My cousin is a Horticulturist in northern NSW. I was telling him about the trouble i was having getting Leeks to grow properly this year and in fact how some veggies were not growing properly at all. He proceeded to tell be about a plant called Bamboo Purple Jade. Over the past few months this plant AROUND the world has died off and growers and sells are finding it extremely hard to find them and even to get them to grow. Strange why one particular plant would do this
Strange world Phenomenon
- Thread starter Rick
- Start date
I have seen this and heard of it happening locally such as certain crops (like mangoes or oranges or common veggies) grow poorly everywhere in the region for that particular season. Locally, you could assume it was likely due to higher or lower than normal temps or rainfall, etc. However, globally is a step above that!
Hi Mark, I think sometimes we forget how mother nature is connected and so reliant on planet Earth as a whole. How large bush fires in Aus can deposit debris and smoke over New Zealand and events such as dust storms in Africa that can reach the Amazon jungles. How rain that falls on us today and fills our rivers, could have come from Europe, or one of the 5 global oceans. And then you have COVID19, (still one of natures creatures ) how quick did this little bug tell us who's the boss. How quick can a localised event reach and effect the world. It will be interesting to see if its just a bad season or year for this plant and what ever is upsetting it eventually goes away. Let's see if it recovers globally as well.
Food fragility... and not just the supply chain.
This is a subject that I have seemed to have fallen into this year and really want to focus on.
Seeds are not what they use to be. Only last week I came upon this documentary and I think it explains at lot about food fragility. Most of the seeds sold today are from 4 or 5 major companies and they are grown in just a handful of countries. These seeds are then sold worldwide. How can a seed that is grown in India or Israel be guaranteed to work globally? I am a true believer that seeds learn from their environment. I have much better luck with seeds that I have saved and grown year after year.
My plan for this year is to set up a local seed exchange for my area. Growing food in the tropical to sub tropical areas are very different to southern grown seeds... my neighbour with the local leek seeds he has used and saved for several years will have more sub tropical resistance than those from central Victorian short season snow fields!
And that does not even touch on the subject of hybrid seeds....
Worth watching!
As a side note! ...Apparently there are solar energies flying around at the moment that might impact growing conditions? I have only started to get into this but I find it fascinating.
This is a subject that I have seemed to have fallen into this year and really want to focus on.
Seeds are not what they use to be. Only last week I came upon this documentary and I think it explains at lot about food fragility. Most of the seeds sold today are from 4 or 5 major companies and they are grown in just a handful of countries. These seeds are then sold worldwide. How can a seed that is grown in India or Israel be guaranteed to work globally? I am a true believer that seeds learn from their environment. I have much better luck with seeds that I have saved and grown year after year.
My plan for this year is to set up a local seed exchange for my area. Growing food in the tropical to sub tropical areas are very different to southern grown seeds... my neighbour with the local leek seeds he has used and saved for several years will have more sub tropical resistance than those from central Victorian short season snow fields!
And that does not even touch on the subject of hybrid seeds....
Worth watching!
As a side note! ...Apparently there are solar energies flying around at the moment that might impact growing conditions? I have only started to get into this but I find it fascinating.
Hi Cathy thanks for your reply, the YOU TUBE video was very interesting. I have been looking into trying different seeds and suppliers only to find that Mr Fothergills as we know has the Johnsons brand, but Country Value also seem to have the same PO address. Country value are produced in Newmarket UK (according to cottage small holders UK)
I have also been viewing other forums around the world and some of the comments are similar in that seeds yields per packet in general are not good.
My google searches seems to say that Dt brown started in UK but its not clear if the seeds are produced there.
It would be interesting to see if any veggie seeds are sourced or produced in Aus for Aus sales etc by any of these suppliers.
Its good that they all do not support GMO though.
I agree that plants/ veggies in my mind do assimilate to the environment they live in so seeds from a different climate etc would struggle to survive when relocated. Seeds that I have saved from my own plants have performed better.
There is a plant nursery in my area that advises people who live only 10 Klm south of them to be aware that the plants they stock are for the Macedon ranges and that taking the plants into the next shire (Bulla) could see them struggle.
I suggest that over time when using a globalised seed that you then need to harvest seeds from the best veggie plants that survive and replant that seed --- then repeating a few times you could get a localised plant/seed. what a lot of work ---SO I would be interested in your idea of local seed exchange and through Marks forum you could even look at taking it to a different level of state by state/ climate zone in Aus and link to the overseas guys as well ??
