 eggs per day in the depths of winter.  I use rather dim lights because they were cheap.  Given that people in places such as Ecuador raise chickens, and they moult with a little over 12 hours of sunlight year round, I doubt that having brighter lighting could prevent moulting.  

I have read on online poultry forums people expressing a concern that the chickens will not sleep and will die if they are provided with supplemental lighting.  This is an unrealistic concern.  Light does not prevent them from ever sleeping.  My solar garden lights are only on a few hours before they dim out.  People raise chickens in northern countries where the sun does not set for weeks on end, and they don't seem to have issues with hens falling dead from lack of sleep.  You can see in my photo that my hens are roosting with the light on them.  They were asleep when I opened the door and woke just before I took the photo.  Even when they are asleep, their pineal gland is detecting elevated levels of light, which brings them into lay.  

They still roost, and get enough light to induce laying

People have a concern that the chickens will be active when the lights are on, and not be able to find their way to roost once the lights suddenly switch off.  This is not an issue with these solar lights.  As you can see, my hens roost even with the light on.  Even if they were active, this would still not pose a problem.  These lights do not go from dazzling bright light to off in the blink of an eye.  These are not overly bright to begin with, and they slowly dim out after a few hours.  If the hens were active, they have plenty of time to get to the roost while the light slowly fades away.

A large risk that must be considered is safety.  If you run an electrical cord and run a lamp in the chicken house there may be a fire risk.  These solar lights do not pose a fire risk.  If they get shorted out by rain or something they just stop working.  It is not the same as running a power cable from the house.  My lights are up off the ground where they are touching nothing other than wire, which also reduces the possibilities of fire hazard.  They produce next to no heat, so even if the lights were nestled in among straw they should not heat up enough to cause a fire.  Fire is a serious danger and is worth considering when you place your lights.  

Now that it is spring I will remove the lights and pack them away until next winter.  The solar lights helped my old hens lay eggs over winter, and now the days are long enough that the lights are not needed.  I plan to put the lights up again next winter, and ensure that my family has eggs year round.  

String of Pearls Variety Comparison

String of Pearls is a lovely succulent.  They grow long trailing stems, most varieties have almost spherical leaves, some varieties have leaves that are still round but a bit pointier, and the flowers are always white and fragrant. 

I am growing a few different string of pearls varieties and thought I would write a comparison of how they perform for me, as well as take some comparison photos with them side by side to give a better perspective of what each variety is like.  

String of pearls can usually be found under the binomial name Senecio rowleyanus, although it is more accurately known as Curio rowleyanus.  The genus name 'Senecio' is the most commonly used genus, but has now largely been disbanded.  In the year 2019 the genus was split into Curio, Caputia, and Kleiniawas.  I believe there may be a few species of Senecio that remain in the original genus, but string of pearls is not one of them.  While the nomenclature doesn't really matter to growers I mention it as it can be helpful if researching these plants. 

Three string of pearls varieties

I wrote an earlier post on different varieties of string of pearls https://living-mudflower.blogspot.com/2018/08/string-of-pearls-real-and-fake.html.  There are a lot of people from Australia (and other countiries) selling fake seeds for these plants.  They photoshop images of real plants and alter the colour to make them look bright blue or red, then they sell the seeds for a low price.  They then post you seeds of whatever they have on hand, mostly they don't send not even string of pearls seeds.  By the time you realise you have been duped it is too late to do anything and you have already left positive feedback after they posted you the fake seeds really fast.  

String of pearls are only ever green or variegated.  There are no stunning blue string of pearls plants, not brilliant red ones, no deep purple ones.  I wish blue ones existed, but they don't, and they never will.  Sometimes when stressed they get a slight purple tinge, you can see this in the photos below, but they are still quite green.  

String of pearls plants are only green, or green and white, and anyone selling seeds of the fake ones is a thief who you should never buy anything from.  Hopefully my rant about fake seed sellers helps someone not be taken advantage of.  

Slight purple tinge over winter

Slightly purple, but still obviously green

String of beans (different species) gets purplish in my winter

I currently grow three of four different varieties of string of pearls (as well as a few other similar species such as string of beans).  The string of pearls are lovely plants, and very simple to grow.  I grow the typical form, a variegated one, a giant one, and lovely one called 'Angel tears' that is variegated and has pointier leaves.  They are all very different, and I like them all.

I will give a very brief description of each variety, add in a few pictures of each, then show some comparison photos.

