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Post by steev on Jun 13, 2013 23:38:42 GMT -5
Blue, I got that that was a pun, and I treated it as such, hence my conflation of Latin and English. I love language; it can cross faster than plants; it only happens culturally, not genetically; so much more human. If we go, our language goes; our plants may remain. It may be just a Celtic predisposition, but I do love a pun; hence the name of my farm: PlanT Farm; way past plan B. Puns make things so less concrete, leading to interpretation according to the inclination of the respondent, which can be very informative of things not conspicuously stated.
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Post by blueadzuki on Jun 14, 2013 7:06:32 GMT -5
Got it and sorry; I'm so used to people not getting my puns I sort of assume that, as soon as I've said them I've said something too obscure. I made people groan back in colledge when I named a wheat "Delphi" ("because of the auricles") and another one "Hope's Homily" (", I has deep glumes but it's always darkest before the awn") (note, neither ever got released, and as far as I know the samples of both were destroyed as non productive, so don't bother looking for either.)
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Post by steev on Jun 16, 2013 22:25:28 GMT -5
Liberal education (meaning "broad") is so under attack these days, in which "education", for economic reasons, is being squeezed out in favor of "training", that we are reducing the base of people capable of seeing beyond their narrow field of expertise.
This is culturally equivalent to narrowing the genome of our crops, and will be at least as disastrous.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 17, 2013 6:41:32 GMT -5
So, I have 5 types of wheat that are growing and visibly producing... 1. PRESUMABLY GMO wheat that has sprouted and grown from hay bales purchased at the feed & grain. This is all about 24" tall, produced "heads" about 3" long, no awns (awns are the long "hairs" at the tip of the individual grains, right?) 2. Winter Dinkle - 21 plants, the heads don't look anything like wheat. Guessing, and not an informed guess either, I would say this is an incorrectly labeled oat? 3. Black Emmer - 5 plants, only 1 head has completely emerged from it's sheaf. It's definitely wheat and has long, graceful awns. 5. Huron - 20 plants, it's BLUE! This is planted in a different area and while it IS growing and producing, it's not doing as well. The heads look like wheat. 6. Sin el Pheel - 20 plants. Same as the Huron.
The winter dinkle and black emmer are both planted in a raised bed and have been "pampered". The Huron and Sin el Pheel are spring wheats, planted on the edge of a bed where they have gotten more than a fair share of weed competition. They are also on the edge of a "sweet spot".
MOST interesting to me is that the "GMO" has a LOT more insects on it. I could not tell you why, I certainly don't understand this. But then that isn't the only curiosity in the garden this year.
Just found a photo comparing a few different grain heads and my "Winter Dinkle" may actually be spelt.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jun 17, 2013 6:54:49 GMT -5
Your #1 is probably a commercial wheat but is almost certainly NOT genetically modified. GMO wheat has never been approved for commercial release, and although they have found some GMO contamination in some wheat in Oregon I would be astonished that it had made it into one of your straw bales in the Southeast.
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Post by blueadzuki on Jun 17, 2013 7:13:21 GMT -5
Mary, Dinkel is a wheat, it's just it's a Polish wheat (Triticum polonicum) Lots of them have that sort of oatish look.
and yes, awns are the hairs that make up the beard.
On my side I have three wheats up (I don't count feral finds yet, since I have only seen the spots mentioned, not harvested them
1. Black Emmer same sort as Mary (same packet, actually)-lots of heads out flowers dusting sort of angualr 2. Golden Emmer A lot fuller and rounder looking than the black;whitish cast on the plants 3. Eikorn- looks a lot like very skinny wheat. Quite different from the eikorn I tried to grow last time I did it (which was beardless)
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Post by steev on Jun 18, 2013 1:04:37 GMT -5
My Kamut (Triticum polonicum) is drying and soon to harvest.
My Einkorn is only starting to stretch, for lack of irrigation, I think. Next year, it goes in as soon as it rains, in Fall.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 18, 2013 14:07:42 GMT -5
Oxbow, any idea if I can trace it to a particular variety based on my location? Also, is there any way I can be 100% sure it isn't GMO? I've long wondered if there is any way to test for GMO. I have a hard time believing there is only "a little contamination in Oregon". Hopefully I'm being unduly skeptical...
On the Winter Dinkel, I've cut off 4 seed heads because they were black. Squinting, it looks like a fungus. Any ideas what it might be and if cutting them off and removing them from the property is sufficient?
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Post by raymondo on Jun 18, 2013 18:49:19 GMT -5
No easy way to test for GMO. You need a lab I think.
I really don't think you should be concerned about your wheat being GMO but if you are in doubt then, for your own peace of mind, cut it down for mulch before it sets seed.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jun 18, 2013 19:47:00 GMT -5
I wouldn't worry at all about it being GMO myself, but if there is no way to be 100% certain of course. I'd say the chances are incredibly low. I'd cut it down before it makes seed if you are worried about it. Almost impossible to figure out what variety it is, if you know where the wheat was grown you could probably narrow it down to a few varieties that are popular in that wheat growing region.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 18, 2013 21:45:23 GMT -5
If I think about it I'll try to ask the folks at the feed and grain where it was grown. I actually am planning to cut all the heads when they begin to ripen and feed them to the piggies. I figured it would be good cheap feed for them. It also crowded out one or two less desirable weeds in the process AND creates more biomass which I really need to use to fill in the holes in the raised planters left behind by the chickens.... stupid chickens!!!! So, GMO or not, it's gonna be put to work now that it's here.
I guess I'm more concerned about the black stuff all over the 4 head of Winter Dinkel that look like some sort of fungus... Looks like soot actually.
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Post by blueadzuki on Jun 18, 2013 21:49:30 GMT -5
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Post by steev on Jun 18, 2013 23:57:53 GMT -5
If you really want to know whether it's GMO, send a sample to Monsanto; if it isn't, you'll not get a letter from their lawyers threatening a suit for patent infringement.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 19, 2013 1:46:37 GMT -5
I sent someone a gift of corn seed this spring. A month later he sent me a laboratory analysis in which it had been tested as non-GMO for the targeted genes. The paperwork said that the test cost $15.
Those sorts of prices almost make testing seem affordable.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jun 19, 2013 5:11:33 GMT -5
Blueadzuki mentioned ergot. I've personally never seen ergot on wheat although it is supposedly possible, ergot is very common on rye in my area. Other likely candidates for your sooty heads would be loose smut or common bunt.
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