AG WA video
Hello George W.--had a chance to view your video and you were looking for
comments.
Music was great.
It was very interesting and informative to hear the AG inheritance comments
by top plant breeders.I learned some things and reinforced some ideas and
also heard some information for the first time.
Basically the two speakers were using their body of knowledge and experience
with other squashs and pumpkins and trying to apply that to AGs.This was
great to hear and it seems that many of the same principles apply.This is
probably as close as we will ever get to applying plant breeders knowledge
and experience to our hobby due to the fact the AGs are not a "commercial"
crop and that no professional inheritance/genetic research is likely ever to
be done on them.
Learned for example that:
1.Photosynthesis occurs in the skin of the fruit if it is green/grey but not
if it is light in color,and that this could account for squash walls being a
bit thicker than 'pumpkin" walls,on average.
2.Fertilization occurs up to 6 days after pollination.
3.Flowers are best within the first 6 hours after opening.
Surprised to hear that:
1.All seeds should have the same potential for weight.
2.Not a lot of variability left in AGs.
3.Differences in sizes grown are due mainly to environmental differences.
So in general we can all learn things from such seminars but the genetic
improvement in AGs will always be in the hands of hobbists like ourselves.We
all choose seeds from fruit and pedigrees that we like for our own good
reasons.The best survive each year to make the top 10 at our local
weigh-offs,then we reassess and do it all over again the next year.
There will always be poor genes that will be eliminated but there will also
be the top genes to carry on for future generations,of AGs and of growers.
It was good to see you introduce top west coast growers in the video,from
Jake Van Kooten of Vancouver Island to Pete Glasier of Napa,CA,for example.
Also the HMB footage was good to see,even if the man on the tape taking the
circumferences has his own special way of measuring.That is truly an eye
popper.
In summary a great video for AG growers to enjoy and learn from.--yours
truly--AE
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