String of pearls typical

String of pearls typical form

String of pearls flowers are white

The typical variety has green leaves and green stems.  It grows small, pea sized, almost spherical leaves, each with an interesting little window.  Over winter they produce small white flowers that smell much like cinnamon.  The stems can get very long if the plant is well cared for, I have several pots of them that are well over a meter in length.  

The typical variety of string of pearls was commonly grown as a house plant in hanging baskets in the 1970's, and then somehow became less common to the point that it was rare and difficult to find for a time.  These are succulents so don't need heaps of water to survive, but I find they grow fastest and look best when given extra water.  They grow reasonably fast, are very simple to propagate, and are very forgiving of less than ideal conditions.  

While string of pearls perform best when grown in soil, they can be grown entirely in water.  I grew one string of pearls in nothing but water for over two and a half years.  It certainly is not the best way to grow them, but they survive.  If nothing else, this demonstrates how easy these plants are to grow.  

String of pearls variegated

My variegated string of pearls

Slower growing, very beautiful plants

Variegated string of pearls is much like the typical version, it is the same shape and size, but has variegated with green and white leaves.  For me this plant grows a lot slower than the typical form.  Being variegated it is probably not as hardy as they typical form, but it is still forgiving of less than ideal conditions.  

The variegated form is less common than the typical variety, presumably this is because it is slower to propagate and is a little newer.  Propagation is still very simple, but it takes extra time as it grows slower than the green form.  While it is slower growing, it is also a lot prettier than the typical form.  For me it gets more variegation when given lots of bright indirect light.  When grown in too little light it would probably revert to all green.

Giant string of pearls, sometimes called 'Big Peas', 'Big Balls', or 'Perla Grande'

String of pearls 'big peas'

Giant form string of pearls

When I started growing string of pearls I wished the leaves were larger.  That is exactly what this variety is!  I am not sure if it is polyploid, but it most likely is.  This variety is similar to the typical form but larger in every way.  

The smallest leaves on this plant are about as large as the largest leaves on the typical form.  The stem is thicker.  The flowers are white and smell the same as the typical form, but are a bit larger than the typical form.  I have not grown this long enough to know how fast it grows or how robust it is.  

I only have a few pots of these, and they are all still getting established so I have not yet seen what this plant can do.  I really like this plant, it is bigger and more imposing than the typical form.  This variety is very rare in Australia, I am not sure if this is due to it being more fragile or simply because it is a relatively newer variety.  From what I have seen in the short time I have been growing the giant string of pearls, I assume its rarity is purely due to it being a newer variety.  

Angel tears succulent

Variegated Angel Tears

Angel Tears is a highly variegated variety of string of pearls, but with pointier leaves instead of the almost spherical ones of the typical form.  I only have two small cuttings, both of which are very small and are growing well.  

I have not grown it long enough to know how fast it grows or how robust the plant is.  I assume that it will be slower growing due to the reduced chlorophyll, and I am guessing that it will be slightly hardier than the typical form.  I assume the flowers will be similar to the typical form.  

There is a completely green version of this plant, which I am not currently growing.  I really like the look of the variegated form and have no plans to track down the green one.  Sooner or later this plant will probably grow a part that is all green, I can remove that and grow it on if I want a green one.  For me it has developed more variegation when grown under brighter indirect light.  I think it is quite pretty.   

Still small but growing strong

Comparison photos

When I first heard about the giant form of string of pearls I wondered how much larger it was to the typical form, and how noticeable this was.  I could only find two photos online that showed a comparison to the typical variety.  

Below are some comparison photos of the giant form next to the typical form, as well as the giant next to typical and variegated.  As you can see, the variegated and the typical forms are pretty much the same other than their colouration, and the giant form is larger in every way.

For now the giant ones I have are still getting established, so the comparison photos are not the greatest.  Once my giant form grows out a bit, and my angel tears gets some length, I will try to take some better comparison pictures.  

String of Pearls: Typical on left, Variegated middle, Giant on right

Three forms of string of pearls comparison

Giant on left, typical form on right

Typical, Variegated, and Giant string of pearls

I like these string of pearls plants.  You can see that I have a lot of the typical form, this is because I got this variety first.  I also have a few really long ones that I have not taken photos of, and a few that are growing in weird places.  String of pearls plants are very simple to propagate from cuttings.  Once you have one plant, if you like them you can propagate them and over time you can have as many as you want.  

String of pearls plants are surprisingly hardy considering how delicate they look.  As mentioned earlier, even though they are succulents I find they perform at their best when given ample water.  I would never leave the pot sitting in water, but I also would not do that with most other plants.  They don't love frost, and grow far better when protected from frosts, but can survive a few light frosts.  

