Last month I spend a $100 on heirloom seeds. Been so long since I brought life from the ground. Going to volunteer at my community growing center. 1/2 acre for food bank on raised beds. Experience.
All of your videos are great, Mr. Don... But this one is perhaps my favorite. And I really like your slogan that you end all your videos with. God Bless You, Brother!
Great stuff sootch! This is our 4th season of growing all heirloom. We should be 100% food and seed independent this year. I also finished my bee keeping class this week and got my hives yesterday...... just waiting on my nucs now. Year before last we planted 9 purple hull pea seeds. I ate enough to see how I loved them and planted about half of the pint jar (- the quart we ate) of seeds those 9 made..... made a whole row. Now I have enough to plant 30 acres I think and we canned a lot of them last year. 1 seed dedicated to seed production usually gives us enough seed to plant a 80 foot row the following year. Some things are even many times that. Okra for example. One pod gave us more seeds than an 80 foot row could hold.
Everything you say in this video is correct. It took me 5 years of gardening and study to make it a viable means of food supply to feed my family but it was worth it! This year I am buying a hand mill and learning to grow a wider variety of cereal grains. I am also going to start learning how to plant some crops that are purely for barter like Tobacco. You are right that finding seed that grows best in your region is key, One year I grew a breed of corn that had a 50% infection rate of worms and the next year I grew a resistant breed and it got cut down to about 1% infection rate.
Great video as all of yours are! Would be nice to see an updated version since this is 5 yrs old. See what you have learned about these companies, new companies/products & your experiences over this time frame. Keep up the great work on both channels!!
Just found your channel, thank you for your work out here. Can you tell me, is there a particular brand of seed that you have successfully planted and harvested - a brand you would definitely purchase again yourself? I don't want to pay more for my seeds than I need to, but I want to make sure I purchase a descent quality seed. I'd like to get some Heirloom as well as other NON GMO seed, anything that will produce fertile seeds to be planted in the future. Thank you for any recommendation.
I try to get non-hybrid seeds, but I buy lots of regular ones as well. After summer ends, you can get seeds packets for less than $.50. They are only $1 at full price. I try to grab 5-10 every other time I go out.
Can you do a series of videos of how to plant, where to plant, how to weed, etc., for those of us who have never gardened before? Just a rundown of the basics on how to garden would be very helpful! Love these videos!
If you need some great info on growing, see you tuber 'growingyourgreens' he covers everything including compost, fertilizer, plants, eating your crops, plus a whole lot more.
Open pollination are normally cheaper since less work goes into the production. Try Jordan seed for cheap O.P. types, I have sent many of the heirlooms here in the U.S. to Zambia, Africa, (I support a mission there that feeds the poor, it is done by the local churches). But they sent me photos and our U.S. heirlooms did great there.
Great video, I do have F1 hybrid seeds at the moment (they were freebies my daughter got) but this year i will use them up and i will be producing my own heirloom seeds this year to go with the seeds i produced last year. I knew very little about growing food crops until last year and im learning by my mistakes. It does not matter what seeds your growing, if you dont learn how to grow them they are no use at all. But if you dont grow your seeds and produce more heirloom seeds they wont be fresh and older seeds 2-3 years old have a lower germination rate which could be 50% or less. So then your seeds will only produce 50% of the yield. People that start growing food make mistakes where they loose some or all of there crops, either by insects attack, fungal attack, bad weather, to much water or lack of water. Even seasoned knowledgeable gardeners loose crops so it pays to learn as much about growing now before you totally reliant on those crops for your food. Keep up the great work with the videos SP
There were some issues I observed with some of your comments and keep in mind I'm not for the "you're wrong" sort of thought process I just feel it would be helpful to provide you with extra information you might be able to use and by all means go talk to your local seed company/dealer if you have specific questions. although there are some merits to heirloom seeds, there is also a great risk involved. As you had said hybrids seeds have been selectively bred to show wanted traits and honestly the sky is the limit, higher yields, better drought resistance, different required CHU's for growth, disease resistance etc. and all those benefits are lost through heirloom seeds, no matter how well you establish those seeds it is a fact that they will always be inherently more risky to grown as they are much more susceptible to the factors i briefly covered. Many of the diseases of decades past that would have wiped out an entire field or would have caused extensive damage are basically unheard of these days due to varieties and although it may be easier to do seed reclamation and breeding with heirloom crops as opposed to hybrids, one wet spring and one of the many fungal pathogens can ruin your conventional crop and you will be left with nothing due to a crop failure or tainted fruit and seed which can often contain harmful toxins. Im not