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on causes and seed-saving

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

There are some things I learned investigating the Terminator technology
that others here might be interested in.

- Most crops are already produced from seeds from seed companies, not
  saved seed.  The hybrids that are currently most popular in
  agribusiness don't breed true --- the plants you get from your seeds
  will be of several different varieties.  So if you want seeds you can
  save, you already have to look beyond the big seed companies.
  "Heirloom seeds" is the buzzword for traditional varieties that have
  been around for a long time and therefore breed true.  If you're
  opposed to Terminator tech tomorrow, you probably ought to be using
  true-breeding seeds today.

- conversely, if you wouldn't buy hybrid seeds that don't breed true
  today, you probably won't buy Terminator seeds tomorrow, unless you
  get cheated into it.  So it's not quite as big a danger as you might
  fear, except ...

- there's a definite possibility that Terminator pollen from your
  neighbor's field could fertilize your seeds.  I don't remember
  whether this will kill your seeds this year or next year or not.

- Terminator probably isn't 100% reliable.  Some fraction of
  Terminator-infected seeds will probably be viable.

So, to bring this back on topic: are there a lot of heirloom-seed
gardeners on this list?  Any sources near Dayton, Ohio, I should look
at?

Kragen (who's itching to move into his new house to start his garden)

-- 
<kragen@pobox.com>       Kragen Sitaker     <http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/>
The Internet stock bubble didn't burst on 1999-11-08.  Hurrah!
<URL:http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/bubble.html>
The power didn't go out on 2000-01-01 either.  :)


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