Vegetable Seed Genetics Hybrids

Spudm · Jun 6, 2015

Ok, just curious about vegetable seeds & plants now. It's like this stuff doesn't grow good anymore in plain soil, unless it is on trickle and plastic. Am I not doing something right, or has the genetics of hybrid squash, cucumbers, peppers and melons been altered or changed by the seed companies from what it was to grow this way now?

Texasmark1 · Jun 7, 2015

I know corn and strawberries for two are altered. Folks that chop corn silage plant seeds that grow 8' tall stalks. Folks that plant feed corn, down here anyway, plant a variety that has a very short stalk, 2 ears per stalk, both in the same place on the stalk and when viewed in the field, looks like a line of soldiers lined up for inspection....every stalk is identical.

On strawberries, when I was a kid with strawberry patches handy, a strawberry was about the size of a nickel and nice and sweet. Today, in the super market, they are about a dozen to the # and frankly the taste isn't there......but it does quicken the process of harvesting.

Spudm · Jun 7, 2015

I never thought about strawberries, but what you say makes sense. The ones I remember as a kid were smaller, but so much sweeter.
I was just curious if other folks were having problems in their gardens with the plants not growing and producing like they used to back in the day.

Cory Schmidt · Jun 7, 2015

Of course they are altered like anything else. They get bred/altered for flavor, size or production. With the benefit of the cross, another side is lost.

Also most plants you buy are OVER fertilized and watered at the store. You plant them in your garden they(the plants) expect you to feed them everyday or almost constantly, so they don't grow. Transplants do not grow as well as direct seed for vine crops (squash, pumpkins, melons......) anyway: for basically the same reason. The seed has to find its source right from the start, the plant wants it given to them so it takes longer for them to get going. Tomatoes and peppers go better from plants because they take so long to get started in the first place, once going they go.

The fertilizers and other chemicals goes right through the plant right to the fruit or what ever part of the plant you eat, effecting the flavor. That goes for any food, vegies, meat, or animal produced goods(eggs, milk..). The more chemicals the worse the taste and looks(for example eggs: store eggs are really pale compared to small farm/home raised).

Texasmark1 · Jun 8, 2015

Don't get me wrong, I think the idea is great but some things that may be great for some folks, (harvesters) may not be so great for others, well not as great. However, when I was a kid produce was seasonal selective. In the winter, in S. TX. there were a lot of things we didn't have available to eat due to them being out of season. Well today we don't have that problem. However, there is one guy we have to wait on for the season to arrive: Vadalia, a sweet GM onion. The store stocks so called sweet onions during the off season, but you can't eat them like an apple.

Vegetable Seed Genetics Hybrids

Spudm

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Texasmark1

Well-known Member

Spudm

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Cory Schmidt

Well-known Member

Texasmark1

Well-known Member