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theprofanegardener · 5 years

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Hybridizing African Violets According to Me

Before you pollinate:

Making your own crosses and raising them can be a fun thing for anyone, so if you just want to experiment, then have fun. But if you hope to be a hybridizer who's hybrids become known outside your own living room, the first thing to do is figure out what your hybridising goals are. There are thousands of hybrids out there, and it's worth asking, does the world really need another plain purple or pink pansy? There's lots of stuff to play around with though. For many of the newer traits, there are varieties available that have fantastic flowers, but lack in some other trait that could be improved, like flower count, or foliage symmetry. Your goals may change over time, and maybe you start with no specific goals and figure out what you want as you collect prospective parent plants.

In any case, you then start collecting the plants you'd like to use as parents. It can be a good tactic to look for varieties that have been known to win lots of ribbons in shows. Varieties with newer traits may not have as many show wins, but perhaps crossing the emerging traits with plants that have good histories of making good show winners may give you the traits you want with improved other traits.

Pollinating:

This write-up is going to assume you know how to start a plant from a leaf and grow it up to a blooming plant.

So then you take your two parent plants. One thing to keep in mind when deciding which to use as the seed parent and which to use as the pollen parent, is if either parent is variegated, then in order to get variegation in the offspring, you need to use the variegated plant as the seed parent.

You got male and female flower parts. The little yellow bobbles on stems are the male parts, and they're called the stamens, and the yellow anthers on the ends of the filaments are full of pollen. The longer, narrow part is the pistil, and the stigma at the tip is where the pollen goes, and travels down the pollen tubes at the centre to the ovary at the bottom, which develops into a seed pod.

They say “old man, young woman”, and that's to say that the best results come from using a newer flower as the seed parent, and pollen from an older flower. I had hit and miss results until I saw advice saying for the seed parent, the flower's not usually at it's most receptive until after it's been open around two days, so don't necessarily be over eager. For the pollen parent, try and find one that's starting to fade. If the pollen parent is a dropper, when the flower is dropping off the stem, it's ready. Older pollen will generally still be fine. You can save flowers are use them later as long as they matured on the stem, though your mileage may vary doing that. I find I get the most reliable results with pollen from flowers that are just fading.

There's lots of advice out there for getting the pollen from the anthers onto the stigma. Some people tap it out onto paper and apply with a brush, some use that vegibee thing. I just take the flower and cut the anther open a bit with a knife and touch the anther to the stigma until I can see it's covered in pollen. I always hear to pollinate several flowers on the same stem. I think that might help trigger the plant to know there's seed pods growing there, and keep that stem from withering early and aborting the seed pod.

Label the stem somehow. I have little gift tags on strings I write the cross on and hang them on the main stem and just make a habit of not pollinating flowers on the same stem with different pollen parents. Usually in a few days it's apparent if there's a seed pod developing. It will start to swell while the petals die. Some are fat and roundish, and some are more slender and bean shaped.

Nursing The Seed Pod

Now you wait. Three to six months. I've heard three to nine months sometimes. You wait for that seed pod to mature.

How do you know it's mature? It'll dry up. I've had viable seeds from seed pods at two and a half months – apparently miniatures mature seed pods faster than larger plants. But if it dries up earlier than that, it's very unlikely to be viable.

During that time you want to make double sure you're babying that plant. If it dries out, it may abort the seed pod. If it gets pests, powdery mildew, whatever stuff happens to it, you could lose the seed pod.

When it starts to dry up, it'll droop a bit first, just leave it on the plant until at least the stem is dry, and then make sure you let it completely dry out before you try to do anything with it. Like, give it a week or two sitting, and then you can open it up.

Sowing the seeds

African violet seeds need light to germinate, and they need to be kept moist. Most people use sealed containers and just mist them if they start to get dry. Deli cups are popular – I found some little food containers with clear lids that screw off – they're a little bigger for sowings with a lot of seeds.

The soil, at least the surface soil, will need to be sifted. This is really important – I screwed this one up and was lazy with my first bunch, and I didn't get a lot of seeds germinating because of it. If you don't, then the seeds fall in the spaces between the clumps of growing medium, and not get any light to germinate.

I like to throw in a thin layer of my regular soil, then toss the sifted soil over top of that. I try to have it moistened before I put it in the container, because the peat tends to be hydrophobic and water beads on top of it. Then I mist it over the top to get it to flatten, and make sure it's wet enough to not dry out right off the hop.

