My goal is to make tasty soybeans for growing in the UK using lazy organic methods, partly to make good soybeans easier for folk to grow here to support a more plant-based diet, and also specifically for local production of nattō.
Soybeans rarely cross naturally, so, I will have to cross them all manually. I have 8 varieties from Northern Japan, one of which completely failed to germinate. The beans were extremely small (and black), the size of aduki beans, and were harvested in 2021 at the latest, possible before. I wonder perhaps their size was a disadvantage in their longevity? It’s a pity because it’s so rare to see such ones outside of Japan, and the small soybeans are favoured for making nattō, though, I have been making nattō from regular sized soybeans without issue.
I also have 2 modern varieties bred in Ukraine, and Fiskeby V which was developed in the 60’s in Sweden. Funnily enough these have been harder to germinate than the Japanese ones. And I am hoping to receive some Swedish hybrids though importation issues have delayed that, so they might be better to test directly outside come planting season if I do manage to get them.
As for those 10 I have already, I am growing them indoors, in an attempt to ‘speed breed’ them. My facilities are not up to scratch yet, I will be improving my lighting situation but these lights seem to be doing well so far at least. I also need to work out how to cater to their hunger for nutrients while being confined for their whole lives to such small spaces for their roots. I will be moving them in some days to slightly bigger communal pots. What they are in now (most of them) is actually nearly the same size as some in soybean speed breeding papers. However, they used all the special nutrients for them. I have planted these in almost pure leaf mould, gathered from the forest floor, with just a little perlite added. Here’s a photo of the main group:
The top row has received a little watered down pee about 3 days ago, which might be why the leaves are darker and look a bit better, though it’s hard to tell, it might just be that they are different due to getting less light, being on the edge of the lighting system currently.
I would really love advice on how to feed them. I’d like to use pee as much as possible since it is so convenient and free and sustainable. But I guess there must be some kind of salt limitation there also, so, advice much appreciated regarding that. Then, whatever else I also need to give them. I have a manual wheat grass juicer which I use to extract stinging nettle juice while crushing the leaves into a dry-ish pulp, I recombine them for my food. Would it be useful to use that to juice some weeds to feed to them directly? Or must the juice be fermented first? If so, lactobacillus fermentation or…? And advice on how if so - generally when I cultivate lactobacillus I use salt to keep out other organisms, but again we can’t be doing that for the soybeans.
In the end, even if I have to buy a product to feed them, I’m ok with that. The top priority is to successfully have them flower and manually cross them and produce viable seed, all as quickly as possible. If I can do that with natural food for them, great. If I cannot, that’s ok. Once I have F2 seeds, organic an out in the fields will be the priority but until then, the only priority is getting F2 seeds.
Here are some more photos.
Many of them have developed cracks in the stem at the bottom.:
And here are several photos to show the leaf issues - some lighter green blotching; some white spots (though ignore the very white spots on one plant, that was LED light burn before raising the lights); and some brown spots turning to leaf curl. I have wondered that these might even be 3 different mineral deficiencies.
I plan to move them soon into long trays 10cm deep (right now their cells are around 7cm deep) in rows. So that would be the perfect time to add whatever more to their soil. Welcoming suggestions!
And yeah, pot size, I was intending on bringing those in the larger cells into an even larger home, but I am contemplating whether I should or not now. Actually being in a small pot stresses them in a way that can make them flower sooner. So, I have to study a bit more to see what I should do… speed is a very high priority for me right now.
The only heated room in my small apartment. Sometimes I even leave the heating on the the plants when if by myself I would turn it off! (Electricity and gas are really expensive here now!)
So, how are you landracing them, by hand pollination? I guess that if we just grow different kinds together in a field, it won’t actually landrace, right? Just the varieties will keep growing separately, due to the extremely low rate of cross-fertilisation in soybeans?
