Sunday, August 11, 2013

volunteer industrial corn

errands took me by the no till bean field behind the big box stores and out on that mass of soybeans i saw several volunteer corn plants risen from seed the harvester and the gleaners missed...it is unlike its brethren that are planted as a monoculture in a field of their own...they have been in full flower for a month and have developed a multitude of ears...this one is just beginning to flower ( and, while i did not wade any deeper into this field than i had to i would lay odds that the other few plants out there are at about the same level of development ) and there are no signs of any swellings or secondary leaves that id a nascent ear anywhere on this one...monsanto says they do not put a "suicide gene" in their gmo corn...and hybrids can be finicky about generating a second generation...so they may be being honest here ( perhaps not...i am unsure ) but the ears on the volunteer plants beside the supermarket i photographed last season were all warped, stunted, and what passed for ears had no kernels...i will assay to wade out there again in a few weeks ( it is getting to be a bit of a chore as the beans are pushing three feet in height in places and i am honestly trying not to damage plants...i am a visitor here and i don't want to wear out my welcome ) to see if anything has developed...this is why i save seed and buy only heirlooms or organics.

No comments:

Post a Comment