Saturday, September 18, 2010

My Japanese indigo Väritatar


Tämä on nyt kolmas kesä, kun kasvatan väritatarta (Persicaria tinctoria syn. Polygonum tinctorium), ja kun luin edellisvuosien kokemuksiani tällä värjäämisestä, niin huomaan oppineeni kyllä aika paljon siitä, vaikkakin vielä on todella paljon opittavaa! Erityisesti sen säilöminen ja uutto niin, että saisin talteen mahdollisimman suuren osan lehtien sisältämästä sinisestä indigotiinista, ja käymiskyypit, joita en edes ole vielä uskaltanut kokeilla (kun käymiskyyppini intialaisella indigolla ei onnistunut edes tänä kuumana kesänä). Tässä olisi opittavaa koko loppuiäksi.
Itse väritattaren kasvatus ei ole vaikeaa (sen jälkeen kun siemenet itävät), esikasvatus huhtikuussa, istutus ulos hallojen jälkeen ja jopa tänä kuivana kuumana kesänä en kastellut taimia kuin pari kertaa pahimpaan aikaan, ruohosilppukate penkeissä piti kosteuden tallella ja antoi lisää ravinteita. Väritatar onkin aika syöppö niiden suhteen. Ylläolevat kuvat ovat elokuulta, kun kasvusto on sulkeutunut ja ennen ensimmäisiä sadonkorjuita.

IN ENGLISH
This was the third year when I grew japanese indigo (Persicaria tinctoria syn. Polygonum tinctorium), and when I read about my experiences with it from previous years, I realised that I am much more confident now in dyeing with it than I was earlier, I have learned a lot in these years, even though my knowledge is still a scratch in the surface! Especially storing it, and getting most out the extractions, and most of all the fermentation vat with it, which I still haven't even dared to try (when my fermentation vat with indian indgo powder didn't work even in this hot summer). This is a project for a lifetime.
Growing of japanese indigo is not difficult (when you get the seeds to germinate). Sowing in April, and growing inside until the frosts are over, then planting outside. I use grassclippings as a mulch and it helps to keep moisture in the ground, even in this hot and dry summer I watered them only twice. Grassclippings also feed the plants, and japanese indigo is very greedy for nutrients. The pictures above are from August when the rows of plants are closed and before the harvest.
Jännä yksityiskohta: kasvien seassa oli yksi albiino verso, mutta lehtivihreän puuttuminen ei näyttänyt vaikuttavan indigotiinipitoisuuteen. Lehden vahingoittuneissa kohdissa näkyy hyvin sinistä.

Among the plants, one stalk was albino, but it was interesting to notice that it still contained indigotin. You can see the blue in the part of the leaf that was damaged.

Väritatar on lyhyen päivän kasvi, kukkanuppujen kehittymiseen tarvitaan 14 tuntia pimeää ja Keski-Euroopassa näin onkin jo elokuussa (125 vrk kylvöstä, siemenet ovat kypsiä 220vrk kylvöstä), mutta Suomessa on liian valoisaa ja kun päivät lyhenevät, tulee liian kylmää. Tämä onkin väritattaren huonoin puoli, sitä on kokonaan tuontisiemenen varassa. Siementä on vaikea saada eikä voi olla edes varma onko ostosiemen tuoretta, väritattaren itävyys heikkenee nopeasti. Itse olen kerran saanut hyviä ostosiemeniä, ja kahdesti värjäriystävät ovat lähettäneet minulle tuoreita siemeniä, mutta kyllä olisi hyvä, että väritatarta saisi ostaa jostain myös Suomesta.
Ihmeellistä kyllä huomasin yhden kukkavarren viime viikolla penkissä. En leikannut sitä vielä, ja nyt pitää miettiä miten saisin sen parhaiten kehittymään, jos tulee kylmiä öitä. Varmaan leikkaan sen maljakkoon ja toivon parasta.
Täällä kuvia väritattaren lehtien ja kukkavarsien kehityksestä.