My uncle 40 years ago planted out an apple orchard in the Ballarat region. He was into heritage type trees from around the world. He was finally able to get it all up and running and now has a great 100 tree orchard for home use. Its interesting to note that the trees that have flourished the most are from loosely similar climates around the world and from climates too cold and or to hot struggled for years but adjusted.
I am grafting many of the trees he has from Europe and USA to a much hotter and dryer area so it will be interesting to see if they make it
Some trees are.
I have also been viewing other forums around the world and some of the comments are similar in that seeds yields per packet in general are not good.
My google searches seems to say that Dt brown started in UK but its not clear if the seeds are produced there.
It would be interesting to see if any veggie seeds are sourced or produced in Aus for Aus sales etc by any of these suppliers.
Its good that they all do not support GMO though.
I agree that plants/ veggies in my mind do assimilate to the environment they live in so seeds from a different climate etc would struggle to survive when relocated. Seeds that I have saved from my own plants have performed better.
There is a plant nursery in my area that advises people who live only 10 Klm south of them to be aware that the plants they stock are for the Macedon ranges and that taking the plants into the next shire (Bulla) could see them struggle.
I suggest that over time when using a globalised seed that you then need to harvest seeds from the best veggie plants that survive and replant that seed --- then repeating a few times you could get a localised plant/seed. what a lot of work ---SO I would be interested in your idea of local seed exchange and through Marks forum you could even look at taking it to a different level of state by state/ climate zone in Aus and link to the overseas guys as well ??
My uncle 40 years ago planted out an apple orchard in the Ballarat region. He was into heritage type trees from around the world. He was finally able to get it all up and running and now has a great 100 tree orchard for home use. Its interesting to note that the trees that have flourished the most are from loosely similar climates around the world and from climates too cold and or to hot struggled for years but adjusted.
I am grafting many of the trees he has from Europe and USA to a much hotter and dryer area so it will be interesting to see if they make it
Some trees are.
- Court Pendu Plat from southern France 15th century
- Golden Reinette Europe 15th century
- Dutches of Oldenburg 16th century Russia
- Roxbury Russett –year 1640 USA/Americas
- Oct 22, 2020
- 67
- 31
- 31
- Climate
- Cold, Cool, Mountains, or Artic
interesting thing on many hybrid seeds tho , as an example the fruit from a tomato plant from a hybrid in some cases is sterile ( no viable seed ) so to get seeds for next year the manufactures have to cross the same basic parent stock to get seeds for the next year, where as other even if you get viable seed it will grow a different plant then the one it came from even if self pollinated because the hybrid cross is now stable and you can end up with one of the original parent stock next year. this is why i stick with hybrids that have been grow for generation after generation . and there are fields of lentils grown here in USA and Canada they do the same they grow here for different growing areas around world they have been crossed with other types and wild one then in fields grown to produce a seed usable in a different climate
in answer to ( Apparently there are solar energies flying around at the moment that might impact growing conditions? I have only started to get into this but I find it fascinating. ) i've followed studies of the solar activity versus spectrum and energy and its a hotly debated area right now even in affect as one of the warming factors is actually solar cycles of orbits and changes in sunspot and ejections from sun, the light spectrum varies as the sun spot and cycles change. as example years of high sunspot activity if it went extreme freaky sunspot could make a huge difference it fruiting plants because it shifts light toward a heavier uv and blue spectrum shift and the amount of energy hitting the earths upper atmosphere affecting the chemistry of it and how much it reduces the energy passes to the surface. there have been on going debates about this for years. and last year record the lowest sunspot activity in records information for 200 years all this can throw a curve at plants bees and other parts of the global system
in answer to ( Apparently there are solar energies flying around at the moment that might impact growing conditions? I have only started to get into this but I find it fascinating. ) i've followed studies of the solar activity versus spectrum and energy and its a hotly debated area right now even in affect as one of the warming factors is actually solar cycles of orbits and changes in sunspot and ejections from sun, the light spectrum varies as the sun spot and cycles change. as example years of high sunspot activity if it went extreme freaky sunspot could make a huge difference it fruiting plants because it shifts light toward a heavier uv and blue spectrum shift and the amount of energy hitting the earths upper atmosphere affecting the chemistry of it and how much it reduces the energy passes to the surface. there have been on going debates about this for years. and last year record the lowest sunspot activity in records information for 200 years all this can throw a curve at plants bees and other parts of the global system