Next you open the seed pod. Do this over some white paper. These are like, the second smallest seeds in horticulture, next to orchid seeds, which are basically dust. If you breathe on African violet seeds, you will blow them away.

Then check it twice a day for the first few weeks as you wait for seedlings to sprout. Okay, you don't actually have to check it twice a day, I'm just obsessive. But do make sure it doesn't start to get dry on the surface. You should have condensation forming on the outside of the container. The newly sprouted seedlings are terribly fragile and can't handle a lot of dryness.

However, they're remarkably resilient in other ways. Once they've sprouted, they're often in clumps, and need to be separated. You can let them get bigger, but I notice they grow faster if you separate them earlier. I use a skewer with a fork carved into the end the manipulate them. As long as you don't crush them, they're fine. I've transpanted ones as small as pinheads, they love it. Something with African Violets, they like to be messed with, it just makes them pull their pants up and grow. Anyway, once they're a bit bigger, you can stick them in individual pots. I have some thimble sized pots that I start with, and move them up as they grow. They may need repotting every few weeks at this stage – they grow fast if you have good light on them. But keep them moist – don't let them dry out, they're also fragile when small, and I just keep them domed until I've got them into 2 inch pots and on wicks, it's just easier to manage.

Culling The Seedlings

Okay, if you're just doing it for fun and don't care about whether your plants will go win shows, then skip this section and do whatever you want with your babies.

But if you're in this to be a serious hybridizer and want to add something to the hobby, you need to be ruthless. We need to revisit the concept of “Does the hobby really need another purple or pink pansy”?

And maybe it does, if the plant has something else special about it. But consider more than just the flower. Consider the symmetry of the foliage growth patterns, the size, the flower shape, the leaf shape the number of flowers per stem. A good variety that will win shows will be one that has everything going for it, and the vast majority of seedlings should be thrown in the trash.

But before you do that, if you're in this for the long haul, there's another thing to keep in mind, and that's recessive genes. There might be a trait you were trying to breed for that one of the parents had, but none of the offspring display. That could mean that it's a recessive gene, and what you need to then do is take your cross one generation further, by either back crossing to the parent with that recessive gene, or side crossing it with itself or a sibling seedling in order to get that recessive trait to appear in the next generation of seedlings. So you might have a bunch of seedlings you intend to throw away, but you take the nicest ones, closest to what you want, with the best all around traits, and cross them. Rinse and repeat. Early hybridizers were often people who didn't understand recessive genes, and gave up after the first generation when they didn't get what they wanted.

And that's about it for how I personally go about hybridization. Others have different methods, some things will work better for other people and sometimes different growing conditions will need different methods.

#african violets #Hybridization

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jerrytackettca · 5 years

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The Gut's Role in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder in which neurons and dopamine-producing cells in your brain begin to die. Symptoms progress over time and include tremors, slow movements, rigid limbs, shuffling gait, stooped posture and an inability to move. Patients may also experience a reduced ability to make facial expressions.

While patients suffer significant physical disability, the condition may also trigger depression, speech impediments and personality changes. There is also an association with dementia. Parkinson’s affects as many as 7 million to 10 million adults worldwide, and approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's every year.1

Although incidence of the disease increases with age, an estimated 4 percent of those with Parkinson's are diagnosed before the age of 50. Men are 1.5 times more likely to have Parkinson's than women, and treatment can be expensive. Medications can an average $2,500 a year, while therapeutic surgery may cost up to $100,000 per patient.

A recent study2 published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease once again demonstrates an association between the development of this neurological disease and your gut microbiome.

The featured study focused on alpha-synuclein pathology, biomarkers and gut microbiome, and as other studies3 found alpha-synuclein plays a role in the development of familial and sporadic cases of Parkinson's disease.

Research Highlights Gut-Brain Link in Parkinson’s Disease

Unfortunately diagnosis often occurs after brain cells have already been affected and died. For this reason, it's more difficult to slow the progression of the disease, so researchers have been investigating ways to detect the condition earlier, which might positively impact treatment.

Past studies have demonstrated a link between the gut microbiome and Parkinson's disease. This current review paper set out to investigate the most recent research available on this gut-brain connection.

