Almost one year ago I started growing cotton plants at home. Probably due to the less suitable climate, only one bulb managed to grow. However, I was suprised to find a reasonable amount of cotton fluff and about 20 seeds in the bulb. I am excited to start the experiment again. 🌱🧶
The cotton plant leaves are almost completely withered away, but the last touches are being made to the cotton that is now bursting out of the big bulbs. 🌱
During the life of the flax (Linum usitatissimum) plants, they form flowers with a beautiful soft violet color. Later, green capsules form and the leaves start to yellow and shrivel. At the end, the seed containing capsules turn brown and you can actually hear the seeds rattle.
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The cotton plant flowers are withering away to make space for the first bolls. Inside, the cotton fibers are formed from epidermal cells of the newly developed seeds. 🌱
The sunny weather in the Netherlands did some good for all of us, including the cotton plants that developed more flowers.
The flowers appear to have a more pronounced Stigma compared to the flowers that developed during the rainy period.
The stigma, the female reproductive structure, are the part in the flower where later the cotton seeds will form.
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The first flower bud of the cotton plant has opened in the last few days, showing milky white flower leaves. The leaves have turned a pinkish purple in the meantime and have not opened. This may be due to the rainy weather conditions and the lack of sunshine in the recent days. Perhaps the forcasted sunny weather may improve this. 🌱
After almost 5 months after sprouting, the cotton plants plants have developed fruiting branches with leaf like bracts (epicalyx) that form ‘cotton squares’ which are the flower buds. This means that flowers are forming and the actual cotton maybe the next step!
The plants themselves are relatively small and stalled at 35 cm in height. This may be due to the Dutch weather which is not optimal for growth of cotton. 🌱
After about 4 months after sprouting the cotton plants, They are approximately 30 cm in height and I moved them outside to enjoy a bit more sunshine. Afterwards the stems of the plant turned a bit reddish and became more sturdy, probably to adjust to their lives outside. There are some buds forming in axils of the plant, but I am not sure id they are leaf buds or flower buds. I am hoping that they are flower buds, because it would mean that cotton will start forming after the flower has matured. 🌱
In 1.5 weeks the flax (Linum usitatissimum) seeds have sprouted and are about 3-5 cm long. They grew very easily and only needed some sunshine and a bit of water. I divided the sprouts over a couple of pots to give them more space and noticed that the root system was well developed.
The next step in my ‘quest’ to see how yarn is produced is to grow flax and make linnen. Flax (Linum usitatissimum) grows from these small seeds and is supposed to grow quite well in soil and climate in West Europe.
An advantage of flax in comparison of cotton is that it requires less water and pesticides. Let’s see if this is also true growing it at home.
The cotton plants are growing strongly now thanks to sunny weather we have been having.
The cotton plant drinks a lot of water and likes a humid atmosphere. This made me try to build a small greenhouse, which was surprisingly simple by covering the young sprouts with a drinking glass.
It took some time, but the cotton plants (Gossypium herbaceum) are starting to look like real plants. That said, they look somewhat frail. Some sunshine should make them a bit stronger.
These little things are seeds from the cotton plant (Gossypium herbaceum). I usually use cotton yarn for my crochet creations and I was wondering if I would be able to grow some cotton plants at home as a fun experiment. Who knows, the fibers may even be good enough as stuffing for crochet dolls or perhaps even to spin some basic yarn.
