Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s rare desert flora

Re:Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s r... by derekp7 on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @08:36PM (#30693816)

So the problem with some fruit plants is they have to be cloned to get the fruit. For example if you plant an apple seed, chances are good that you won't get a desirable apple. You have to plant a bunch of them, wait until they develop fruit, then when you find one that is good you clone it.

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Re:Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s r... by saalweachter on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @11:38PM (#30695059)

The good news is that all apples are cider apples.

So you plant your orchard of hundreds of apple seeds, harvest them for cider, and taste them as you go along.

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Re:Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s r... by hinkley on Wednesday March 16, 2022 @12:43AM (#30695399)

I’m waiting to see if my crabapples will be jelly apples, cider apples, or applesauce apples.

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Re:Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s r... by timClicks on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @09:13PM (#30694090)

Bananas are worse. All of the world's commercial plants are Cavendish bananas, and they are all clones.

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Re:Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s r... by 7thaccount on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @11:02PM (#30694860)

Yeah. They all used to be Gros Michel (spelling), but they all died out in the 1950s due to disease.

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Re:Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s r... by hinkley on Wednesday March 16, 2022 @12:45AM (#30695416)

Something to be said for native fruits here. Usually though cultivars have double to quadruple the amount of meat, though there are exceptions in both sides.

The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long.

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Re:Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s r... by EdwardDiego on Wednesday March 16, 2022 @07:28AM (#30697510)

Apples are particularly bad, as they're "extreme heterozygotes". Good for avoiding pests in the wild. Bad when you want to plant more of the same tree.

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