Re: Germination box


Bill....I'm no philosopher...probably spelled it wrong too....but who said 
anything about the best surviving? We cater to every whim of these plants we 
can figure out...these giants are the queen ants of our 
backyards---constantly preened by worker ants ..constantly fed by worker 
ants...constantly .well...you know...by worker breeding male ants......she 
cannot go out and  catch dinner or build a nest....she's been catered to for 
eons and does what she does.We are picking the biggest/heaviest pumpkins and 
breeding them.Then choosing the biggest heaviest offspring from them and 
breeding them.We are more than likely losing any disease resistance,drought 
resistance,limiting variability along the way.we are making big pumpkins 
...thats it.We are creating the seed stock that produces the biggest/heaviest 
fruit under catered conditions,not making the strongest plants.
  I am heavy,short,wear glasses,and certainly not the brightest dork in these 
parts...but I survive because of optometrists,high blood pressure medicine,a 
society that allows for people 5'-7 3/4",and the fact that i don't have to go 
out and kill a wild cow everyother day.(hey..I'm from NY..all our cows are 
wild).I survive because the environment i live in allows for it. Now living 
on PEI you may get away with leaving your plants untended a week or two...but 
many others would lose everything if left alone. We are not breeding the best 
plants.We are breeding the biggest fruit producers under optimum conditions.
  Sorry...I may have digressed a bit there.We may be ignoring the best seed 
to handle the real world(I'd bet on it) ,but we're looking for the 
biggest,not the best...and it depends on your definition of "best"....g

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