IN ENGLISH
Japanese indigo requires a short day to induce flowering, the dark time should be at least 14 hours a day. In Middle Europe this happens in August (about 125 days from sowing, and seeds are ripe after 220 days from sowing)), but here in Finland the days are still too long, and when they become shorter, it is too cold.
This is the big drawback in growing japanese indigo here, we are dependent on importing the seeds. The seeds are difficult to find, and even then you can't be sure that bought seeds germinate well, the viability of japanese indgo seeds is short. I have once gotten good seeds by buying them, but other times I have gotten fresh seeds from dyer friends (thank
you:-)), but it would be so good if someone would sell them in Finland (this is hint to seedshops in Finland).
I was surprised to notice one plant starting to flower last week! I will have to think what to do with it when the cold nights come in couple of weeks. I will propably have to cut it and put it in water inside and hope for the best.
Here are pictures and info about development of leaves and flowers of P.tinctoria.
Olen nyt tänä syksynä leikannut satoa 9 kertaa, vajaa 2kg lehtiä/kerta, ja vielä kasveja riittää ainakin pariin kolmeen kertaan. Lisäksi jos ei tule äkkiä kylmiä, niin elokuussa leikatut kasvit ehtivät tuottaa toisen pienemmän lehtisadon. Viime syksynä kiireen takia jouduin tekemään pari isompaa eristystä kattilassa lehdet verkkopussissa, mutta jotenkin jäi sellainen olo, että samasta määrästä lehtiä olisin saanut enemmän sinistä tällä lasipurkkimenetelmällä kuin kattilassa.
Niinpä tänä vuonna olen tehnyt eristyksen näin ja ollut tyytyväinen siniseen satoon:
-tuoreet lehdet on riivitty heti leikkuun jälkeen irti varsista, huuhdeltu (vaikka ne yleensä olivatkin ihan puhtaita) ja sullottu lasipurkkiin.
-lämmintä vettä hanasta purkki täyteen
-olen laittanut painoksi puhtaan kiven lehtien päälle, jotta ne pysyvät veden pinnan alla.
-kansi purkkiin ja purkki vesihauteeseen isoon kattilaan
-vesihauteen lämpötila on ollut 50-60°C ja olen pitänyt purkkia siinä yleensä 4(-5) tuntia, kunnes lehdet ovat oliivinvihreitä ja uuttuneen näköisiä.

IN ENGLISH
I have this autumn done already 9 extractions from my japanese indigo, about 2kg of fresh leaves at a time, and I still have plants for couple more extractions. And if we don't get very cold nights yet, I might be able to get a second harvest from the plants which were cut in August.
Last autumn I had to do couple of extractions with a larger amount of leaves in a big kettle with leaves in a net bag, and I have a feeling that I should have gotten more blue out of that amount of leaves, I am not sure. That is why I now did every extraction in a double boiler glassjar, to be sure I got as much blue out of the leaves as possible. Like this:
-right after cutting the plants I have ripped the leaves from the stems, rinsed them (even though they were pretty clean) and stuffed them in a big glass jar
-I poured warm tap water to fill the jar to the top
-I have put a clean stone on top of the leaves to keep them under water in the jar
-I put the lid on and the jar in the bigger kettle
-I kept the temperature of the kettle between 50-60°C for 4 (-5) hours, until the leaves had turned to olive green and looked exhausted.
Ylläoleva purkki on ollut vesihauteessa 4 tuntia, lehdet ovat menneet kasaan ja pohjalla on sinertävää nestettä. Joskus neste on läpikuultavampaa, joskus turkoosimpaa, en tiedä kumpi olisi parempi. Olen ottanut tämän purkin pois liian aikaisin, yläosassa olevat lehdet ovat vielä vihreitä ja niissä olisi ollut lisää uuttumattomia indigotiinin esiasteita:(
Eli uuton aikana lämpimässä vedessä lehdissä olevat entsyymit vapautuvat, kun lehti vahingoittuu, ja nämä entsyymit sitten vapauttavat indoxylin lehdistä.

