Topic: Pest resistance.

[tim]

Good old MARSHALLS - trying to identify the Sprouts that I mixed up.

One row badly affected with Aphid & White Fly - the other not touched.

So they are going back to the grower to find out if one variety is pest-resistant.

[Trixiebelle]

This is one of the BURNING questions that keeps me awake at night along with:

How big is the universe?
Chicken 1st or egg?
Why does my dog howl when I play the piano?

How on EARTH does someone make a plant 'pest resistant?'

Do they train them to hold little banners up saying things like 'Carrot Fly Not Welcome Here' or 'No Access For Blight'?

[Marymary]

A very interesting question Trixie.  I reckon it must involve growing lots of plants & finding one or more which show some resistance & then crossing it with another variety which also shows some resistance or even with an old, wild variety or somesuch & then hopefully the next generation will have inherited lots of resistance - if not you start again!  It seems to work though & I have been growing quite a few cos it cuts down on either losses or chemicals.  For example I have several varities of tomatoes which are blight resistant cos I lost my entire crop 2 years ago.

[OllieC]

Chicken 1st or egg?

I know this one - egg. Dinosaurs were there years before chickens!

Always figured they just get it wrong a lot of the time with resistance although it'd be interesting to know more about the mechanics.... Maybe they have special rooms full of aphids & slugs & stuff.

[saddad]

Definitely Room 101 then !
 :o

[Marymary]

No they could just use my garden for their experiments.  :)

[Tin Shed]

Perhaps I could help them and send them all my slugs, snails, ants, greenfly, aphids etc - they must need alot of them to check the plants are really resistant!