Lead author Dr. Filip Scheperjans, from the department of neurology at the Helsinki University Hospital in Finland, believes understanding the role the gut plays in the development of the disease will help improve treatment.4

The review evaluated the involvement of an abnormal amount of protein aggregates associated with local inflammation and the impact on the gut microbiome. As noted by Scheperjans:5

“Our understanding and appreciation of the importance of the gut-brain connection in [Parkinson's have] grown rapidly in recent years. We are confident that the coming two decades of microbiome-gut-brain-axis research will see an even accelerated development in this area that will reshape our understanding of the pathogenesis of [Parkinson's]."

To this aim, the authors identified four key research areas where additional focus is needed:6

Although deposits of alpha-synuclein have been found in the enteric nervous system of people suffering from Parkinson's disease, more research is needed to determine if these aggregates are similar to ones found in the brains of Parkinson’s patients.

Research has theorized intestinal hyperpermeability may be what triggers the aggregation in the enteric nerves. The researchers suggest further study should focus on whether those with Parkinson's also have a higher intestinal permeability.

Utilizing immunohistochemistry to study alpha synuclein aggregates in the enteric nervous system has yielded mixed results, leading the authors to suggest alternative methods of detecting aggregate deposits in the gut should be developed.

The authors suggest large multicenter studies of individuals with Parkinson's, as well as animal studies, are necessary to definitively identify the mechanism underlying the connection between the gut and Parkinson's disease.

Protein Aggregates May Start in the Brain and Travel to the Gut

Alpha-synuclein is a presynaptic protein linked neuropathologically and genetically to Parkinson's disease.7 While it may contribute to symptoms in a number of ways, the aberrant cells are toxic to cellular homeostasis, triggering neuronal death and affecting synaptic function.

Secreted alpha-synuclein may have negative effects on neighboring cells, including seeding aggregations, which contributes to progression of the disease. Detection of alpha-synuclein lesions in peripheral tissues has important clinical implications in the brain and peripheral organs.

Researchers have sought to identify potential pathways involved in the long-distance transfer of the protein from the brain to the gut, where it is found in those suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Although researchers have identified the alpha-synuclein protein in the development of the disease, the real function before the disease is triggered had remained a mystery.

Using a mouse model, researchers8 found increasing the expression of alpha-synuclein inhibited the mechanism of releasing neurotransmitters, essentially producing Parkinsonian symptoms. At normal levels however, the protein accelerated the release of these molecules if it was already occurring.

In another rat study,9 researchers were able to identify a specific transmission of the protein from the brain to the stomach. As explained by the authors:

“Following targeted midbrain overexpression of human alpha-synuclein, the exogenous protein was capable of reaching the gastric wall where it was accumulated into preganglionic vagal terminals.

This brain-to-stomach connection likely involved intra- and interneuronal transfer of non-fibrillar alpha-synuclein that first reached the medulla oblongata, then gained access into cholinergic neurons of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve and finally traveled via efferent fibers of these neurons contained within the vagus nerve.”

The researchers believe the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve is a key relay center for transmission of alpha-synuclein proteins from central to peripheral locations. The presence of these proteins may represent an ongoing pathological process originating within the brain that can then affect other organs innervated by the motor vagal nerve.

Autophagy Defects Contribute to Parkinson’s Disease

Currently there is no cure for Parkinson's disease. In one study,10 researchers described aspects of the disease as suppression of the autosomal-lysomal autophagy system, a systemic degradation of your body’s functional components due to cell destruction, characterized by the loss of dopamine transmitting neurons in a section of the midbrain.11

By activating autophagy, in essence repairing the dysfunctional mechanism, researchers believe neurodegenerative diseases may be successfully treated. Autophagy literally means “self-eating” and refers to the process of eliminating damaged cells by digesting them.

It is a cleaning out process that encourages the growth of new healthy cells and is foundational to cellular rejuvenation and longevity. Researchers explain the process in a paper published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery,12 saying the pathway is involved in a variety of human health conditions, including metabolic disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and infectious diseases.

In response, there has been considerable pharmacological interest in inhibiting the pathway and upregulating autophagy as a means of therapeutically benefiting those with neurodegenerative diseases. In essence, this would clear out harmful protein aggregates that trigger symptoms and disease progression.

Research has demonstrated specific cancer drugs can trigger autophagy by activating a protein called parkin.13 Charbel Moussa, assistant professor of neurology at Georgetown University, talks about the delicate balance involved when medicine attempts to manipulate cell processes:14

“Activating autophagy is a double-edged sword. One [sic] the one hand, the process clears toxic or infectious materials from cells. On the other hand, if the autophagy process goes beyond 'recycling' and clearing out proteins, it can start to destroy the cell, leading to cell death.

