The Meaning of GMO?

[Kala]

Yea thats how I kind of feel about it Abi. It scares me when things are released to the public without years and years of study (and even then thats not enough sometimes!) I wish we could just leave things alone sometimes.

I just don't think relying on giant corporations thousands of miles away for all of your needs was the way we were meant to live. There's so little accoutability and it really does seem to kill a sense of community when you don't have to depend on your neighbors and community to help eachother out, not neccesarily financially but through barter and physical assistance. But I digress...

So what's this about cereal? Sounds like I need to head over to that link.

 

[Kala]

Oh and thanks for the links everyone!!

 

[patandchickens]

Last year I grew only heirloom tomatoes and was disappointed with the results. <snip> I must admit I've gone back to hybrids this year

HYBRID TOMATOES ARE NOT GMO.

I do not believe any GMO varieties of ANY veg or flower plant are available for sale at the backyarder-retail level. (Exception: people who have giant gardens and buy certain corn varieties at the feedstore or from agricultural suppliers)

"Hybrid" merely means that the seed came from crossing two different parents and will not breed true.

So there are THREE categories here, not two:

1) open-pollinated i.e. self-reproducing strain (although some may have somewhat variable offspring, and of course they are only self-reproducing IF you pollinate them only with the same variety, which is automatic with some kinds of plants but requires Work for other kinds of plants)

2) hybrid, which will not reproduce itself very reliably even if pollinated by its own variety BUT is still jsut the product of normal old-fashioned breeding programs,

and finally

3) genetically-modified, which means that genes have been relocated from one set of DNA to someone else's set of DNA, in the lab.

Pat

 

[Wifezilla]

Thanks for posting that pat. Hybrids aren't going to turn you in to a newt or anything The only knock against hybrids is if you are a seed saver, you have no idea how the next generation will turn out.

 

[Kala]

Thanks Pat. Good to know!

 

[freemotion]

I've been planting both hybrids and heirlooms. I have the space to devote a large amount of room to my tomatoes so I can have less per plant and still have enough, so I will go all heirloom this year. Heirlooms have higher nutrient levels and generally, lower GI loads. I like that. But will return to hybrids if it doesn't work out.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Free do you have a link to any non extruded breakfast ideas or threads??? That's one of my next goals for the kids.

g

Soaked baked oatmeal! Recipe tonight though. I'm off for the day

 

[HEChicken]

Ahhhh okay, thanks Pat!

 

[miss_thenorth]

here is a website dedicated to NON GMO shopping. It has a printable shoppers guide.

http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/

 

[ORChick]

Last year I grew only heirloom tomatoes and was disappointed with the results. I grew huge plants with lots of leaves but few fruit. (And yes, I was out there every day nipping the sprouts from the plants to encourage growth in the right direction). I must admit I've gone back to hybrids this year. My garden area is small and I need to produce as much as I can - I don't have room to grow plants that aren't producing...

HE, you might want to check your fertilization program. If you got big, healthy plants, but few fruits, you may have had too much nitrogen (I think its nitrogen , too lazy to go check).