I sell plants and cuttings of typical string of pearls through my for sale page.  Plants cost more because of the time and space they have taken to grow, cuttings are cheaper because I can simply remove them from a healthy plant.  String of pearls are very simple to grow from cuttings, and the cuttings I send usually have some roots to give them a head start.  

I plan to sell variegated string of pearls soon as I have a few little ones growing out, and would love to sell the giant form once I have grown it long enough to know how it performs so can offer growing advice.  My angel tears is so tiny at the moment that it will be a while before I would have enough to be able to enjoy it as well as have any to sell.  

Is it safe to eat buckwheat every day

Rather than make you read through the entire post to get to the answer I will give the short answer here: buckwheat is safe to eat buckwheat every day. 

I had a few people ask me about the possibility of issues from eating buckwheat every day, most of these questions have been surrounding a compound called fagopyrin.  I am not an expert, and I am not a food scientist, so I did a bit of research, and decided to write what I found in a blog post so I can find it again.  

Too much fagopyrin over a long time period can cause phototoxicity, which is a sensitivity to sunlight and causes skin issues.  I was not sure how much is too much.  Many plant based foods have some level of toxins or anti nutrient.  I am not a food scientist ad didn't have more than a basic level understanding of the topic, so I did some reading into how safe buckwheat really is.  The results were interesting but not overly surprising.  

Common buckwheat with heart shaped leaves

Buckwheat seed has been eaten by people since at least the year 6,000 BC.  There have been few reliable reports of people having issues due to consuming buckwheat.  Based on this information alone, buckwheat seed appears to be safe to eat.  The actual answer, however, is more complex than a simple yes or no.  

Buckwheat seeds, sprouts, leaves, stems, rhizomes, and flowers have all been important sources of food or medicine for thousands of years, over the past few hundred years it has also been used as animal forage or silage.  

Consuming buckwheat has been demonstrated to help prevent various chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, obesity, cardiovascular disease, tumors, and gallstone formation.  Various pharmacological studies have confirmed that buckwheat holds anti-diabetic, anti-tumour, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective effects.  All of this is great, but still doesn't answer if it is safe to eat buckwheat every day, or how much is too much.  

There are some reports of animals experiencing phototoxicity due to buckwheat's fagopyrin content.  These animals ate nothing but buckwheat stems, leaves, and flowers for weeks on end, which means that this only proves that like everything else too much is not great.  To put this perspective, if I ate nothing but apples for weeks on end I would become dreadfully unwell.  The question still remains, how much buckwheat is too much?  

Anecdotally I can say from experience that eating buckwheat groats every day is safe.  I have been eating grechnevaya kasha every day for breakfast for around two years, during that time I have become healthier in measurable ways (lower cholesterol, better LDL:HDL ratio, more stable blood sugars etc).  Buckwheat is highly nutritious, it is simple to prepare, and I like the taste.  

Anecdotal evidence based on personal experience is fine, but it doesn't answer the question over how much is too much, and actual evidence is always far better than anecdotal evidence.

Raw buckwheat groats

There have been rare reports of people reacting poorly to buckwheat seed, many of these have been food allergies.  The reports of skin sensitivity issues are almost entirely from people consuming large quantities of sprouts (and sometimes flowers) over an extended period of time.  So far I have found no reliable reports of anyone experiencing fagopyrism from eating hulled buckwheat seeds.  

When looking at the massive number of people who eat buckwheat seed as a staple food (hundreds of millions of people), and the extended period of time this has occurred (thousands of years), and the relatively few instances of problems, buckwheat appears to be safer to consume than wheat, milk, or eggs.  From this we can conclude that eating buckwheat is safe, but this still doesn't answer the question of how safe is buckwheat, or how much is too much.  So I did some more reading and crunched some numbers to actually answer these questions.  

Reliable data in peer reviewed papers on the fagopyrin content of buckwheat seed is scarce, and there is almost no information on the phototoxic dose in humans.  

The literature states that in leucistic/albino rats, slight skin issues start to be seen when feeding around 2.5 to 3 mg fagopyrin per kg body weight (with severe issues starting between 5 to 10 grams per kg body weight).  While humans are not rats, and most people have more melanin than these leucistic rats, this is the best analogue we currently have. 

The lowest end of this range, feeding 2.5mg/kg body weight extrapolates to 150mg of fagopyrin as being safe for a 60kg person.  I realise that extrapolation does not always work in a perfectly linear way, and this is based on the amount that causes issues in leucistic/albino rats rather than people, but it is the best we can do considering the surprising lack of human research.  I also realise that most people weigh considerably more than 60kg, so this acts as a bit of a buffer.  