This means that autophagy must be carefully manipulated to avoid the death of nonrenewable and irreplaceable neurons."

The good news is you don’t have to wait for a drug to be developed to improve autophagy. One of the easiest ways to do this is through fasting, which I discuss further below.

Annual Legume May Help Treat Parkinson’s Disease Naturally

Mucuna pruriens (M. pruriens) is a climbing legume best known as a natural source of L-dopa, a dopamine precursor that affects energy, motivation and well-being, and is often used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease in Ayurvedic medicine.

M. pruriens is a well-known source of protein in tropical areas of the world. Also known as the velvet bean, kapikacchu and cowhage seed, these legumes are a vigorous, annual plant, boasting nearly 100 different varieties. The legume originated in southern China and Eastern India, but now grows in tropical areas worldwide.

The plant has dark brown or speckled seed pods that are about 4 inches long and contain four to six seeds each. Although the bean is highly beneficial, contact with the pod may result in severe skin irritation and itching. When the beans are used for food, they are soaked until they sprout, then boiled and ground into a paste used in cooking.15

When used medicinally, the beans are boiled to remove the enzyme coat, then strained and dried. The kernels are ground into a fine powder commonly mixed with water and taken orally. The practice of using M. pruriens can be traced back thousands of years within the practice of Ayurvedic medicine.

The seeds are roughly 4 to 7 percent L-dopa, which easily crosses your blood-brain barrier, accounting for the interest in those seeking natural treatments for Parkinson's disease.16

Although clinical trials have demonstrated its ability to produce equivalent or better results than medications, without side effects, Western medicine continues to use and promote a synthetic form of L-dopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

If you have the disease and would like to investigate this natural treatment, consult with your doctor or an Ayurvedic medicine practitioner before taking M. pruriens, especially if you are currently taking prescription medication, to ensure this remedy is right for you.

It may also be possible to prevent neurodegenerative diseases or reduce symptoms by addressing your gut permeability and autophagy dysfunction through natural means.

How to Decrease Your Gut Permeability

Your gut microbiome is an important part of the future of medicine. Nearly 15 years ago scientists believed the Human Genome Project would find information necessary to create gene-based therapies to produce cures for most health conditions.

Now science has learned genetics are responsible for only 10 percent of all human disease, while the remaining 90 percent are triggered by environmental factors.17 With further research and study, science is now coming to realize your gut microbiome is actually driving genetic expression, turning genes on and off depending upon which microbes are present in your gut.

You can improve the health of your gut microbiome, and thus may make significant changes to your health, through small lifestyle changes, such as eliminating sugar, using a cyclical ketogenic diet and including plenty of fiber rich foods.

For a list of simple changes to your lifestyle you may consider to optimize your microbiome and reduce your potential for disease, see my article, "Gut Microbiome May Be a Game-Changer for Cancer Prevention and Treatment."

How to Improve Autophagy

Your body was built for periodic cycles of feast and famine. Through intermittent fasting, you can enjoy improved cardiovascular health, reduced cancer risk and better gene repair and longevity. Fasting also helps support your immune system function and has a beneficial impact on your brain function as well, by boosting brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

Depending upon the region of the brain you may experience a boost from 50 percent to 400 percent. BDNF activates stem cells to convert into new neurons and triggers numerous other chemicals promoting normal health. This protein also protects brain cells from changes associated with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

Fasting is a powerful way to activate autophagy, but should not be done willy-nilly. If you are on medication, you need to work with your doctor to ensure safety as some medications need to be taken with food. Diabetics who are on medication also need to use caution and work with a health professional as they may need to adjust their medication dosage to avoid adverse effects. I also recommend you continue taking nutritional supplements and to take a high-quality salt.

One of the reasons I’ve reverted back to advising caution with water-only fasting is because multiday water fasting is very effective at liberating stored toxins from your fat, which can cause problems if your detoxification system isn’t properly supported.

While I’ve done several five-day water-only fasts in the past, I’ve now switched to a partial fast that supplies many of the nutrients your body needs to support your detox pathways instead. It involves a base of intermittent fasting for 16 to 18 hours, and once or twice a week you have a 300- to 800-calorie meal loaded with detox supporting nutrients, followed by a 24-hour fast. So, in essence, you’re then only eating one 300- to 800-calorie meal in 42 hours.

