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Open Pollinated - Do you know what it means?

AlabamaJack

AlabamaJack

I am not trying to be a smart ass here but something kinda bothers me when I see someone saying..."they are open pollinated"....puh-lease...you are probably reffering to the flowers on the plant or the whole plants not being isolated...

Miriam Webster says === > Open Pollination : pollinated by natural agencies (as wind or insects) without human intervention

















Open Pollinated is a "type" of pollination and does not mean "not isolated"...

If I am not mistaken, all pepper plants are open pollinated...

just the anal retentiveness in me coming out....correct terminology is isolated vs not isolated when reffering to seed purity...


Rant Over....
 
Never thought of it that way before..

I just guessed not isolated=OP, but I shall change the terminology because this makes sense.

See Ronnie, even your Rants are loaded with information! Rant on Chili Master.
 
Can I use that term? As in....

All my plants are open-pollinated; I just put them outside and let the wind and bugs do their thing.....
 
I can stickle English usage and grammar to the point of irritating even myself. This is exactly the kind of thing that I like to know.
 
Im glad you brought this up, AJ. It's funny how people make such a big deal out of "cross-pollination," but they don't realize that just about every seed seller doesnt isolate their plants. They dont do dumb crap like put little baggies over their flowers, etc. About the ONLY way to keep your plants from cross-polinating is to keep them far enough away from eachother so that bees and other outside methods of polination arent allowed access to eachother. I dont think ANY seed seller has those capabilities. Well, at least 99% of them.
 
Hot Pooper said:
About the ONLY way to keep your plants from cross-polinating is to keep them far enough away from each other .....
Click to expand...
Greenhouses. Individual greenhouses for each variety. Bees kept inside each greenhouse and not allowed to wander. Done.
 
Check out Wouter's thread from last season. He has a pretty suuuuweeet setup to isolate everything. Like G said, Big Greenhouse with a bunch of little greenhouses inside.

http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/22860-midos-peppers/

See post 3.
 
Actually, I didn't say that. (LOL) I was thinking of the bigger, commercial growers. Just one variety in one greenhouse - BIG greenhouse!
 
That's not true. Controlled pollination includes self-pollinating plants because you know where the pollen is coming from. In open pollination you don't know where the pollen is coming from.

Hot Pooper said:
Im glad you brought this up, AJ. It's funny how people make such a big deal out of "cross-pollination," but they don't realize that just about every seed seller doesnt isolate their plants. They dont do dumb crap like put little baggies over their flowers, etc. About the ONLY way to keep your plants from cross-polinating is to keep them far enough away from eachother so that bees and other outside methods of polination arent allowed access to eachother. I dont think ANY seed seller has those capabilities. Well, at least 99% of them.
Click to expand...

A couple of miles apart??? You would have to keep them very far. It isn't dumb to put baggies over flowers or encase the plant in netting to keep the bees out. This reduces the chances of cross-pollination. Bees contribute 40% of the cross-pollination and the bags help prevent the bees from crossing your plants.

Edit: And if sellers are not trying to reduce the probability of crosses, then their strains will mix (20% chance of crossing). If true, then that's a disaster to the pepper world. Personally I consider that bad breeding and unethical.
 
I always assumed when a seller said "open polinated" that it simply meant they were not taking any precautions to prevent possible crosses.

I personally don't mind growing hybrids... I like their vigor, and uniqueness.

I suspect its mostly the concern of those who actually sell seeds rather than give them away...
 
When trading I take it to mean open pollinated vs. self pollinated, but if buying seeds from a vendor then I assume there was some method of isolating varieties. Legit vendors will also test their seeds for germination and pathogens.

Usually from commerical seed vendors it is open pollinated vs. hybridized and it should be indicated F1 in the latter case. Also I believe there are levels of certification for seed purity that the big operations doing wholesale seed sales go through.

Any seed seller might not have the capabilities or put in the effort to isolate mass quantities of plants, but the reputable ones certainly do.
 
I use it as there's a chance of cross pollination. As bee's do not practiice monoghamy when it comes to plants. An there is a post on vendor vault where Pepperlover posted they cover every plant "once flowering" With something like cheese cloth. But don't guarantee what may have been trapped in or crawled up the stem. It's a 3$ extra fee on seeds for 100% purity. Hand pollinated themselves. As once I germinate and grow. I too put outside and let mother nature do her work for me.
 
Now correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't there still be a chance to cross pollinate? If there are multiple varieties next to each other and the airflow within the greenhouse is enough to spread pollen, that would give a possibility to cross pollinate. Not a very high one, and we are talking in what-ifs, but still possible.

Also, the greenhouse would have to be pretty secure with absolutely no holes, gaps, or areas for the outside environment to get in. Like I said, small chance, but I still think it is possible.
 
MGOLD86 said:
Now correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't there still be a chance to cross pollinate? If there are multiple varieties next to each other and the airflow within the greenhouse is enough to spread pollen, that would give a possibility to cross pollinate. Not a very high one, and we are talking in what-ifs, but still possible.

Also, the greenhouse would have to be pretty secure with absolutely no holes, gaps, or areas for the outside environment to get in. Like I said, small chance, but I still think it is possible.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there is always that possibility, but the chances are much lower.
 
I've never seen a bee in my greenhouse, but I have seen wasps which aren't considered pollinators. Aphids can be another real problem which should be discussed more
Chiles are inbreeders and do not shoot pollen in the air for pollenation like outbreeder type plants. Wind is rarely if ever a problem.

"But upon close examination of their test plots, they concluded that honey bees were responsible for the cross-pollination, and that "the wind accounts for only a very small percent, if any, of the cross-pollination that takes place in this crop." An examination of the flowers of wild species, and wild types of the annuum species, reveals large drops of nectar. These drops reward bees for visiting the flowers.
In 1984, Steven Tanksley of New Mexico State University found that the rate of natural cross-pollination in New Mexican varieties was far higher that suspected--up to 42 percent cross-pollination.. Bees were the culprits again--sweat bees, honey bees, bumble bees, and fruit cutter bees. His findings demonstrated the need for strict isolation conditions for the production of commercial seed. Other insects known to transmit pollen are ants, aphids, and butterflies.
http://www.fiery-foods.com/chile-pepper-gardening/124-the-pepper-growing-season/1866-part-2-maximizing-your-pepper-pod-yield
 
Would having your Chiles next to your flower garden help? Mine share space. I never see honey bees or bumble bees on my Chile flowers but they swarm my flower garden.
 
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