The jar above had been in double boiler for four hours, the leaves had shrinked and there is turqoise liquid in the bottom. Sometimes the liquid is more translucent, sometimes bluer, I don't know which one is better. Anyway, I had taken this jar away from the warm water too early, the leaves in the upper part are still green and there would have been more precursors of indigotin in them. The enzymes present in the leaf tissue are released when the leaf is damaged in warm water, and then they release the indoxyl from the leaves.


Tässä näkyy tuota liemen väriä uuton jälkeen ja painona oleva kivi. Tämä on aina niin jännää: tavallisen näköisistä lehdistä saa sinistä väriä!

Here you can see the color after the extraction, and the stone weighting the leaves down.
This is always so exciting: to get blue from ordinary looking green leaves!

Uuton jälkeen punnitsin 60g kidesoodaa ämpärin pohjalle ja siivilöin purkin sisällön päälle. Tässäkin näkee uuttumattomien lehtien värieron uuttuneisiin nähden.

After the extraction I measured 60grams of washing soda in the bottom of the bucket and poured the extraction over it through the sieve. Notice the color difference in the leaves which were not properly extracted, compared to the leaves which were in the bottom of the jar.

Heti kun liemi meni siivilän läpi kidesoodan päälle, se muuttui tumman sinivihreäksi, indigotiiniä on muodostunut indoxyl-molekyylien yhdistyessä hapen vaikutuksesta. Emäs eli kidesooda nopeuttaa ja parantaa indigotiinin muodostumista.
Kaikki indoxyl ei ole vielä muuttunut indigotiiniksi, joten lientä on nyt vatkattava tai lorotettava astialla, jotta lisää happea pääsee liemeen. Aina ei vaahtoa muodostu paljoa, mutta liemen värin muuttumisen huomaan hapettumisen aikana, olen hapettanut yleensä ehkä 10 minuttia, kunnes liemi on mahdollisimman musteensinistä eikä tunnu enää muuttuvan.
Tämän vaiheen jälkeen liemen voi varastoida suljettuun purkkiin odottamaan värjäystä tai sitten värjätä saman tien.
Liemen lämpötila pidetään n45-50°C, siihen lisätään 20-30g natriumhydrosulfiittia, annetaan pelkistyä 30-60min, jonka jälkeen voidaan värjätä, kun liemen väri on kellanvihreä ja pinnalla on kuparinhohtoinen kalvo (hapettunutta indigotinia).
Taikka sitten pitäisi saada aikaa luontaista käymistä, jolloin bakteerit poistavat hapen nykyaikaisten kemikaalien sijaan, tämän kun saisi joskus onnistumaan, tai edes uskaltaisi kokeilla!
Alla oleva sininen on yksi tämän syksyn sinisistä, suurimman osan säästän talven varalle tarvikepaketteihin:)

IN ENGLISH
As soon as the liquid hit the bottom of the bucket through the sieve, it changed to dark greenish blue, indigotin had formed from two indoxyl molecules by air oxidation. Alkali in washing soda speeds up the indigotin formation. It can also be added after the sieving, but I like to do it this way. All indoxyl has not yet combined to indigotin, so the liquid needs to be oxydized, by pouring or whisking, to let more oxygen enter the liquid. Sometimes a lot of foam forms, sometimes less, but you can see how the color of the liquid changes to dark blue during oxydizing, and I have whisked about 10 minutes or until the color is dark blue and it doesn't get any bluer.
After this stage, the liquid can be stored in closed glass jars or prepared for dying right away.
I keep the temperature of the vat 45-50°C, and add 20-30grams of sodium hydrosulfite to it, and then wait for 30-60 minutes, until there is a coppery surface on top of the vat and the color underneath is greenish yellow. Then the vat is ready for dyeing.
Or the reduction can be achieved by natural fermentation, when the natural bacteria removes the oxygen from the vat instead of modern chemicals. I wish I could do it someday, or even dare to try..
The blue yarn is one of the colors I got from my own japanese indigoes, most of the blues are saved for mitten kits for the winter:)

