Dean
Well-Known Member
As an orchid grower and breeder , a grand champion holder and what I think to be a fair understanding of plant genetics I am looking for opinions on varietal slip through the generations.
in what most of us are doing, growing small amounts of seed in a home garden, selecting the best of that crop to seed is speeding up,genetic divergence. I'm not saying this is a bad thing but it will be happening.
a commercial grow selects a lot more plants and open pollinates to mix genes of the grown strain evening it out across the next grow or buys in select seed to plant.
i am looking for opinions on the diversity of things like TN90 once grown and selfied many times, some of the others with numbers as well as even my growing of let's use TN90 as an example may differ to another growers preferred plant to use. With each generation we must be moving away from the original characteristics that made this a varietal.
i don't think things like growing conditions, which I hear a lot in the oriental section change the genetics, they may change the taste but the same applies to them, open pollinated is better, it spreads the genes out and causes less slip than growing just one plant on for seed.
here in OZ we don't have that luxury. We are stuck with whatever we can produce and save seeds from. In a decade even we will have new strains based on other countries plants but not the same, NZ will be close to us.
is the Grinn still holding originals of everything? They need to I think, we are not GM ing strains deliberately but we are not doing them any favours either. Look at Turkish locational varieties to see what a small change in genetics can do.
i think in only 5 generations of selfings I may not have the same plant I started out with, in 10 generations I will have a deferent strain. For the good or bad this is how strains were developed and cultivated and register but the gene pool is continually changing to accommodate the shift in farmer preference especially on selfings of individual plants.
i am not writing this to be argumentative, more as a heads up and a discussion point to keep our vars pure.
in what most of us are doing, growing small amounts of seed in a home garden, selecting the best of that crop to seed is speeding up,genetic divergence. I'm not saying this is a bad thing but it will be happening.
a commercial grow selects a lot more plants and open pollinates to mix genes of the grown strain evening it out across the next grow or buys in select seed to plant.
i am looking for opinions on the diversity of things like TN90 once grown and selfied many times, some of the others with numbers as well as even my growing of let's use TN90 as an example may differ to another growers preferred plant to use. With each generation we must be moving away from the original characteristics that made this a varietal.
i don't think things like growing conditions, which I hear a lot in the oriental section change the genetics, they may change the taste but the same applies to them, open pollinated is better, it spreads the genes out and causes less slip than growing just one plant on for seed.
here in OZ we don't have that luxury. We are stuck with whatever we can produce and save seeds from. In a decade even we will have new strains based on other countries plants but not the same, NZ will be close to us.
is the Grinn still holding originals of everything? They need to I think, we are not GM ing strains deliberately but we are not doing them any favours either. Look at Turkish locational varieties to see what a small change in genetics can do.
i think in only 5 generations of selfings I may not have the same plant I started out with, in 10 generations I will have a deferent strain. For the good or bad this is how strains were developed and cultivated and register but the gene pool is continually changing to accommodate the shift in farmer preference especially on selfings of individual plants.
i am not writing this to be argumentative, more as a heads up and a discussion point to keep our vars pure.