Buckwheat leaf on right, fishmint on left

Fagopyrin is present in different amount at different stages of growth, and different concentrations are found in stem, leaf, flower, seed, and hulls of buckwheat.  While there are discrepancies in the literature about the amount of fagopyrin detected, there is general consensus that buckwheat seed contains the lowest concentration of fagopyrin.  

Several papers have reported detecting up to 0.07mg per gram in raw Tartary buckwheat groats.  Tartary buckwheat is Fagopyrum tataricum they did not specified if they were dehulled or included hull.  I am yet to find any mention of detectable amounts of fagopyrin in common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) groats.  While I assume these higher results may have included the hull, thus increasing the fagopyrin content and decreasing protein content, I am going to use the highest number in my calculations.  

While I am yet to find any paper where dehulled common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) groats had any detectable level of fagopyrin, and while I am not able to buy anything other than dehulled common buckwheat, to err on the side of safety I am going to use the highest levels detected from Tartary buckwheat in my crude calculations.  

If we use the lower safe amount of 2.5mg fagopyrin per kg bodyweight, and take the higher amount of 0.07mg/g fagopyrin possibly being contained in the seed, this would mean that a 60kg person would not run into issues with fagopyrin unless they eat over 2.1kg of raw buckwheat groats to reach the 150mg safe thresh hold.  

Given that it is likely that the amount of fagopyrin is lower than 0.07mg per g of common buckwheat grain, and that it is also highly likely that most adults would weigh considerably more than 60kg, and that most people have at least some melanin in their skin, combined with the fact that it is unlikely to eat more than 2kg of (cooked or uncooked) buckwheat per day, it seems reasonable to conclude that buckwheat grain is safe to consume either raw or cooked, so long as you are not allergic.  

Based on the above, it appears that buckwheat groats are safe to eat every day, either raw or cooked, in any amount you like.  

Pink flowered buckwheat setting seed

Eating buckwheat leaf, or rhizome, or sprouts, or flowers, may be a different story.  

While buckwheat leaves have been eaten as vegetables for thousands of years, and many millions of people still eat leaves, stems, flowers, and rhizomes of buckwheat regularly, they have almost exclusively been cooked in some way.  

There seems to have been some research conducted into raw leaves and stems as they have been used as animal fodder.  Unfortunately, while papers possibly exist, I have been unable to find any research into the fagopyrin content of cooked buckwheat leaves.  If you can direct me to a peer reviewed paper on this please let me know and I will update this blog post accordingly.  

I found an old paper stating that "based on a comparison to hypericin toxicity, the recommendable intake of buckwheat sprouts was estimated to be less than 40 g per day".  This statement is often quoted and is rather misleading at best.

The findings from that paper are regularly quoted when referring to the safe amount of raw buckwheat sprouts to eat.  People often extrapolate that to conclude the same safe limit applies to buckwheat leaves, or even groats, when this is not the case.  Strangely enough, the '40g per day' thing is not even the safe limit when dealing with buckwheat sprouts. 

Hypericin is a chemical found in St John's wort, it is similar to fagopyrin, but not the same.  Rats showed skin sensitivity when fed 0.5 mg kg hypericin, as opposed to fagopyrin which needs to be fed at 2.5-3mg per kg before any slight reaction is noticed.  

Given that studies indicate that hypericin is far less toxic than fagopyrin, I am not sure why this comparison was ever made, and it makes little sense as to why it is so often quoted.  If anything, this data would indicate that at least five times that amount (ie 40g x 5 = 200g) should be completely safe to consume regularly.  That paper also stated that raw buckwheat sprouts contained far higher levels of fagopyrin than leaves of mature plants.  

For these reasons I decided to ignore that often quoted 40 gram number and tried to do my own (also potentially flawed) calculations. 

Perennial 'golden' buckwheat autumn colours

The leaves of Tartary buckwheat have been recorded in one study as containing 0.512mg per gram.  This means it would be safe for a 60kg person to consume at least 292 grams of raw leaves per day for quite some time before any adverse effects would be possible.  

The same study recorded the fagopyrin content in common buckwheat leaves as 0.322mg per gram when in the vegetative phase, meaning it would be safe for a 60kg person to consume at least 465 grams of raw leaves every single day.  It is noteworthy that when in flower, common buckwheat leaves contained higher amounts of fagopyrin than they did before flowering.  Flowers contain significantly more fagopyrin than leaf and stem.  Most forage fed to animals has been from buckwheat that was flowering, which is partly why fagopyrism has been seen in livestock.  