Using an infrared sauna and taking effective binders, like chlorella, modified citrus pectin, cilantro and even activated charcoal can help eliminate liberated toxins from your body and prevent their reabsorption.

A gentler way to still improve autophagy is daily intermittent fasting, providing you are not eating for at least 16 hours. You can also activate autophagy by alternating high intensity interval training or resistance training with a day of rest.

Activating adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) through proper diet and nutritional supplements also supports natural autophagy. You can learn more about this process in my previous article, “Autophagy Finally Considered for Disease Treatment.”

from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/02/28/parkinsons-gut-bacteria.aspx

source http://niapurenaturecom.weebly.com/blog/the-guts-role-in-parkinsons-disease

0 notes

jakehglover · 5 years

Text

The Gut's Role in Parkinson's Disease

A recent study2 published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease once again demonstrates an association between the development of this neurological disease and your gut microbiome.

Research Highlights Gut-Brain Link in Parkinson’s Disease

The review evaluated the involvement of an abnormal amount of protein aggregates associated with local inflammation and the impact on the gut microbiome. As noted by Scheperjans:5

To this aim, the authors identified four key research areas where additional focus is needed:6

Protein Aggregates May Start in the Brain and Travel to the Gut

In another rat study,9 researchers were able to identify a specific transmission of the protein from the brain to the stomach. As explained by the authors:

“Following targeted midbrain overexpression of human alpha-synuclein, the exogenous protein was capable of reaching the gastric wall where it was accumulated into preganglionic vagal terminals.

Autophagy Defects Contribute to Parkinson’s Disease

This means that autophagy must be carefully manipulated to avoid the death of nonrenewable and irreplaceable neurons."

The good news is you don’t have to wait for a drug to be developed to improve autophagy. One of the easiest ways to do this is through fasting, which I discuss further below.

Annual Legume May Help Treat Parkinson’s Disease Naturally

The seeds are roughly 4 to 7 percent L-dopa, which easily crosses your blood-brain barrier, accounting for the interest in those seeking natural treatments for Parkinson's disease.16

It may also be possible to prevent neurodegenerative diseases or reduce symptoms by addressing your gut permeability and autophagy dysfunction through natural means.

How to Decrease Your Gut Permeability

How to Improve Autophagy

from HealthyLife via Jake Glover on Inoreader http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/02/28/parkinsons-gut-bacteria.aspx

0 notes

paullassiterca · 5 years

Text

The Gut's Role in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder in which neurons and dopamine-producing cells in your brain begin to die. Symptoms progress over time and include tremors, slow movements, rigid limbs, shuffling gait, stooped posture and an inability to move. Patients may also experience a reduced ability to make facial expressions.

Although incidence of the disease increases with age, an estimated 4 percent of those with Parkinson’s are diagnosed before the age of 50. Men are 1.5 times more likely to have Parkinson’s than women, and treatment can be expensive. Medications can an average $2,500 a year, while therapeutic surgery may cost up to $100,000 per patient.

A recent study2 published in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease once again demonstrates an association between the development of this neurological disease and your gut microbiome.

Research Highlights Gut-Brain Link in Parkinson’s Disease

Unfortunately diagnosis often occurs after brain cells have already been affected and died. For this reason, it’s more difficult to slow the progression of the disease, so researchers have been investigating ways to detect the condition earlier, which might positively impact treatment.

Past studies have demonstrated a link between the gut microbiome and Parkinson’s disease. This current review paper set out to investigate the most recent research available on this gut-brain connection.

The review evaluated the involvement of an abnormal amount of protein aggregates associated with local inflammation and the impact on the gut microbiome. As noted by Scheperjans:5

“Our understanding and appreciation of the importance of the gut-brain connection in [Parkinson’s have] grown rapidly in recent years. We are confident that the coming two decades of microbiome-gut-brain-axis research will see an even accelerated development in this area that will reshape our understanding of the pathogenesis of [Parkinson’s].“

To this aim, the authors identified four key research areas where additional focus is needed:6

Although deposits of alpha-synuclein have been found in the enteric nervous system of people suffering from Parkinson’s disease, more research is needed to determine if these aggregates are similar to ones found in the brains of Parkinson’s patients.

The authors suggest large multicenter studies of individuals with Parkinson’s, as well as animal studies, are necessary to definitively identify the mechanism underlying the connection between the gut and Parkinson’s disease.

