Posted by Mark
on 9/1/2010, 4:51 pm, in reply to "Re: Multipinnata"
207.200.116.9
: I know what you mean on everything
: you said. I REALLY know what you
: mean regarding the microcycas. Just
: remember, the auction is not a
: direct link to the botanical gardens
: that produce those seeds. It is the
: FNGLA people who have a paid share
: in the seed distribution and that is
: what they auction. The BG people
: will tell you about this but they
: don't. If you have followed
: microcycas distribution over the
: last 8 years, about 3 to 6 years
: ago, nobody saw any seeds. The
: reason for that is that they have a
: fungus down there that gets into
: those seeds while they are in the
: cones. If you opened up a couple of
: those seeds you would have seen some
: black stuff in the middle of the
: seed, even when you saw an embryo. I
: had talked to a person down there a
: couple of weeks before the auction
: and was told that they guessed those
: seeds had a 10% viability at best.
: When I saw the prices people were
: bidding, I felt bad for them, but it
: is not my place to get in the middle
: of those people's business.
:
That's the thing about seeds, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you strike out. This years micro's were a dud, but i did get lucky on last years seeds, 2009. Got 28 healthy seedlings from 100 seeds. I figured maybe this year i'll get lucky again. NOT. I should know, I live in Las Vegas, so to me it's just another form of gambling. Just a lot of bad luck this year, however.
In the future, I just won't bid a whole lot for the seeds. The fungus just isn't worth THAT much.
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