In that same study, the leaves of perennial buckwheat were recording as containing up to 0.947mg per gram.  If it is safe for a 60kg person to consume over 150mg of fagopyrin per day, it would be safe to consume at least 158.39 grams of raw perennial buckwheat leaf every day before there could be possible issues.  While this is the lowest amount out of the three species, it is quite a lot of leaf to eat every day.  

It is noteworthy that several studies demonstrate there is a reduction in the amount of fagopyrin after steaming Tartary buckwheat seeds.  I can't find any papers indicating if fagopyrin levels of leaves are decreased with cooking.  I am also not sure why the fagopyrin was decreased from steaming.  I don't know if it is degraded by heat, or if some of it leaches out into the water and drips away.  While there is a lot I don't know, this is noteworthy nonetheless.  

Perennial buckwheat is used as a leaf vegetable

It is also noteworthy that the few cases of fagopyrism in humans I have read about were due to drinking copious amounts of 'green smoothies' made from raw sprouted buckwheat daily over a long time period.  Most of these reports did not specify if the hull was included in the green smoothie.  

These people reported tingling when sunbathing, most noticeable under their arms, some had tingling around their mouth, others were easily sun burnt, a few had rashes or even blisters after prolonged exposure to sunlight.  These people reported that simply reducing the amount of buckwheat sprouts in their smoothies was enough to eliminate this issue.  This means if you did over do it and ate too much for too long, it should not be difficult to reverse any issues that you may encounter.  

Based on the above, it appears that buckwheat leaves are safe to eat in moderation.  The amount that a person is likely to consume seems somewhat lower than the amount you would need to consume to encounter any issues, and to have any problems you would need to consume these large amounts over a significant amount of time.  If you eat a somewhat balanced diet, and not just buckwheat leaves (or lots of green smoothies), I think it would be difficult to reach the level where you could potentially encounter any issues.  

From the literature it appears there is next to no chance you could ever eat enough dehulled buckwheat groats to experience any issues with fagopyrism, and that leaves are safe to eat in moderation.  

Tokyo Bekana cross Bok Choy

Bok choy and Tokyo bekana are both varieties of Brassica rapa.  This means that these nutritious cabbages can and do cross pollinate very easily unless care is taken to prevent this.  

These are both highly nutritious vegetables, both are very simple and fast to grow, and seed of both is readily available and reasonably simple to save.  Both of these should be considered in any home vegetable garden. 

Last year I grew them both, along with various other winter greens and wrote a comparison of them.  I isolated them to collect some pure seed to grow the following year.  As well as this I made some deliberate crosses between them.  The photo below shows the two parents I used in this cross.  

Bok choy and Tokyo bekana

Below is a photo of bok choy on the left, Tokyo bekana on the right, and the cross in the middle.  It is pretty obvious that the cross is different from Tokyo bekana and bok choy. 

Not surprisingly, this F1 cross was pretty much part way between the two parents in all respects.

The plant looked similar to bok choy, but a lot larger, and a bit messier in growth habit.  The leaf edges in the cross were slightly crinked or slightly wavy.  

The petioles (white stems) of the cross are far larger, and the white veins are far more noticeable than the bok choy parent.  

The green colour of the leaf (which is not easy to see in the photo but is pretty obvious in real life) is part way between the darker green of bok choy and the vibrant lettuce green of Tokyo bekana.

The leaf texture was pretty much half way between the two, not as crunchy as Tokyo bekana and not as...I don't know the word...as bok choy.  

The taste of this cross was basically half way between bok choy and Tokyo bekana.  It tastes nice, which was expected given both parents taste nice.  

Bok choy on left, cross in middle, Tokyo bekana on right

I like both of the parent plants, and I like the cross between them.  

The cross tastes good, and it is just as easy and fast to grow as either parent.  It was not bothered by pests any more than either parent (we get slight issues from cabbage white butterflies, but nothing too serious), and it was significantly larger and more productive than the bok choy parent.  

Even with all its benefits, I am not sure if I will bother stabilising this cross.  I might keep growing it and stabilise something, but at this stage that seems unlikely.  I like both parents, they are both great, so unless something unexpected happens the cross may be the end of its line.  

Tokyo bekana bok choy cross with both parents

That isn't to say that I am not considering to re-try this cross.  I think if I ever re-do this cross I would use different parents, and would get a better result faster.  I would probably still use the Tokyo bekana, but if I were to try this cross again I would use a different variety of bok choy.

