I requested 15 accessions of short day bulb onion, Allium cepa L. var. cepa.
My request: “Intended use: Research, Varietal Development – Breeding
Research use notes: Evaluate and breed short day bulb onions for production value without the use of fertilizer or pesticide — and grown in high temperatures of Mississippi.”
I got a standardized denial email the next day: “Germplasm Requestor:
The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) provides plant material in small quantities to research and educational entities for projects where genetic diversity is required. Accessions maintained by the NPGS are not intended or available for home, personal, or community gardening. Requests for educational purposes are generally approved only for college-level projects requiring unique germplasm that is not readily available from commercial sources.
Your request does not meet the criteria to receive germplasm from the NPGS and has been cancelled.”
In order to be qualified, I suppose I need to be a paid plant breeder with a business address.
I suppose my tax dollars shouldn’t be wasted. 10-4
I wouldn’t get too disheartened.
I have heard of many people getting denials for generic reasons. Also, I have heard that many people have accessed the database. I reckon you should just try again with a less extensive list of cultivars.
Sorry I don’t have direct personal experience with accessions from GRIN.
This is too many things at once for a person in charge of safekeeping seeds to accept as a project within bounds of possibility. Most of all you mentioned high temperatures of Mississippi. I’m assuming wild onions grow there, because they grow where I live. But they’re a cool season crop not a midsummer crop. I noticed them last February or March if I recall. I have no idea about their flowering time or if they flower at all but it was cool weather.
They also mentioned in their denial about succeeding without already available germplasm. Which is another option. Using the many available varieties out there to create a landrace. Southern exposure seed exchange has 9 bulb onion varieties available. If you still want USDA germplasm after a couple of years of progress and experience growing onions then you market to them as an expansion on an established project that made progress but can’t quite make it to the finish line.
Hopefully this is enough outsider perspective to rewrite your project description or re-evaluate your project. Regardless, don’t take it too hard.
This might be a wild garlic patch. It comes up here in my yard this time of year and makes it through the first four or five mowings. I love when I run over the with the push mower. It brings a nice onion garlic smell lol. I really don’t know what it is. I took a bite of a handful of them. It definitely isn’t culinary grade selection but seems like it might pass as a wild garlic or onion.
I have gotten seed and cuttings from GRIN in the past, but word is that due to budget constraints and amount of demand, all emails without .edu are automatically rejected (there may be an appeal process). So it’s nothing personal. You may be able to set something up with the local ag extension school to get what you would like.