[Seedgeeks] veggie grex dissussion

[Andrew Still]

Dan and nick and other seed geeks,

I feel that this topic is of utmost importance and it deserves a lot of time
to discuss.  Grexes, polycultures, landraces, wild mixes, and/or composite
varieties have the potential of saving us from the green revolution, peak
oil and the effects of the probable collapse of empire. There has been a lot
of work done in this area of plant breeding but it has not been much exposed
and not nearly enough has been done.

Frank Morton has many of what he calls wild garden mixes.  They are
amazingly diverse and I think they are appropriately named.

Peters seed research and a few others have engaged in mixing melon lines
into single diverse, constantly "hybridizing", blends.

The Ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan has done work with the polycultures of
indigenous populations.  An example of what he describes is in Central
America were "primitive" corn lines are planted out mixed with their
"refined" corn varieties. This is done to encourage their refined corn
varieties to be more vigorous and disease resistant.

Raul Robinson  wrote the book "Return to Resistance" and this book is so
full of important information regarding plant breading that it is
overpowering. He illuminates the difference between Vertical Resistance and
Horizontal Resistance. And how single gene based vertically resistant
varieties of the mulinational corporations and the land grant universities
are only increasing our dependance on chemicals and poisons.  His ideas of
horizontal resistances through poly gene relationships are right up the
alley of grexes and polyculture mixes.

I would like to talk about this much much more but I got to leave the state
until next week. I will be very excited if anybody out there is also
interested is this topic.

peace, love and produce

andrew
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