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We planted some spinach last year, they grew, we harvested them and died since they were out of season. But as we speak I checked the garden and these grew in place of them, Bird's Nest Fern is what they're called apparently and I'm wondering if they're edible or not since they were planted from the spinach seeds we sown last year. Thanks in advance for the help!
Still looks like spinach, albeit angry about spacing lol
Agreed with this and the other comment about bolting.
It’s also likely bolting as a last ditch effort to reproduce before it dies. The plant will use its last bit of energy to reproduce when it’s this stressed, maybe you could save some seeds?
I looked up birds nest ferns and it confirmed for me that your plant is indeed very stressed, very cramped and dying spinach. Birds nest ferns don’t have the same veining, and the leaves are waxy/shiny. Google misidentifies plants often.
If you want to eat your spinach, try a leaf before harvesting and if it’s not super bitter I say go for it! The leaves are small and likely mild and tender.
Next time you plant: if you’re using the same pot, plant only (2) spinach seeds about 4-5” apart, as spinach can grow quite large (~6” wide, even bigger if allowed).
It’s my understanding that using seeds that are from a stress are more likely to have issues in the future themselves.
That makes perfect sense, thank you for the tip! Definitely didn’t think of that :)
Not all plants are equal, but that’s what I learned about cannabis genetics.
I wonder if it’s bolting, spinach’s doesn’t like heat, and pots heat the soil up lots. Also the spacing, they are fighting each other.
Well, whatever it is, there's always a chance to start again 😅
since there's a lot of talk about plant ID apps: Please for the love of god don't use anything other than iNaturalist/Seek (basically the same thing), these apps are developed together with actual biologists and configured to be very very conservative about the ID they give you, so it doesn't give false positives.
A lot of the time it will just say something vague like "family Amaranthaceae", rather than forcing a more specific and incorrect answer, which is SUPER important!
iNaturalist also includes the ability to post your observation to their database, so other people can look at it and suggest their own identifications, which you can actually somewhat trust.
NEVER eat something just because your phone told you it was safe, that is how you die painfully.
The seed variety you originally planted may have been a hybrid and these are volunteers. The f2 generation won't be the same as f1 if it was a hybrid.
I’ve got a birds nest fern, and although it looks a little similar, these are quite different. The birds nest fern as like long, individual leaves that sprout in a circle pattern with other leaves. I see on the bottom of your picture, there’s one long stem that a bunch of leaves are coming off of. In my bird’s nest, the baby leaves as they come out, came from the center of this circle, and unfurled.
I’ll take a picture later if I remember!
Almost looks like a rats nest of dandelion, but it's hard to tell from these pictures. Try using the PlantNET app and see what it comes up with.
Not dandelion. Wrong leaves.