There are many varieties of bok choy, ranging from micro dwarf Hedou bok choy (which I grow and enjoy), all the way to some reasonably large varieties.  

I used a baby bok choy in the above cross, and the hybrid was significantly larger than that parent.  If I were to try this cross again I would try to track down the largest bok choy I could find and use that as the parent.  Perhaps this combination could produce a very large bok choy.  

A very large bok choy could be worth growing, and could provide some benefit to growing it alongside the parent varieties.  

There is a vegetable called De Zhou cabbage, I believe that Tokyo bekana was one of the parents that contributed to this variety.  I am tempted to get this to use as a parent in crosses, and am tempted to create my own version, and am also tempted to let this slip and just grow the plants I have.  So far I have not decided what I will do.  

Bok Choy Tokyo Bekana - cross breeding

As well as the deliberate cross above, I allowed some plants to open pollinate, set seed, and drop seed by themselves.  I mostly let them flower for the pollintors, and planned to remove them before seed set, but some got away from me and dropped some seed.  There were a few different varieties of B rapa flowering, all of which could easily cross with one another as no attempt was made to isolate them.  

I didn't have a lot of space to spare, so couldn't allow many self seeded plants to grow.  From those that were not removed I got some vigorous volunteer plants, most were true to type, and a few were clearly crossed.  

We have been eating all of them and feeding all of them to the chickens.  Some are better than others, anything substandard will be removed before flowering as I don't want substandard genetic getting into the gene pool.  

One of the random crosses that I may keep had a noticeable purple smudge, and a slightly purple tinge to the petioles and leaf veins.  It is difficult to see in the photo below, but the purple is there.  The colouration is far more noticeable in real life. 

Slight colouration in the veins and petioles

Given the shape and colouration of this plant, my guess is the seed parent was purple stemmed hon tsai tai, and the pollen parent may have been Tokyo bekana.  Both of them are Brassica rapa so are simple to cross.  Interestingly enough, I was considering trying that cross but didn't actually get around to it last year.  

The taste of this plant is nice enough, certainly better than most leafy vegetables I can buy.  While good, it is nothing to rave about.  The taste is not as sweet as hon tsai tai, and the texure is not as crisp as Tokyo bekana.  At this stage I prefer both parents to their cross.

Purple smudge is more noticeable in real life 

The plant itself is too messy looking for my liking, while it is more productive than hon tsai tai it is not productive enough, and there is not enough colour.  I am not overly fond of this plant, but it is only F1 at this point.  Future generations could segregate and have any/all/none of the characteristics I want.  I plan to bag this plant so it self pollinates, and I will attempt to collect the seed.  

The F2 seedlings should show a lot of variation, and from there I can decide if I want to continue this line or to start again.  Only highly coloured, highly vigorous plants that taste nice are to be kept.  Perhaps I won't keep any and will feed them all to the chickens, only time will tell.

Large flowers in dense heads

Messy, reasonably productive, large leaves

I like hon tsai tai.  The leaves taste almost sweet, and the purple colour is rather pretty.  I find the plants are a bit too messy looking, and for me it is not productive enough to grow as as a leaf vegetable, but the taste is very good.  When grown for the flower stalks like broccoli, the hon tsai tai can be very productive and can send up many flower stalks.  The taste of these is good, far better in my opinion than true broccoli. 

The hon tsai tai in the photos below was self seeded.  It had a lot of competition, very poor soil, and has not grown to its potential.  It gives you an idea of the colouration.  You may notice the leaf petioles have a deep colour, and the veins only have slight colour, this seems to vary from plant to plant and I am not sure if this is due to genetics or is largely environmental.  Had I picked this flower stem it would have sent up a lot more very quickly.  

I am not sure if I will allow this plant to set seed, I am leaving it for now as it is one of the few things that is flowering at the moment.  I like to have a few things always flowering to feed to local pollinators.  Pollinators seem to love brassica flowers, and hon tsai tai can grow many flowers over an extended period.

Purple stemmed hon tsai tai

Hon tsai tai colour

Another cross I have considered is hon tsai tai with bok choy.  I would like a compact neat looking bok choy with coloured stems.  I have some bok choy with green stems, others with white, but nothing with vivid stems and green leaves.  

I am not sure if the outcome is achievable, or if the project will just end in substandard unproductive plants.  I know a few other people have tried similar breeding projects, and have developed things like 'vivid choy' or 'rainbow tatsoi'.  I think vivid choy looks messy, and does not seem to be a huge improvement to hon tsai tai.  