Protein Aggregates May Start in the Brain and Travel to the Gut

Alpha-synuclein is a presynaptic protein linked neuropathologically and genetically to Parkinson’s disease.7 While it may contribute to symptoms in a number of ways, the aberrant cells are toxic to cellular homeostasis, triggering neuronal death and affecting synaptic function.

In another rat study,9 researchers were able to identify a specific transmission of the protein from the brain to the stomach. As explained by the authors:

“Following targeted midbrain overexpression of human alpha-synuclein, the exogenous protein was capable of reaching the gastric wall where it was accumulated into preganglionic vagal terminals.

Autophagy Defects Contribute to Parkinson’s Disease

Currently there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease. In one study,10 researchers described aspects of the disease as suppression of the autosomal-lysomal autophagy system, a systemic degradation of your body’s functional components due to cell destruction, characterized by the loss of dopamine transmitting neurons in a section of the midbrain.11

“Activating autophagy is a double-edged sword. One [sic] the one hand, the process clears toxic or infectious materials from cells. On the other hand, if the autophagy process goes beyond ‘recycling’ and clearing out proteins, it can start to destroy the cell, leading to cell death.

This means that autophagy must be carefully manipulated to avoid the death of nonrenewable and irreplaceable neurons.”

The good news is you don’t have to wait for a drug to be developed to improve autophagy. One of the easiest ways to do this is through fasting, which I discuss further below.

Annual Legume May Help Treat Parkinson’s Disease Naturally

The seeds are roughly 4 to 7 percent L-dopa, which easily crosses your blood-brain barrier, accounting for the interest in those seeking natural treatments for Parkinson’s disease.16

It may also be possible to prevent neurodegenerative diseases or reduce symptoms by addressing your gut permeability and autophagy dysfunction through natural means.

How to Decrease Your Gut Permeability

For a list of simple changes to your lifestyle you may consider to optimize your microbiome and reduce your potential for disease, see my article, “Gut Microbiome May Be a Game-Changer for Cancer Prevention and Treatment.”

How to Improve Autophagy

from Articles http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/02/28/parkinsons-gut-bacteria.aspx source https://niapurenaturecom.tumblr.com/post/183111557996

0 notes

thecoroutfitters · 7 years

Link

Written by R. Ann Parris on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: Another contribution from R. Ann Parris to The Prepper Journal. As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and possibly receive a $25 cash award, as well as being entered into the Prepper Writing Contest AND have a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, then enter today!

Boy oh boy, to have come back for more … you have earned your biscuits and I wish you productive hens and no little red eggs or white butterflies in your gardens.

So, last time we created a pretty big “short” list of factors that combine to determine not only how much seed we need, but also how much land space. You got an example of how something like sustainability goals, or lack thereof, can affect how many seeds you’d want to stock because it changes what you’re planting. We also mentioned developing baselines, to see how things perform in your specific patch o’ dirt.

That “performance” aspect is the biggest variable.

That particular variable is why I don’t present any lists of “plant this many of this” – not even when I’m speaking to regional or local groups.

All I do, is make some guidelines available, and give people a few things to consider with each list – and with “all-in-one” kits of various kinds. I’ll give you the same.

Corn is just one of many staples that comes in huge variety. I’ll need different amounts of seed (and land) to produce equal amounts with different crops.

Seeds for the Future

The amount of seed we need to stockpile for planting changes based on seed size and coverage densities, by variety as well as general crop type.

Then our seed handling – mechanical v. manual planting, pre-soak or sprouting v. direct-sow – further affects how many seeds we set out, and how much land we need to prepare for those seeds.

Mechanical planters increase the risk of damaged seeds. Broadcasting usually has higher planting rates. Precipitation, soil nutrients and soil structure determine if I need extra spacing to avoid stunting, or would need more amendments or irrigation at the conventional densities for the yield I want.

Chickpeas and lentils average 2-4 seeds per pod, while common bean types can average 5-16 seeds per pod. Tomatoes have a finicky process to save seeds. Some crops need 3-7 seeds sown per desired adult plant due to low germination and survival rates.

All those listed factors really do play in together as a system, and the system determines how much seed and land we’d need to meet our goals.

Then there’s which seeds.

I could save just one melon, and plant a fair bit of land the next time, but I’ve just severely “bottle necked” my gene pool, which can lead to serious problems down the road.

