Posted on 01/14/2010 10:58:57 PM PST by blam
A Seed Shortage May Come In 2010
By SUSAN REIMER THE BALTIMORE SUN
Jan. 11, 2010, 10:39AM
Will there be a shortage of vegetable seeds for gardeners in 2010?
It is possible, says Barbara Melera, owner of the oldest seed house in the country, D. Landreth Seeds, formerly of Baltimore and now of New Freedom, Pa.
After back-to-back good years — 2008's salmonella scares and 2009's poor economy send homeowners into the garden to grow their own food — you might expect a backslide in seed sales, Melera said. New gardeners get discouraged or bored.
But, she said, “In 2009, we had the worst growing season in 50 years.” Rain and disease destroyed crops and with them, the seeds for next year's garden.
“Onion sets. And a cucumber seed shortage,” she predicted. “We are being told that the cucumber harvest was catastrophic, attacked late in the season by woolly mildew. There was fruit, but no viable seeds inside.
“We are being told that many, many varieties simply won't be available.”
Likewise, Europe had a terrible harvest this year, and Europeans purchased much of their produce from the United States, taking with it the seeds.
And, as further proof that we are in a global marketplace, Europeans and Australians have taken a fancy to eating sprouts — tons of sprouts.
“When you grow vegetables just to get the sprouts, nothing gets to fruit. And they are consuming gigantic quantities of seeds just for the purpose of sprouts.”
Word of possible shortages must be leaking out, Melera said, because retailers are telling her they had their best December in years.
It is certainly true that vegetable gardeners are ordering seeds earlier and earlier, but Melera said she thinks it is more likely that gardeners are acting out of fear
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
real headline grabber ain’t it?
btrl
I’ve been storing food. Probably should start buying some more. And any seeds that come out for sale, quess I should be buying those, too.
Rush talked about this Salazar change on his radio program Thursday.
He said it will greatly affect the small oil companies and hurt us all.
Then Rush said: "It's got to be a deliberate attempt to destroy the country."
I have problems w/this because..........
YES, you need to take care of your needs forpresent& the future but to me the headline is fear-mongering,because there are those who do not understand this and even worse live in Baltimore City (Susan Reimer,columnist,Balto.Sun)who have absolutely NO ACCESS to storing up .3/4’s of Balto City is on frikkin’ food stamps.
I do the food storage but I also have my garden seeds for the most part for the garden coming up. Last year early on I tried to order from one online company and they were out. I have never seen that before.
I also prefer open pollinated seeds- meaning I can save seed from year to year, which can not be done with hybrids. That plus I grew up with open pollinated and to me the taste is so much better with things like tomatoes and such.
Thnx.
I try to save the seeds from what I grow. Some are hard because it’s alot of work to get and decent number of seeds from the pod, like radishes. Others are easier, squash, onions, cabbage.
I had one carrot plant last year that must have really really liked where it was, because it ended up putting out about 25 seed heads. Probably got 5,000 carrot seeds from that one plant!!
Spinach, beets, and lettuce too!
Presumably, their seeds are sold nationwide...this article from Baltimore was picked up by the Houston Chronicle.
Plus, if you plant seeds you have previously grown and harvested, you have a much better chance that it is a variety that will do well where you are!
Sometimes I go into my garden and think I gotta beat the cabbage back with a stick!!
I leave them overwinter and die back a bit. Then, in the spring, they start to put out tons of new leaves and stems prior to flowering.
A new cabbage leaf in the spring like that has got almost as much sugar in it as a pear, I swear! Delicious!
Guns, loaded ammo, powder, primers, bullets, and now seed? Some kind of trend?
And next, water.
This is a GREAT website- (can’t say that I have ever traded with them), but they have all sorts of survivalist stuff, including seeds, and tons of info.: http://waltonfeed.com/category/70
I guess we’ve been pushin’ too hard.
Consuming vast quantities of sprouts sounds like a liberal thing.
I have a small garden here in Maine. Enough to feed three, and some to sell or trade to neighbors.
I am finishing up my seed purchases this week; because last year in Feb. I ran into shortages.
As more and more seed companies are being bought and destroyed by Monsanto and Dupont, even retail seeds varieties are becoming hard to find.
What will happen in your area when it becomes too expensive to ship food to your area ?
When a loaf bread costs ten dollars, food stamps aren’t going to last through the first week of any given month? Do you think the nice people in the projects are going to give up their potato ships and ding-dongs ?
If you can; grow your own-store your own.
I have re-named my victory garden to;
.........THE JOHN GALT MEMMORIAL GARDEN......
Don’t we have a bunch of seeds stored in Norway?
Yup.
Yes, there are seed banks around the world and many in the USA, too.
There isn’t a shortage of seeds. I work for a seed company. Granted, some years there are shortages of a particular VARIETY, but we’re not going to run out of seed as long as there are people (like me) who are making money at it.
As far as SAVING seed, you need to grow open-or-self-pollinating varieties, usually called ‘Heirloom Seed.’ You also need isolation cages or acres and acres of land between varieties so you don’t get cross-pollinization.
Hybridized seeds will not produce TRUE, but they still will produce...either the male or female cross of the plant the seed came from in the first place.
See sales last year were up 30%. I predict more of the same this year...and yes, it was the worst growing season I’ve seen in 20 years...but people were still able to produce some of their food around here.
Don’t panic. Stock up if that’s where you want your dollars to sit, but there’s no need to panic.
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