Plant Id

CathyNed

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
469
Location (City and/or State)
Mayo, Ireland
Hi guys. Was looking for an id on these two plants. Ive checket TTT but want to be absolutely sure. I think the first one is listed as deadnettle?? Its lower leaves nettle like leaves are green, upper leaves are purplish and has pink flowers on top?
The other has yellow flowers. I know the blue flowered weed is not suitable to feed so i am looking for an id on the pink and yellow ones.20160606_134259.jpg20160606_134227.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Linhdan Nguyen

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2016
Messages
1,790
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
Well i can tell you the purpleish ones are definitely deadnettle. The yellow flowers look blurry so im not sure... Though to be fair, i probably wouldnt know if it was a clear shot anyway
 

WithLisa

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
967
Location (City and/or State)
Austria
Can you post a better picture of the yellow one?
The blue flower looks like some kind of speedwell to me (edible).
 

JoesMum

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
21,606
Location (City and/or State)
Kent, South East England
Purple is dead nettle - safe
Blue is speedwell - "feed sparingly" according to TTT

The focus on the yellow isn't clear enough for me to work out.
 

CathyNed

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
469
Location (City and/or State)
Mayo, Ireland
Thanks guys. Will post better pics tomorrow.
I thought the blue flower looked like Green Alkanet which is a no go.

How strict are people on the feed in moderation/sparingly rule?
Clover for example....
Vet fed him Bindweed?
Herb robert?

Ive been avoiding everything off the feed sparingly/in moderation list just in case. Also afraid of wrongly identifying so only feeding what i know for sure ...

He ate the deadnettle no problem. I thought he wouldn't. It stinks.

Never knew the name of so many weeds....
 

CathyNed

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
469
Location (City and/or State)
Mayo, Ireland
P.s. i cant keep him in food. He is one greedy bugger. Has reduced most of the plants i put in his new enclosure to stumps. I dont know how people with moee than 1 do it...
 

WithLisa

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
967
Location (City and/or State)
Austria
How strict are people on the feed in moderation/sparingly rule?
Clover for example....
Vet fed him Bindweed?
Herb robert?
I'm not strict at all. TTT is very (overly?) cautious, it lists many plants as 'do not feed' or 'feed sparingly' which you can find as good food plant on other lists. My torts seem to know quite well what they want to eat and when, I trust them and they are doing very well so far.

P.s. i cant keep him in food. He is one greedy bugger. Has reduced most of the plants i put in his new enclosure to stumps. I dont know how people with moee than 1 do it...
If he destroys everything in his enclosure you either didn't put enough plants in it or the enclosure is too small.
This year I constantly have to get new weeds for my little gluttons, so I guess an enlargement is overdue. :rolleyes:
 

JoesMum

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
21,606
Location (City and/or State)
Kent, South East England
Joe grazes on clover in our lawn a lot. He also eats bind weed, clematis and buttercups all of which have TTT restrictions.

TTT has to be cautious - it doesn't want to be sued - I will say what Joe eats, but I will only recommend in line with TTT.

Joe grazes a large area with variety and choice. I am not hand-picking and restricting his choice.

Most plants are seasonal and variety over time is what is important.

As for how you keep up, you go on weed picking walks most days (some stay fresh in the fridge salad drawer better than others) and supplement with supermarket greens and/or you let your lawn become weedy and turn all or part of it over to an enclosure.

The weed:grass ratio in our lawn would have most gardeners in tears. Joe has all of it (he does weigh over 3kg) and I supplement with supermarket greens. I do go for weed walks, but not as often as some need to.
 

JoesMum

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
21,606
Location (City and/or State)
Kent, South East England
Can you get those trays of living lettuce in your supermarkets?

In the UK they cost £1 each from Sainsbury's and are mixed salad leaves. The idea is you put the on the windowsill and pull them as you need them.

Or you put it in your tort enclosure as browse to supplement other stuff.
 

CathyNed

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
469
Location (City and/or State)
Mayo, Ireland
Ya i was worried about hiving some in moderation plants growing in his enclosure as i wont be able to prevent him indulging....
I have home grown lettuce here but i know its not great for nutrition. Just wanted a few more staples that were safe to include.
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
It's a mustard of some kind or something from the Brassiceae family. The leaves actually look closer to radish, from the same family, but I've not seen a radish with such vibrant yellow flowers. I would search under the categories of wild radish and wild mustard in your geographic area to see if you can find the exact match.

TTT is not enthusiastic on this family of plants but it's one Russians eat in the wild. The Testudo seed mix regularly mentioned here contains both radishes and turnips, another plant from this family.

I provide wild and domesticated mustard and radish greens to my RT as part of a varied diet. Turnip tops as well. She likes them all.

All of these greens keep well in the fridge, which is a plus for foragers.
 
Last edited:

WithLisa

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
967
Location (City and/or State)
Austria
Looks like bittercress (barbarea vulgaris) to me. Edible, even according to TTT.
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
Looks like bittercress (barbarea vulgaris) to me. Edible, even according to TTT.
How interesting; I don't think we have any bittercress with yellow flowers here.

I was wondering perhaps treacle mustard or hedge mustard, but that was a shot in the dark. Better to have eyes that are actually familiar with plants over there.

The Brasicceae family is so large. I didn't know bittercress was in it!
 

WithLisa

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
967
Location (City and/or State)
Austria
How interesting; I don't think we have any bittercress with yellow flowers here.

I was wondering perhaps treacle mustard or hedge mustard, but that was a shot in the dark. Better to have eyes that are actually familiar with plants over there.

The Brasicceae family is so large. I didn't know bittercress was in it!
I guess you mean something else. Barbarea vulgaris always has yellow flowers, but there's more than one weed called bittercress, that's why I added the latin name. ;)
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
To be clear, not only did I not know there is a bittercress with yellow flowers, I didn't even know bittercress was in the same plant family as radish. :oops:

How embarrassing.
 

WithLisa

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
967
Location (City and/or State)
Austria
Well, to be honest I don't know which name is commonly used.
I only knew the German name and according to English wikipedia it is called bittercress, herb barbara, rocketcress, yellow rocketcress, winter rocket, and wound rocket. I just picked the first name without giving it much thought. :rolleyes:
 
Top