Plain soil, NPK additive, and biochar+NPK comparison of crop health & yield with a single variety of corn. Environmental factors matter in crop performance.

Other People Post Guides

Bless them for it. I don’t plan to.

Something that thrives and does well in the greater CSRA may be a low-yielding hothouse bunny for the DelMarVa. Apples do not ship from Arizona for a reason. Sheep in Seattle are going to be less-needy and higher-yielding than in Shreveport – changing the amounts of plant-based Vitamin D, calcium, and protein we need to produce.

In his foraging books, His Highness the Great Samuel Thayer (I’m a fan) offers a latitude and altitude conversion guide. Because, just blocks or miles or states apart, what grows and when changes by ‘tude.

Age, ability, and acreage also lead to very different suggestions. Our amendments and growing styles factor in.

Some guides are handy, either as general starting points for planting (which we will test) or for “extras” they offer. Still, they must be liberally seasoned with salt.

The canning jar article http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2016/07/21/how-many-canning-jars-do-you-need/ includes a chart that gives yield, seeds/starts per area, and space suggestions. She doesn’t tell you what varieties she’s sticking in those rows specifically, or how long it takes to grow them, so it’s only a starting point.

Pole beans v. bush beans

There’s a whopping yield difference between a pole bean or melon vine that’s 3-6’ and one that’s 8-15’. Ditto for bush beans v. pole beans, favas v. lentils, pintos v. kidneys. Short-season and drought-tolerant regional heirlooms tend to yield lower. Diseases and pests in warm, rainy areas may mitigate the yield advantage of a more productive regional heirloom.

It’s what makes me shake my head when I see numbers sometimes. See, sometimes the planting ranges make sense due to possible variations.

Sometimes, though, it’s stuff like “5-10 broccoli plants per person, 10-40 carrots per person” (http://www.wellfedhomestead.com/how-much-should-you-plant-in-your-garden-to-provide-a-years-worth-of-food), or “10 squash and zucchini per person, 75 sweet potatoes per person” (Back to Basics via https://www.newlifeonahomestead.com/how-much-should-i-plant/).

Those are huge ranges.

Even so, the high-end is still not enough broccoli or carrots for each of my family. Flip side, 10 squash and 75 sweets per person could be overwhelming harvests – respectively, 50-200# and 150-250# each, on moderate years (Georgia Jet to Beauregard’s).

Then, there’s TWO (2) autumn-winter squash recommended in the first link.

Ever grow Hubbard, butternut, kuri, and Jester squash? Two plants could yield anywhere from 6 to 24 squash – 5-90 pounds – depending on variety, pests and care. That’s an enormous and ridiculous range to give somebody without more specifics.

That’s why I don’t give blanket guidelines. Because, it depends.

It depends on the year (luck), skill, and method as much as the variety and location.

Try to find the seeding rates for the style you want to duplicate in your area. For some generic starting points, there’s a list here among other goodies https://smallfarmersjournal.com/weights-measures/. Mississippi State Extension does a nice job of thumb-nailing some of the relationships between style and seeding rate due to plant density and survival, https://extension.msstate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/publications/p2401.pdf. Penn State’s extension service provided a nice gauge of when to increase seeding rates, https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/articles/5081-determining-seeding-rates-for-small-grains.

Remember, your extension office’s suggestions will be better for your garden and plots.

Even so, I actually like the VA Tech veggie guide https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/426/426-331/426-331_pdf.pdf. It gives seed-starts per row along with yield estimates and suggested amounts per person, and it’s nice enough to break plants down by a lot of types. Plus, it goes hand in hand with the planting date guide that’s page one of the pub – just switch your location’s frost dates around for the 0-date given the chart.

And speaking of charts…

A compilation of expected shelf life of seeds, in dry, generally constant 55-75 degree F storage – nothing fancy, paper bags & packets in a basket on a shelf. The listed years are the time you have to use seed before the germination rate starts dropping. – – – I no longer remember where I found this chart; it’s not my original work. If you know who made or posted it originally, let us know so it can be properly credited.

Seed Vaults & Kits

“Over 25K seeds!” “10-year shelf life!” “Plants an acre!” “Feeds a family of four!”

This is actually another one that really rates its own article. I’m not after naming names here, but please be aware of a few things when you consider these.

