Posted by Charlie Pridham on July 16, 2010, 3:32 am
michael@beaverbell.co.uk says...
> A fruit cannot be bigger than the plant that bears it. You could not
> have an apple on a grass, it couldn't feed it. A pineapple is a big
> fruit, but it is borne on a big plant. Likewise a maize cob.
>
>
Have you seen pineapples growing? I would say the fruit weighs a lot more
than the plant
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea
Posted by Michael Bell on July 16, 2010, 4:23 am
> michael@beaverbell.co.uk says...
>> A fruit cannot be bigger than the plant that bears it. You could not
>> have an apple on a grass, it couldn't feed it. A pineapple is a big
>> fruit, but it is borne on a big plant. Likewise a maize cob.
>>
>>
> Have you seen pineapples growing? I would say the fruit weighs a lot more
> than the plant.
How long does it take to do that. And as for cucumbers and suchlike,
they are mostly water.
Michael Bell
--
Posted by nmm1 on July 16, 2010, 7:12 am
>>> A fruit cannot be bigger than the plant that bears it. You could not
>>> have an apple on a grass, it couldn't feed it. A pineapple is a big
>>> fruit, but it is borne on a big plant. Likewise a maize cob.
>>>
>> Have you seen pineapples growing? I would say the fruit weighs a lot more
>> than the plant.
>How long does it take to do that. And as for cucumbers and suchlike,
>they are mostly water.
Hubbard-type squashes aren't - they have a fairly high sugar and
starch content, and often weigh a lot more than the plant.
Regards,
Nick Maclaren.
Posted by Sacha on July 16, 2010, 8:39 am
On 2010-07-16 12:12:59 +0100, nmm1@cam.ac.uk said:
>>
>>>> A fruit cannot be bigger than the plant that bears it. You could not
>>>> have an apple on a grass, it couldn't feed it. A pineapple is a big
>>>> fruit, but it is borne on a big plant. Likewise a maize cob.
>>>>
>>> Have you seen pineapples growing? I would say the fruit weighs a lot more
>>> than the plant.
>>
>> How long does it take to do that. And as for cucumbers and suchlike,
>> they are mostly water.
>
> Hubbard-type squashes aren't - they have a fairly high sugar and
> starch content, and often weigh a lot more than the plant.
>
>
> Regards,
> Nick Maclaren.
Unfortunately, this is true. ;-))
--
Sacha (Hubbard)
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Posted by harry on July 15, 2010, 12:14 pm
> I have concieved the truly wild idea of developing alder into a grain
> crop. If you look at the cones on some alder trees and imagine them as
> ears of wheat, you can see it would be a good crop. And alder fixes
> nitrogen and grows on the uplands. The uplands are 40% of the land
> area of this country, which cannot feed itself. I can send fuller
> details to anybody interested.
> But cones of alder are not ears of wheat, the seeds are far too small.
> My plan is to breed for bigger seeds by traditional plant breeding
> methods and the starting point for that is seeds from
> naturally-occurring alders.
> My plan is to pull the cones off the branches with an ordinary garden
> rake with a bag attached. The tree will hardly be harmed. I have made
> a hand-held roller/crusher for getting the seeds out of the cones -
> the seeds are fully formed and viable long before the cones open. I
> have bought a series of sieves which will let the normal seeds through
> but will hold back the 1 bigger seed in 10 000? normal sized seeds. I
> only need a few for the project to be a "goer". Will I find those few?
> There is no way of knowing beforehand.
> This coming autumn I plan to go round alder woods and try to find the
> seeds I want, and I wonder if you can advise me where I might find
> interesting trees. For example bigger cones - is it too simple to
> think that they might have bigger seeds? Or a tree which fruits young.
> It is my theory that I might find interesting trees where exotic
> alders have interbred with local strains. But I might be wrong in
> that.
> Do you know of good sites? What is the likely position as regards
> permissions? With the exception of a stately home garden where I asked
> permission and it was freely given, around Newcastle I have just gone
> and taken what I wanted. Nobody ever asked what I was doing, and I am
> sure that if they had they would not have objected. Formal asking
> would surely involve weeks of delay and create mountains of paperwork.
> Going around the country seeking those precious few seeds might seem
> "hard work", but it could also be a pleasant way of getting to know
> the country.
> Any feedback would be welcome.
> Michael Bell
> --
You need to realise that most advances in the past were as a result
of one on a million sports or freaks that someone happened to spot
and nurture. These are thought to have occurred due to natural
radiation causing genetic errors in the DNA of the plant. Or Darwinian
evolution.
A lot of horticulural research starts by irradiating seed & then
planting. They get millions of useless stuff & then maybe one useful
plant. If they're lucky.
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> have an apple on a grass, it couldn't feed it. A pineapple is a big
> fruit, but it is borne on a big plant. Likewise a maize cob.
>
>