saying heirloom crops are worthless but they are proven to be inherently more risky and one instance of pests or disease can leave you empty handed. I would advise more research as you can never learn enough and being able to produce your own hybrids crops could come in very handy and yes its possible, it has to do with two inbred genetic lines ex. Parent A and parent B which are by themselves not very fruitful crops but when combined are exponentially higher in quality (their offspring) as long as you maintain those parent genetics you can create hybrid seeds and you can add in other varieties into the mix on top of it for a more renewed and strengthened genetic line. This is how hybrid seeds are obtained modernly it is just done on a larger scale but is deffinetally doable for oneself especially since it is on a small scale. In terms of GMO's a good example would be roundup ready crops, due to present resistant genes and pressure from a herbicide like roundup (glyphosate) naturally with repetitive spraying weed's survival instinct and availability for a weed breeding from a non resistant weed to a weed with the present gene will improve a weeds resistance and pass it on from generation to generation, in this case all that this GMO is, is introducing that gene into the crop like corn in a way that is much faster and more reliable than waiting for it to occur in nature, this provides us with a means to create crops like roundup ready corn which allows for a herbicide spray to cover a field and kill problematic weeds while keeping crops safe. Many people think GMO's are just people messing around in labs and creating "frankenfoods" when in reality it is based off of a process/phenomenon that is already present in nature. Thats just what I know and i realize everyone has there own opinions but i would urge you to do research on possibly utilizing hybrids in your mix-up to add security to your food growing plans. Just a little background I am a farmer, and our family does have it's own small garden with everything from pease to potatoes and many are heirloom/conventional crops. Also I am a college graduate of an agriculture program with my own personal focus being on plant sciences and anything agronomy related for that matter and would like to think i have learned a great deal from the many experienced researchers and professors during my education. Thats pretty much scraping the surface but anyways in general good video and all the best on your food growing plans sootch. Nikolas.
While I support the video because it will get people to buy seeds, I can also say that some of the science is off, breeding info especially. Keep in mind that didn't use junk parent stock to make the hybrids, and breeding 2 different hybrids will display some unique plants but also some plants resembling the parents. It is very likely you'll find plants that surpass the parents quality, maybe they'll yield more, have more vitamins, taste better and the opposite maybe true for some plants. Something is better than nothing. Also mid summer after the planting season all the dollar store have massive sales on seeds, 10 c per pack price range, and make cheap back ups. Heck learn to germinate with them. Gardening isn't always easy for newcomers, best start learning now.
GoldgunsAndgolf the store says 5 years and emergencyseed says they'll replace your seeds if you have issues. Just placed an order through them with free shipping.. Thanks for the video
There is no advantage of mylar over the ziploc bags if you keep them in the ammo can. As you say, the ziploc is preferable because they are 1) resealable and 2) because you can see the seeds.
My biggest tip is do not buy seeds advertised as "prepper/survival seeds", buy fresh ones from reputable seed producers that all the local gardeners use like "Johnny's seeds", buy two varieties of each in case one doesn't grow well in your microclimate. Secondly would be only buy seeds of things you actually eat. Thirdly buy for disease resistance not taste or texture, also some seeds require less nutreints than others if your that dedicated to finding prepper seeds. Remember to store the nutrients they require too like Fish, Blood and Bone. You can save the seed from F1 hybrid seeds, they just won't grow "true to type", just meaning they will have more variation in whats produced. Context is important, if you think you are going to have to save your own seed then Heritage/Heirloom seeds are the way to go. If you just think you will need to maybe grow for 2-3 year while the system gets back up and running then F1 hybrid seeds are the best option, mainly due to their disease resistance, giving you a garenteed harvest when you can't afford for your crop to fail. Things like carrot seeds really don't keep that well, try and cycle through the seeds every year. Don't forget seed potatoes, Blight resistant ones too. Practicing growing is very important, don't just think it's as easy as it looks and if you want to avoid say carrot root fly you need to grow in 18" raised beds or with an insect fabric around the crop, as the flys only really fly so high off the ground. If your growing for years, crop rotation is very important to avoid disease and pest build up in the soil.
Hybrid and op is up to what u really needs...for a bad season year bad climate a hybrid will do better. Myself personally i will choose a steadily growth seed...
Great video! I would never use a genetically modified seed, or eat produce that has been genetically modified. Not thanks. They're definitely causing havoc, and we still don't know how bad it is because of lack of research and time period. I have gotten a few seed banks. The Texas ready is the next one I'll be buying.
