Open Source Seed Initiative

[nicollas]

Could be simple parthenocarphy

[prairiegarden]

Perhaps, but I am not convinced. There were several protuberances inside the fruit and the webbing which is usually full of seed was huddled in a small clump at the stem. The peppers were also somewhat misshapen, and even advertised as "imperfectly shaped", leading my friend to think these were "normal" peppers which they were selling rather than discarding as not perfect, so buying them was in a sense trying to support ethical behaviour of the part of the "food system". Quite a coincidence that there should be enough of these to package and sell them in large chain stores unless it was an induced condition.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Could it be the same as what they do for seedless grapes? My understanding of seedless grapes is that they are neither GMO or chromosome mismatch like in seedless watermelon, but instead spray they unfertilized grapes with gibberellins or some chemical to make them grow. I had heard this also makes them slightly elongated in the process.

[rowan]

This link seems to suggest that parthenocarpy is widespread in capsicums under certain growing conditions and I suspect that the fruit you bought was in fact not GMO. bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2229-11-143
Another paper I read says that there is higher parthenocarpy in capsicums when night temps are low.

[steev]

Here in Cali, there is a growing movement to salvage and market "imperfect" produce, the sort commonly discarded, dug-under, composted, or fed to animals. Produce associations have generally resisted this, fearing it will undercut their prices. However, these cosmetically- or size-challenged fruit are being seen as a valuable resource for improving the nutrition of the disadvantaged (and the frugal) while not wasting water, growing-space, or fertility.

[prairiegarden]

Right, that what my friend thought when she bought them, trying to do her bit for the world.

Rowan, wouldn't pepper varieties which were generally parthenocarpic normally simply cease to exist after a while? If they don't develop seeds because it's cold, that makes some sort of sense as the baby plants presumably would perish rather than thrive. But if they were simply generally parthenocarpic as a variety, then without intervention the variety would surely vanish as there'd be no seed to continue the line. It would seem to be a very nonadaptive form of evolution. Wasn't there a religious group in the States  a couple of hundred or so years ago who refused to allow sex? After they all died so did their religion as there wasn't anyone left to carry on. Certainly these peppers weren't in any way especially admirable for size or shape, they tended to be smaller and misshapen. The pepper wall was no thicker than many other peppers which contain abundant seed and are both larger and more shapely. Trying to stuff these would have been somewhat annoying, for example.

So from an admittedly tiny sample ( actually I went and had a look at the rest of the store display and they all seemed about the same, so more than the couple of peppers I helped chop up) the conclusions that they came to don't seem to be justified. ( TBH I understood about half the article but they seemed to be saying there were advantages and I certainly didn't see them). OTOH I am highly cynical about much of the research which comes out of institutions, it's usually useful to know who is paying for it before taking the results too much to heart.

[rowan]

I am not saying that the whole variety is parthenocarpic, just that the growing conditions made some of the fruits from that harvest happened to be so.

As for research from institutions, since governments don't, or very rarely, pay for research for the public good any more, only institutions and industry can afford to do it (apart from a few amateurs). No-one should believe everything that they read but most of this research is good. It is like the anti-vaxxers saying that since industry makes money out of the results then the results are automatically suspect - see argument no 14 in this article thelogicofscience.com/2015/10/12/100-bad-arguments-against-vaccines/

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I received the following note today from Carol Deppe. Anyone have some varieties to contribute?

Hello, Joseph—

Time to recruit new plant breeders for OSSI before the fall rush when those of us already on board will be presenting all our new varieties.

Do you have any names and contact info for freelance breeders you’ve interacted with via Homegrown Goodness or elsewhere that you could pass along to me? People who are far enough along so that they have something ready to Pledge now?

Cheers,
Carol

[jondear]

I'm in hopes of having something worth sharing at some point.