Jatkossa, jos ja kun kasvatan enemmän väritatarta, on alettava kokeilemaan muita eristystapoja isommille määrille (vaikka tämäkin on tosi helppoa ja varmaa verrattuna morsingon eristykseen), mutta sitten toisaalta en halua hukata yhtään esiasteita eristyksessä tai säilönnässä. En usko, että japanilainen "kompostointi" onnistuu helposti, ainakaan tavallinen puutarhakomposti ei onnistu, jos sen tilavuus on liian pieni. Tätä täytyy miettiä. Joskus on vain sitten riskeerattava ja kokeiltava.

In the future if and when I want to grow more japanese indigo, I will have to find other extraction methods for larger amounts, but I don't want to lose any indigotin when experimenting. I don't think fermenting like in Japan is possible for me, unless I can find a way to do it in smaller scale. At least ordinary garden compost doesn't work if it is too small. Well, sometimes I will have to risk and try something else:)

15 comments:

  1. this discussion of using japanese indigo in a colder climate is very useful to me. i plan on trying yet again next year--this year my grower (a friend with a greenhouse offered) forgot to start my seeds in time. i think your latitude is higher, but we have similar winters here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Leena this is a fantastic blog and I did not know the details of how and when persicaria starts flowering. last year by this time some of mine had but now none have and I don't know why . I know Enys was a bit late in sowing so may be that is the problem. I think I will harvest mine soon for the second time as although it withstand mild frost it does not like hard frost.
    The colour you got form your sis very good and I think your idea of mulching with grass cuttings is good. I must try that next year. :)
    Many thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Velma and Helen:)
    I think both of your growing seasons are longer than what we have here. I added a link to the post (it was easier to put there than here) to google pages of a book Hankbook of Natural Colorants and to pages where there are pictures and info about the development of leaves and flowers of P.tinctoria. Scroll down a little when you go there. That is where I found the info. I have that book now on loan from library, it is really expensive to buy so I wanted to see first if it was worth it. It is good, but Cardon is better:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much for sharing all the information and the photos of exactly what you are doing. I have grown Indigo here in Texas and had good luck with collecting the seeds, but I'm not sure if it is the same plant you are using. The flowers were orangish and the seed pods were like tiny brown bananas but growing upward not downward like banana bunches do. There were four or five shiny black seeds inside and they were not round.
    I did some dyeing with the leaves one year, but it was not nearly as beautiful as your results.
    For several years, the plant (as tall as I am) survived the mild winters and then when we had some snow last year, the roots were evidently killed and none of the fallen seeds germinated as in past years. I have some saved. I'll try again. Your garden is an inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Leena
    I live on Southern Vancouver Island and I grow Polygonum Tinctoria. I have a friend with a greenhouse start my seeds for me , this year the plants didn't get into the ground until after the middle of June. There is no hint of a flowering stalk so far. I have dug up several plants and potted them and taken them back to my friend to keep in her greenhouse. We have started our foggy rainy weather and the plants flowers don't do well when they are constantly wet. They will start to sprout on the stem. Last year, I had seeds by the end of August, but the plants were in much earlier. [Traveling in May and June is not good for the garden]

    I have harvested the first batch of leaves at the end of July, but I put them into a large stainless pot, such as you used to put your jar in, cover them with water and slowly raise the temp until, as you say, the leaves are a nasty green. In the large pot I can keep turning the mass of leaves over so that all the leaves give up their blue. Then I strain. I find your pouring the soda ash solution over the leaves in the colander a great idea and I will try that next time I do this.

    We don't usually get frost until November, so I plan to do my harvest in mid Oct.

    I do enjoy reading your blog. You have wonderful information and lots of things to learn. Thank you. Susan Duffield

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for the comments:)I learn all the time while doing all this, and these are only my experiences so far, after couple of more years I might know something much better.