I love the shape of bok choy.  To me it is one of the prettiest vegetables.  If I breed anything that loses that bok choy shape, I think I may be better off not using bok choy in the breeding program at all and may be better off using one of the many other versions of  Brassica rapa that are available.  

Sometimes I sell seed of some of these vegetables through my for sale page.  I should bag some flowers and offer a few of the varieties that I grow as they are nice to eat and very nutritious.  Most are pretty common, others such as senposai are far less common.  

Tokyo Bekana cabbage looks like lettuce

Tokyo Bekana (Brassica rapa) is an interesting leaf vegetable that deserves to be grown more commonly.  It's a highly nutritious cabbage, but it looks like a lettuce.  If you have never tried this, you should grow it and see if it makes its way into your yearly vegetable garden growing rotation.  

I have only been growing Tokyo Bekana for a year or two, and am very impressed with this almost obscure vegetable.  

I think there are a few different varieties of Tokyo bekana around.  The one I grow looks slightly different to the varieties they grow overseas.  Mine looks far more like lettuce, which is what I prefer. 

Tokyo bekana leaves 

I find how uncommon this vegetable is to be really baffling.  This quick and easy to grow vegetable is basically unheard of in Australia, yet it is super simple to grow, tastes good, is very nutritious, and seed is often available from many seed companies.  While you may have more luck in other areas, I have never seen Tokyo bekana for sale in fresh food markets.  

Like many vegetables, it has a few different common names.  I have seen it called 'vitamin green' due to its high vitamin content.  I have seen it called 'space cabbage' as it has successfully been grown in the space station as a trial vegetable (it had issues with high levels of CO2).  Tokyo bekana seems to be the most commonly used name for this vegetable, so that is what I call it.  

Tokyo Bekana

Toykyo Bekana is an Asian cabbage (Brassica rapa).  I like many of the Asian cabbages, and Tokyo Bekana is one of my faviourites.  It looks like lettuce but is far more nutritious, it never goes bitter, and it grows incredibly fast.  

I have read that Chinese cabbages were first introduced to Japan in the very early 1900's by soldiers returning home after the Russo-Japanese war.  These cabbages were selected for desirable characteristics, and crossed, and selected some more, until Tokyo bekana was developed and stabilised.  I am told it is still widely grown in and around Tokyo.  

Self-seeded plant

This year I didn't get around to planting seeds of many winter greens.  What you see in these photos are mostly the results of things I let drop seed over summer, and have popped up by themselves.  I did deliberately plant some seed, but not enough.  

I am glad that Tokyo bekana self seeded.  I have been picking them for many weeks and I expect to be able to keep harvesting until it is time to dig them in and plant my summer vegetables.

Self seeded winter vegetables

I dislike many of the European cabbages (Brassica oleracea).  I like some more than others.  While there are exceptions, I usually find their taste and smell to be displeasing.  I find them simple yet slow to grow, and their fresh leaves seem to irritate my eyes.  

Perhaps I am imagining that part about them irritating my eyes, or maybe it is a real thing, I don't know for sure.  It seems as though every time I handle cabbages my eyes are irritated.  The leaves have a bloom of fine powder that I think is irritating my eyes, then again perhaps this is a placebo effect and I am imagining it.  

There are a lot of different types of European cabbages, but that is a long and (incredibly interesting) story for another time.

Tokyo bekana is an Asian cabbage.  Asian cabbages (Brassica rapa, and a few other species) are a different species, and I tend to like them a lot more.  There are a few Asian cabbages that I dislike, and there are many types that I do like.  I usually find their taste more agreeable, many grow almost unbelievably fast, and they don't seem to irritate my eyes (although this last point may be imagined).  

There are also vast numbers of different types of Asian cabbages.  The story of Asian cabbages is incredibly interesting - that's right Jarvis, or Jeremy, or Travis, or whatever your name is, the cabbage story is super interesting!   

To me the Tokyo bekana plants looks a lot like lettuce.  They are an attractive bright green, the leaves are slightly crinkled, and they have a soft crunchy white mid rib.  

All parts are tender and edible.  They are picked and eaten at any stage from micro greens, to baby leaf, all the way to impressively large plants.  The leaves never get tough or fibrous, and they don't get bitter or spicy.  

It looks so much like lettuce

You can eat it raw like lettuce (yes, I know you can cook lettuce) and it goes well in things like garden salads and Caesar salad.  When raw it makes a decent lettuce substitute, tastes vaguely similar, yet is far more nutritious and easier for me to grow.  

