Farming Wood Sorrel (groundcoverish weed) in trays?

[A Happy Seedling]

I like wild edibles (well I grow them in pots, I wouldn't eat them straight from the wild, yuck!) and I like the taste of wood sorrel. It's sweetish...It's unique. I have two frozen food trays and wanted to use them to farm the sorrel that grows in my yard. How do I go about this? Do I dig up the plants young or ripe? (I am not going to plant from seed.) How often do I water them? Clayey soil form yard or quality potting mix? Moss on top or not? Rocks or not?

[rainbowgardener]

I don't know the answers to your questions; hopefully someone will. But I just have to ask what is yucky about wild grown edibles? Unlike what is in the supermarket they are unlikely to have been genetically modified, sprayed with poisons, grown in soil that has been stripped of all its life and most of its nutrients....

[AverageWalrus]

I like wild edibles (well I grow them in pots, I wouldn't eat them straight from the wild, yuck!) and I like the taste of wood sorrel. It's sweetish...It's unique. I have two frozen food trays and wanted to use them to farm the sorrel that grows in my yard. How do I go about this? Do I dig up the plants young or ripe? (I am not going to plant from seed.) How often do I water them? Clayey soil form yard or quality potting mix? Moss on top or not? Rocks or not?

Maybe you could try harvesting seed pods? (but you would probably need to be careful since they explode)

[applestar]

They creep along the ground so it's probably not difficult. Also, they have fairly extensive root system. But they wilt almost instantly if uprooted, so dig up with plenty of soil around the roots to transplant.

They do have seed pods that pop and scatter the seeds -- my kids love playing with them. I've been finding some starting to grow in my container plants all through the winter. Seeds are probably the easiest way to start them intentionally. They will literally grow in anything but more in compacted dry-ish, acidic soil.

Personally, I just "wild harvest" -- keep some to eat when I weed the garden since I don't use anything toxic on the garden. They are somewhat water resistant as well as tender and easily bruised, so I just cut off the roots at the base of the plant, then dunk the plant a couple of times, then clip off as much of the leaves as I want.... Or while working in the garden, if I just watered or it rained even, I might just pluck and nibble.

[A Happy Seedling]

I don't know the answers to your questions; hopefully someone will. But I just have to ask what is yucky about wild grown edibles? Unlike what is in the supermarket they are unlikely to have been genetically modified, sprayed with poisons, grown in soil that has been stripped of all its life and most of its nutrients....

Good point...I just thought they might have bacteria and other pathogens on them, plus the danger of dog pee, since I have a 135-pound Pyrenees named Cody.

[A Happy Seedling]

They creep along the ground so it's probably not difficult. Also, they have fairly extensive root system. But they wilt almost instantly if uprooted, so dig up with plenty of soil around the roots to transplant.

They do have seed pods that pop and scatter the seeds -- my kids love playing with them. I've been finding some starting to grow in my container plants all through the winter. Seeds are probably the easiest way to start them intentionally. They will literally grow in anything but more in compacted dry-ish, acidic soil.

Personally, I just "wild harvest" -- keep some to eat when I weed the garden since I don't use anything toxic on the garden. They are somewhat water resistant as well as tender and easily bruised, so I just cut off the roots at the base of the plant, then dunk the plant a couple of times, then clip off as much of the leaves as I want.... Or while working in the garden, if I just watered or it rained even, I might just pluck and nibble.

So would I, but if I fertilize and pamper them I will get more sorrel. And I am not growing from seed. Sounds like I can't grow them in trays! I guess I'll use a large outdoor pot from last year's failed tomatoes, lol! It doesn't matter if they overcrowd; I will pick them when they get to max height. What is their max height??? How long should I grow one-two inchers before I harvest?

[rainbowgardener]

Don't know about the dog pee, but presumably you would be rinsing stuff. No reason to think that there are more pathogens on wild stuff and some reason to think there are less. We've had outbreaks of E. coli and other disease from store bought lettuce, spinach, and bagged salads etc, due to contaminated irrigation water in large commercial operations, spraying with liquid fertilizer containing manure, etc.

Personally, I feel much more comfortable eating stuff from a wild area than from agri-business produced stuff in grocery stores.

[A Happy Seedling]

True, true. I didn't consider that.

[A Happy Seedling]

Oh, and similar questions about wild garlic too. Not wild onions, garlic grass. It has small bulbs. Also, how to use the bulbs and greens?