    Yarngoddess, your indigo was perhaps the real Indigofera plant which grows in warmer climates. Do try to grow it again:)

    Thank you Susan, it is interesting to read about your experiences! It is good to know that extraction can work in a kettle, too. I did it without the jar only twice last year, and might have done something wrong. Now I know that the aim is to let the leaves steep so long that the leaves look right and now I know how they should look, at least I think so:)
    Earlier I just followed the instructions about time, but looking at the color of the leaves is more important.

    I didn't pour the soda solution on the leaves, but the other way around: I put the soda solution on the bucket and poured the extraction on top of it through the colander.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I tried growing indigo this year. They are still so tiny, I think they do not get the heat they need.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Woaaaah mikä väri! Tuota(kin) on pakko kokeilla joskus.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ihana sininen väri. Tämä menetelmä oli ihan uutta. Tänä kesänä jäi morsinkovärjäykset tekemättä, kun taimet ei itänyt, ja viimevuotisiakaan ei kasvanut niin kauhen paljon että olisin viitsinyt värjätä. Tiikerinkaunosilmiä iti vain 2 kpl. Eli pieleen meni värikasvien kasvatus

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear Leena
    Thank you for the clarification. I will give this a go next month.
    I think the most important thing about getting the extraction is making sure the temperature doesn't get too high. There are so many different ways of doing this. In my experience, which is only about 10 years, I did an extraction very late in the evening, because there was a frost/snow threat and I frantically picked leaves. The "tea" wasn't finished by bedtime and I turned of the heat and restarted in the morning. I got a lovely tan with hints of red.
    Now, when I am processing, the leaves are in the stainless pot and I pour the hottest water out of my tap, about 140 degrees. It covers the leaves and the blue immediately starts to release. Then I put the pot onto the burner on low heat. I usually take longer than the instructions in the books and I keep turning the leaves over. This method has been working very well for me for the last 6 years.

    And, by the way, the stems give a lovely mauvey-light purple to silk - haven't tried that with wool.

    Thank you, Susan

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kiitos:)
    Pia, tällainen matalassa tapahtuva eristys ei onnistu morsingolla, siitä väritatar onkin mukava, kun ajalla ja lämmöllä (kunhan ei ole liian korkea) ei ole niin pilkun tarkkaa.

    Susan, thank you!
    I have still plants to harvest and I will try your method with the last of the leaves, thank you for the encouragement. My temperature has been about the same as yours, or little less (140F=60C), and also I have extended the time (3-4 hours). Yesterday I let the leaves soak for about 6 hours in 50-60C, strained, added soda and oxydized in the evening and dyed with it today and got good blue:)
    I have put the stems in compost, but it is good to know that even stems give color, I haven't tried them yet:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Leena,

    I really like your blog, its excellent. Thanks for sharing your experiences. Like you, i really, really want to try a fermentation vat sometime!

    I think it's even cooler here in Canada, but i managed to harvest both Japanese Indigo and Woad this summer. I'm finding better results with shorter soaking/steeping times than longer. As well i'm not very patient. For Japanese Indigo I bring the water in the double boiler up to 160F (70C?) over 1.5-2hours (you do 4-5 hours!), then strain, and add the soda, etc. For Woad, I pour boiled water over the leaves, steep for 30 mins (rather than an hour like i used to), put the bucket in an ice water bath for 10 minutes, then stain, add the soda, etc. I seem to get more pigment, and deeper colours this way...there are many techniques/methods around, a continous experiment it seems.

    cheers
    trevor

    ReplyDelete
  13. as always your post is full of helpful information. thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you for the comments Neki and Trevor:) This subject seems to be very interesting to many people, and also I find so many things about it still to be learned. And I am learning so much from your all!

    Trevor, I use lower temperatures than you do with japanese indigo, I use 50-60C, and longer time, but last summer when I used 65-70C, I used only 2hours. I use the lower temps now just because then I don't have to worry and check the temperature so often, I can almost forget it and do something else meanwhile:)
    With woad, I have also found that shorter time is better, but this summer I have dyed less with woad.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ihana lopputulos, mielenkiintoinen juttu!

    ReplyDelete