Using cement and MSG for evolutionary innovation

Some simple plant breeding techniques that deserve to be better known.

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This was a really interesting article!

It made me wonder if MSG could be used to increase fertility for garlic. Have you seen any trials to that effect?

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I am very interested in this information. I can tell I’m going to be drawn towards methodologies like this once I’m a bit more confident in my basic crossing and breeding techniques.

A basic Google search finds me no further info about the ‘cement method’. Also, the pic was AI generated. I rather think the rest of the article was as well. I may be paranoid, but me nose doth twitch to the smell of fakery. Also: ‘Apply a tiny of bit of cement powder to the stigma 30 minutes prior to the distant pollen’ doesn’t make grammatical (much less practical) sense. But it’s just close enough to fool the casual glance, which is all that AI is capable of. So far.

HI Jessica,

I wrote the article. There is no AI in it except the image. But then maybe I’m a bot ?

Joking aside, I linked the original thread for the cement method. Here’s another one: https://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46472

Regarding the “apply a tiny bit of cement prior to the distant pollen” it means just that. First apply cement, wait a bit, then apply the pollen (which is distant or else you wouldn’t need the cement).

I think if you take a look at the rest of the articles I wrote its pretty obvious to see that they’re original, if for no other reason than no one else writes about this stuff, which is why I started to post them.

Prior to applying pollen, use cement powder 30 minutes in advance.

You’re stimulating the plant to ready it for pollination. Plant foreplay. :joy:

By itself, an odd phraseology is not concerning. But I also could not find any corroborating evidence that this is a method that even a small number of people are trying. Not being in any sense a scientist, I am frankly not qualified to even attempt to parse this bit:

" Now heres some additional info: Usually, there is only very few seed to be harvested but it works and the seeds are usually viable. The reason why this works is that cement consists of highly basic calciumsillicates that tremendeously raise the ph of the flower. Because there also are aminoclusters on a pollencorn that are also responsible for raising the ph, the cement has the very same effect. Because of his highly basic potential, cement is even way more effective. Basic niveau reduces the ability of the flower to abort the pollen so it accepts it."

Which means I have nothing to go on when I ask myself ‘Is there any reason to believe this is a viable method?’ Moreover, it should be pointed out that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES is cement dust anything you want near your lungs. Even in tiny amounts. So, yeah, I’m at least going to wait until I hear a few more anecdotes before I even consider this method as worth trying.

I imagine I fit into one of the intended audiences for this piece:

I already am making some manual crosses, including for the sake of curiousity an occassional attempt at a wide interspecies or intergeneric cross.

I already have MSG and cementious powders on site. For me there is not too much burden to trying this out, especially if other people on forums where I’m active were posting that they are trying it.

I am not sure I have time to keep track of any more crosses at the moment. But since I already spent a certain amount of my time in potentially frivolous pursuits like trying to pollinate wild Curcubita pepo with domesticated C. ficifolia pollen or pollinate Hibiscus moscheutos with domestic okra this year.

For someone in my situation, why not add cement powder to the ficifolia or okra pollen bags? I can understand the hypothesis that cement mimics pH-raising characteristics of aminoclusters on pollen.

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The people who reported success with the cement method (or other high pH powder) are 10 separate individuals, and there is another thread I didn’t look up which would bump that number up. There is zero pressure for you or anyone to try this method, but I wanted people to know that I wouldn’t have put this method in the article if there wasn’t some basis for its use. For people interested in wide crossing, its potentially very helpful information.