Hi, I've got lupinus mutabilis seeds. They are flowering now. They contain up to 40 % of protein and 20 % of fat. Because they are a legume, they fix nitrogen from the air. They also grow on very poor sand, I live on drift sand and they grow very well here. They are not daylight sensitive unlike many crops of the Andes. You do need to soak the seeds for several days and remove the water once or twice a day. It can grow in climates where soybean can't grow. Try to get this plant, it is amazing :clap:
Tarwi, the so-called lost crop of the Inca's! They had a great guild to prevent potato cyst nematrode, something they would know about at the origin of it's species. Quinoa and tarwi were grown together to induce the nematode out of hibernation. Planted with potato, the nematode would be working the soil looking for new potato tubers, but would starve before new growth occured, and would reduce the nematode in the mature crop by 80%. L. albus is another great lupin. Along with other varieties, it can produce proteoid roots in low phosphorus situations which solubilise P and Fe. Like soybeans, you can make the ferment, tempeh, from the seeds of lupin. Cool plant, where did you get the seeds, Matis?
Thank you! I heard that lupin and rye is a great combination too, and I have perennial rye so I'm going to try that too. Do you need to wash the seeds before making tempeh? I got them from a man from Belgium. How are the laws of sending seeds from the EU to Australia? Because I could send some seeds then.
I've tried to find as much information as possible on the cultivation of tarwi recently and I've read that they used it to intercrop the corn together with quinoa - and later - broad beans. Intercropping the potato fields with tarwi has also reportedly lead to harvets bigger than monoculture fields of potato. Also they used it as green manure to improve the soil. It's high alkaloid content also made it useful as a barrier surrounding fields of other crops such as potato and barley. Quinoa and linseed has also apparently been used in this last mentioned way. Amazing plant. I really hope that this crop becomes more popular in Europe! :clap:
I bought some pumpkin seeds from the US from Ebay that included the latin name in the deceleration and it got through customs. I dont know if the the person selling had done the research and new the formula or it was just luck ?
Hmm, it didn't work out as well as I thought. They started flowering during a heat wave, it was 30 °C and hotter for some weeks which is really weird in the Netherlands, many andean crops as quinoa and oca didn't like it and I thought it affected the tarwi too because the flowers and small pods fell of the plant. When we had some cooler weather, they still didn't stay on the plant. I now have one pod with two seeds in it. The man from who I got them is going to search for better breeds.
I would love to try these here in Finland. Only concern would be regarding cross pollination as L. perennis is ubiquitous.
Did you innoculate the seeds with bacteria they can work with before planting? I've ordered tarwi seeds from southern Bolivia through eBay and I'm thinking of using a brew made from soil inhabited by L. perennis to innoculate my seeds. I'm not sure if that will do the trick, but I've heard that the symbiotic relationship with bacteria is essential when it comes to lupins. Anyway, I'm sorry your experiment didn't fall out so well Has anyone heard about the variety called Inti? It's from Chile and is supposed to be the sweetest cultivated variety. And has anyone tried growing sweet L. albus varieties? They have a long history of European cultivation and might be another option. /Milpero
Experiments never fail. They sometimes cause you to rethink your assumptions and test another theory however!