I had a conversation with a college guy lately and I was trying to tell him why to use heirloom, and not gmo and hybrid seeds, and he is taking some classes on plants in college, and he was refuting every thing I said because of what his professor was telling him. It was frustrating because he seemed to be able to refute everything I said.
Can't plants cross-pollinate all by themselves anyway? And what about dogs. (and other animals? They are bred for certain types and traits all the time, and have been for thousands of years. (People have been asking me these questions lately when I tell them to buy Heirloom seeds, and I am not sure what to tell them.)
When did hybrid become a cross of 2 diff species of plant..like a carrot and a squash...dont you mean 2 diff strains of the same species like a better boy x a roma giving you a small dia better boy tomato with tougher skin better for transport etc etc
Typically hybrids are a cross between two varieties of the same species. This is an important distinction that is easy to overlook. The real problem with Hybrids is that we seldom know what varieties were used to create the hybrid because its a big proprietary secret. If you plant seeds saved from a Hybrid there is a good chance that the next generation will resemble one or the other set of grand parents and thats fine if you know what those parents are and are OK with that but, Imagine they cross a tomato that produces a few small but very sweet yellow fruits that mature quickly and a Tomato that produces many huge flavorless red fruits that take a long time to mature to get a plant that produces many medium sized sweet orange fruits that have an intermediate maturing time. If you save the seeds from this hybrid and you are depending on them to feed yourself you will not be amused if half your plants produce just a hand full of tiny sugar sweet tomato no bigger then a grape and the other half are grass green when first frost comes.. In a real shtf situation PREDICTABILITY in many cases trumps productivity. If you are planting seed that will produce a predictable yield. even if its not the highest possible, that can be far better that a feast or famine crap-shoot
Also hybrid seeds don't assure 100% genetic purity. On the succeeding crop season, some crop traits will be revealed. People and other farmers don't know segregating generation. Other revealed traits will be misinterpreted by farmers as infected or toxic plant but it's just a different gene on a same trait.
It's just not that simple. Whether you plant heirloom or hybrid, they're both open pollinated, the genetics of the plants are just as homogenous and you will always have the result of seeds with inbred genetics for next season UNLESS you plant multiple varieties of say, tomatoes. "Heirloom" is just a marketing term. Those plants are their own hybrids. In "the good old days" farmers would see declining yields after a few years of saving seeds and would have to trade seed with farmers to increase the genetic diversity of their seeds. Eventually, if you only reclaim your seeds to plant, you'll end up with a crop failure.
The same BS is taking place right now with experimintation of genetically modifying embryos, Diverse crop rotation is the key to the longevity and heath of your crops/soil. There is so much information stored in genes that we don't know about that create issues. This modification takes out the whole natural evolution of DNA/genes that should take place through time .
virtually nothing about what you said about gmo seeds was true. blind taste test you couldn't tell the difference between them. and there are virtually no gmo vegetable varieties commercially available for seed purchase. they haven't been developed yet.
Huge companies like Monsanto use GMO seeds treated with pesticide to make the plants resistant to disease and bugs. . When you eat these veggies, you consume the pesticide as well.
Scampergirl You are a fucking idiot. Seeds treatments will only affect you if you eat the treated seed directly. The seed treatment is not transfered to the grown vegetable. Idiots running your mouth have no idea what you're spouting. An in order for you to be affected by the seed treatment you would have to consume and insane amount of treated seed. Therefore, it's not going to affect you. Fuck off
+TheRoadfarmer exactly all these people spout out this and that especially about pesticides yet they have no idea that there are pre harvest intervals required to ensure that a crop does not have hazardous residues present not to mention many herbicides used have little to relatively no residual activity. Then they complain about GMO's and hybrids as if they're not real crops, hybrids are nothing but selective breeding replicating what happens naturally and GMO's are nothing but a replication of what happens often in the wild, especially with weeds... example glyphosate resistant giant ragweed etc., it is just at a faster rate and more successfully replicable. Crops like roundup ready corn are nothing but a developed resistance, through the use of a transgene, in that crop to glyphosate which allows for the field to be sprayed with glyphosate to kill problematic weeds and leave the crop relatively or completely undamaged, makes the blood boil when people have no idea what they are talking about and preach it.
TheRoadfarmer If you did your homework, you'd look up all the testing done on animals fed GMO. They develop high rates of cancer. But you're too far up Monsanto's ass to making an effort, so fuck off as well.
All of your videos are great, Mr. Don... But this one is perhaps my favorite. And I really like your slogan that you end all your videos with. God Bless You, Brother!
