lowered my standards......

[T-Bird]

I've been craving watermelon for 2 years - tried growing them - no luck so far....finally got some of the seedless kind...


How bad are they do you think?

[speltrong]

I am not following.. why would seedless watermelon be bad?

[Mary Kay]

To answer your question: Seedless fruit is just not natural. The whole reason a plant produces fruit is to house the seed. In nature, how would a seedless fruit reproduce?

IDK, but would suspect seedless melons to be some sort of hybrids. I've heard that hybrid plants to not take up as many trace minerals. Don't know if it's true, but literally have heard this on and off --from about 30 years ago!

Mary Kay

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

I've been craving watermelon for 2 years - tried growing them - no luck so far....finally got some of the seedless kind...


How bad are they do you think?
Promise me you will never do it again. Follow this 10 part link through:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKABsyX6SM8&feature=related

For more scarey stuff follow this link through:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94d-KVorSHM

Obviously the watermelons have been genetically altered in some way. When you follow the first link through you will be in no doubt as to what you should be doing.

Lots of corruption in government and business about this. Don't support them!!!

[MysticTree]

I've been craving watermelon for 2 years - tried growing them - no luck so far....finally got some of the seedless kind...


How bad are they do you think?


http://www.enotes.com/how-products-encyclopedia/seedless-fruits-vegetables

You'll live! The process for seedless watermelons is much closer to traditional methods which involve selective cross-breeding :)

[Steven]

To answer your question: Seedless fruit is just not natural. The whole reason a plant produces fruit is to house the seed. In nature, how would a seedless fruit reproduce?


Not true, there are plants that produce fruit with no seeds that are completely natural. The common cavendish strain of bananas for example grows and spreads from root systems.





IDK, but would suspect seedless melons to be some sort of hybrids. I've heard that hybrid plants to not take up as many trace minerals. Don't know if it's true, but literally have heard this on and off --from about 30 years ago!


Almost all plants are hybrids, ask any botanist. ;) I think you mean genetically modified.


I think youll be fine eating a seedless watermelon. I just make sure to buy organic seedless ones, so no chance of being GMO. Stressing over if your watermelon has seeds or not will cause more damage I think. :)

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

lnteresting information from the last two posters. l bought some certified organic oranges from the health shop that had no pips in them either. l checked with the standards board and they said that they never certify food that are GM. l was wondering about it but thought foul play might still be occuring. Hopefully no monkey business is occuring, but l am still hearing bad things.

[GlimR]

There is so much information out there as Mr Raw & MysticTree's posts prove. I buy the organic seedless watermelons every week. They are not gmo and IMHO, a lay persons though it is, they are awesome..delicious, make incredible juice and feel very nourishing to my body. There are a lot bigger issues to sweat than this one to me.

[bananaberrie]

I think youll be fine eating a seedless watermelon. I just make sure to buy organic seedless ones, so no chance of being GMO. Stressing over if your watermelon has seeds or not will cause more damage I think. :)

Yep, I fully agree...well said. :)

[MysticTree]

I was eating watermelon just now and put the seeds to the side of the plate for the hens ... the dog just came along; ate the seeds and marched off with the rind!

[snoops]

I have this argument with my husband all the time. Isn't hybridization genetic modification? You are changing the genetic makeup of something by mating it with something else. If this is true then how can all GM be bad and almost everything we eat is GM. Thanks

[MysticTree]

Hybridisation isn't genetic modification

GM is where you actually mess with the plant DNA.

Hybridisation is a natural event.

So, beets for example will cross-pollinate with each other very easily. Thus we have a variety of different types but if the scientists took DNA from another plant that was high in a nutrient that beets are not high in and added it to the beet DNA to make a "super-beet" then that would be GM - for example.

[snoops]

ahh, thank you.

[Mary Kay]

Steven,

Thanks, but I did mean "hybrids" - not GMO. I believe the watermelons to be UNNATURAL hybrids. And although natural hybridization does occur, a plant, in nature, would not reproduce if it naturally hybridized to the point it didn't have seeds and was meant to.

That banana plant to which you refer occurs that way in nature . I meant that if a plant has seeds, such as a watermelon and then we hybridize it so that it doesn't have seeds - to me that is unnatural and although not GMO, I try to shy away from them. And yes, I have read that hybridized (unnaturally) plants do not pick up trace minerals as well. I began hearing this, literally 30 years ago.

Just wanted to clarify to support my statements.

That being said, my FIL grows seedless grapes, and I occasionally eat them!

Mary Kay

[T-Bird]

From the purdue Univ extension office:

http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-62.pdf


Standard
watermelon plants (two sets of
chromosomes) are crossed with
plants that have had their chromosome
number doubled (four sets of
chromosomes) by the use of a plant
derived chemical. The result is
offspring, seeds, with three times
the normal chromosome count.
(These are the seed sold to growersby the use of a plant
derived chemical. The result is
offspring, seeds, with three times
the normal chromosome count.
(These are the seed sold to growers
who grow the watermelon we
know as seedless.) In the process
of reproduction, plants must halve
the number of chromosomes
before combining chromosomes
with the other parent. Triploid
plants have three sets of chromosomes;
three can not be split
evenly, therefore the plants are
sterile. To produce more triploid
seed, the cross of the genetically
different parents must be performed
again.

Seedless grapes, on the other hand, were a spontaneous genetic mutation and have been propagated through stem cuttings, etc. Also - seedless grapes can be used in crossing different grape types, so the traditional techniques of breeding are used to produce different seedless varieties.

Other plants - I do not know....

[Raw Angel Mom]

Hybridisation isn't genetic modification

GM is where you actually mess with the plant DNA.

Hybridisation is a natural event.

So, beets for example will cross-pollinate with each other very easily. Thus we have a variety of different types but if the scientists took DNA from another plant that was high in a nutrient that beets are not high in and added it to the beet DNA to make a "super-beet" then that would be GM - for example.

Good information thank you. I had no clue