You can stir fry it or use it in any way you would use Bok Choy.  It tastes different to bok choy, but still very good.  When stir fried it tastes nice, it goes well with pretty much everything, and when cooked it reduces in size considerably.  It goes reasonably well in shchi (Щи) but lacks volume once cooked.  While I haven't tried this I'm told it can also be fermented and made into sauerkraut or kimchi and things like that.  

Tokyo bekana lasts a few days in the fridge so is probably best harvested as needed, one leaf at a time.  You can cut the entire plant to harvest, but you get a far larger crop over a longer time period by just taking leaves as needed.  Picking as needed eliminates any worry with storage.  

I didn't thin them, and they are very productive

Tokyo bekana grows very fast.  Last year I recorded the number of days from planting seed until harvest, it took just over a month from planting the seed until harvesting baby leaf, and a little under two months until I was harvesting large plants.  Most 'days to harvest' are recorded from transplanting seedlings of undefined age, I recorded days from planting the seeds until harvest as that is far more useful for me to know.  

For me they grew through winter with no significant issues.  It copes well with frosts and cold weather.  

Once the weather heated up they went to seed.  I allowed it to drop some seed in the garden, where it did not grow over summer.  Once the weather cooled the volunteer seedlings started to pop up.  

Bok choy and Tokyo bekana from same age plants

I think Tokyo bekana can grow well over summer if given enough water, when allowed to self seed it waited for autumn to germinate.  

I am told that this is a biennial, and under the right conditions it possibly is, for me it grows as an annual.  For me, most of the Asian cabbages are annuals, and most of the European cabbages are biennials.  I prefer annuals to biennials as seed saving is easier/faster when dealing with annuals. 

As Tokyo bekana is the same species as bok choy (and a lot of other Asian cabbages) they can and do cross readily, so care needs to be taken with seed saving.  

I did a control cross of Tokyo bekana and bok choy out of curiosity.  The cross was far larger than the bok choy parent.  I might save that topic for another blog post rather than making this one too long.  

Bok choy on left, cross in middle, Tokyo bekana on right

Tokyo bekana looks like lettuce

When Tokyo bekana experienced a lot of frosts (down to about -8C) I found some of the outer leaves got a little damage.  It got small discoloured circles on some outer leaves, these were not a big problem.  They could be ignored and just eaten, or I could cut out those parts, or the leaf could just be fed to the chickens and I could pick the next leaf as it was protected and showed no signs of trouble.  

Being a brassica, they are eaten by caterpillars of cabbage white butterflies.  This plant does not seem to be their favourite host and I rarely found any caterpillars or much damage on the leaves.  I never spray with anything, so cabbage white butterflies can sometimes be an issue here.  Given how little damage was done to Tokyo bekana, the cabbage white butterflies were not a big problem an nothing to really worry about in my garden.  They may prove to be a bigger issue in other gardens, or when this plant is grown over summer.  

My plants have not had any issues from slugs and snails, but they look like they type of plants that snails would love.  This is probably worth keeping an eye on as they look like the kind of plant that snails would enjoy.

  

More Tokyo benaka

Our chickens love to eat Tokyo bekana, so any leaves that are damaged are fed to chickens who convert them into eggs.  Being high in vitamins, Tokyo bekana is good to use to supplement the chicken feed.  I can't imagine it is high enough in energy, so I wouldn't try to replace a high percentage of their feed with it. 

I don't tend to feed much of any brassica to our guinea pigs, the few small leaves I have given them were quickly eaten.  I dare say that many other leaf eating animals would enjoy eating these too.

These leaves are tender even when they grow very large.  I mostly feed excess vegetables to the chickens, but sometimes add a leaf to the compost where it disappears quickly, or put a leaf in the worm farm where it is eaten fast, or dig in to the soil as green manure before planting the next crop.  I image these leaves consist of a large percentage of water, and they contain a lot of minerals, so it stands to reason that they would break down fast.  

I think there are a few varieties of Tokyo bekana, the one I have is not named but grows true to type and performs very well.  I don't have any seed for sale at the moment, but may isolate and save seed from my best plants later in the season.  If I have spare seed I will try to list it on my for sale page.  

Seed for Tokyo bekana is readily available through many online seed sellers, so if I do not have any listed for sale it is worth tracking down somewhere else.  I wouldn't bother buying seedlings of you see them for sale as these grow very fast, and a packet of seed is generally cheaper and it gives you a lot more plants than a punnet of seedlings.