For starters, that family of four had better be rabbits if it’s is all they’re eating. Most “survival” seed vaults and kits are lacking in the same ways:

– Overall potential calories, proteins, & fats

– Regionally- or climate-specific varieties, to include short-season staples

Caveat: There are admittedly “survival garden” kits out there specifically for proteins, grains, oil seeds, and staples in general. There’s also companies that do make regional kits.

Three sets of black beans. Differences? One’s Zorro, specifically bred for uniform maturity in Michigan’s semi-rainy but shorter summers, regionally high-yielding and highly disease resistant. One’s the original Black Magic, developed in the U.K. – a bigger bean, lousy “green bean”, mediocre productivity anywhere humid & hot, great for a Seattle-type climate but too long-growing for Montana & North Dakota. And one? Well, I have no idea who produced it, how long it takes, where it yields best, or its spacing-nutrient-disease-pesticide needs. It’s whatever is in somebody’s survival seed vault.

– Inflated seed numbers (how much basil & borage are you really going to plant?)

– Further inflate numbers with perennials that won’t bear much in the first year

– Use a weight measure for seeds (which, divided out, can end up being 12-30 bean, melon & corn seeds … Pssst. That’s not gonna feed you all that much.)

– Declare the storage life using the longest-lived individual or upper 25-50% of the seeds in the best of storage conditions

Amazon question-answer – From the seller: “Some of the seeds won’t store for long term no matter how they’re stored…” (Full disclosure: When this one is $75-90 instead of $180-230, it’s actually a good deal as a starter or booster kit, and you can download the guide before buying to see what applies to your zone, although there’s 300 borage and similar inflation’s to be aware of … and corn isn’t as delicate as the supplier thinks.)

Now, referencing that chart above (which I’ll confirm – except spinach; spinach seeds never last long for me), a bedroom closet keeps my seeds for 3-5 years. I have a daily quart-plus of green beans and quarter-cup of dry beans coming off 30 abused 6-year-old black bean seeds that became 20 neglected and abused 10-15’ vines.

Then there’s this kit/vault, good for 5-15 years, maybe some seeds will last 20 in ideal storage – usually called 50-65 degrees or a freezer. Who knows how well those seeds are going to yield, or for how long.

So … why am I spending money on that packaging?

Without having a true Svalbard (which just flooded, by the way), the difference between storage in a Mylar bag and a tin can, versus Ziploc and an empty coffee tub is … pretty slim. Really.

Just make sure you’re paying for quality seeds applicable to your zone from a trusted grower, not fear-sales advertising or packaging that won’t appreciably extend the life of your chives.

Also, if a product is claiming 10-20 years, make sure they’ve been around long enough to have done independent testing on that claim – and get the by-variety shelf-life results.

Those results are somewhere. If they hedge and won’t deliver them … this calls for an extra grain of salt.

How Much Seed To Stockpile

Man, I really wish there was an easy golden bullet for this one, I do. But there’s not.

On one hand, I’m tempted to say “the world is never enough” but it makes no sense for people to stock things they don’t know how to use. Seeds fall into that category. Other hand, even if you don’t have space or knowledge, this isn’t the parts to a computer or a pony here – there’s a chance you can find help or extra space. But that leaves all the other factors up in the air.

What it comes down to is the only one-size-fits-all garden rule, the one constant we repeat, early and often:

Get Started. Now.

The more you do now, the more of the learning curve you’ve already passed.

“Foods That Will Win The War” calorie guide, 1918 – This was long before we got fat, and is not based on Cold Dark Northland winter needs.

Figure out the calories you need, and then the calorie yields of foods you can produce in your area. Then figure out what those foods need in turn.

Here’s one rule of thumb I will give you: Grains tend to average about 1500-1600 calories per pound (dry). Beans tend to be more variable, but 1500/dry pound is close.

A half-pound of dry beans and a half-pound of dry grains is a whopping pile once cooked, but it can provide a baseline for calculations. You multiply by days to see how many pounds you need – harvest to harvest plus next year’s seeding – and divide by your average yield using your baseline seeding rates.

That’s how much seed you need – ideally with some leeway for bad years.

You can start with published yield averages or suggested plants per person, but start now. See if your yields would multiple outward and match those averages. Adjust accordingly.

Anything you add into your garden or crops, you’re going to have to stock for the duration you expect to be growing, or learn to produce yourself for sustainability. So that will require additional space and labor, one way or another.

I wish there was an easier answer, but unfortunately, in this case … it still depends.

The post The Saga of Seed Stockpiles (Continued) appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

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