Non-GMO Seeds

Shoe-would you mind listing the types of seeds that could be GMO? Like you said they are regulated and only avaliable to the commercial farmer but the latest information I have is Corn, Soybean, and Squash and they arent going to be purchased/grown by a home gardener. I relalize there are other issues with GMO but this thread is about seeds not the products that are made from them.

BTW-The shaking method for making butter works great I use a large baby food jar. Doesnt take too long.

all seeds COULD be GMO and if they are NOT listed "non-gmo" than you can assume that they may be

"all seeds COULD be GMO and if they are NOT listed "non-gmo" than you can assume that they may be"

Perhaps, but highly unlikely, flowAjen. I would equate that possibility to the same chance you could buy a packet of squash seeds and end up getting cucumber seeds instead. That's a very slim chance. Seed production is very well regulated, be it hybrid, OP, parthenocarpic, GMO or non-GMO. As for being "NOT listed non-gmo" you have to remember there are no labeling laws in this Country (and many others) that would make a company feel the need to put that info on a packet. What you may want to look for though are seeds that are Open Pollinated (OP), then learn to save seeds from those for your future gardens/crops. I doubt any backyard garden will be next to a GMO food crop so you should be fine with your seed saving, taking into consideration cross pollination from your other crops in your garden, another topic worth delving into and easily learned.

Briefly answering Lisa...GMO crops at this time are pretty much limited to corn, soybeans, alfalfa, cotton, rice and yes, a few squash offspring. Hope this is helpful info, not harmful.

Sorry, Terry, just trying to be informative so our beginner gardeners don't go mass crazy! :>)

Shoe (off to rest a bit for now and looking forward to sowing peppers, eggplant, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and onions tomorrow! Yay!)

'shoe, no need to apologize whatsoever - you were basically answering the OP's question :-)

Terry

If companies are labelling seeds as "non GMO" you need to assume that the same veggie seeds from other companies CAN POSSIBLY be GMO or why would they feel the need to be labelled as such????

For instance Territorial seed company http://www.territorialseed.com/ has a safe seed pledge and "only offers untreated seed"

Some seed companies are aware that some people are concerned about GMO so they'll specifically label their seeds as non-GMO to set minds at ease, but the other companies may not be aware of that sensitivity or because of the fact that GMO seeds are not going to be readily available to the general public they don't feel the need to label theirs non-GMO because none of the seed packets you can buy at the local nursery, big box store, online seed company, etc are going to be GMO.

A good analogy for this is food labeling for things like gluten free, trans fat free, etc. I've seen these labels on types of food which by nature of the type of food they are never could have had gluten or trans fats in them in the first place. For sake of example let's say it was fruit cups. Just because brand A of fruit cups says gluten free on it and brand B doesn't, that doesn't mean you should assume that brand B has gluten in it since there's no way for fruit cups to have gluten in the first place. Brand A is just taking advantage of consumers' heightened awareness of gluten and desire for gluten-free products and using it as a marketing tactic.

It's also worth pointing out again that regardless of what folks here may think about GMO seeds, the companies that developed them view the GMO-induced characteristics as a benefit. They spent a lot of money developing that benefit and bringing it to market, and they are VERY protective of their technology and want to tightly control it (don't want farmers saving seeds from GMO crops, etc to force them to buy new ones the next year) so there is no way that there are going to be GMO seed packets out there for sale that aren't labeled with the GMO benefit (Roundup resistance, etc). The seed companies who are selling seeds to home gardeners wouldn't have any reason to go to the trouble & expense of acquiring the more expensive GMO seeds only to sell them to the public in an unlabeled packet for the same price as all their other seeds. It just wouldn't make business sense to do that.

Horseshoe said this:
"I doubt any backyard garden will be next to a GMO food crop so you should be fine with your seed saving..."

I will try to explain our gardening situation. We live out in the country surrounded by cropland. The neighbour whose land is across the road from us has a test plot for one of the big seed companies. Every two years, they plant the test corn. Between us and that test plot is the drainage to the creek, the road and ditches. Two summers ago, we were asked not to plant any corn because it could cross pollinate. They require a buffer of a thousand feet from any other corn. The workers will actually go into the field around us and cut down any stray corn.

We own 9 acres. The mowed yard area is about three acres and it is within that where we are gardening in different areas. The other 6 acres are mowed for hay, used by our neighbor. Surrounding our acreage is a large field. This year the field around us will be beans this year. I have no idea if their crops are GMO
In saying all this, is it likely those crops will effect our gardens? This year will be no sweet corn because of the test crop.

I found an Iowa company for this year's seeds. Seed Savers Exchange. The site says they were one of the original signers to the Safe Seed pledge.

I am gluten intolerant, so that comparison is right up my alley...you'd be surprised where you can actually find gluten and what they put it in(even toothpaste!!!). Foods( that may naturally be gluten free) if they are processed on shared line(another $ saving measure) can be contanimated

I, for one, just appreciate the fact that they label it non-gmo, puts my mind at ease

great article I found
http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-philadelphia/gmo-seeds-pt-1-the-truth-about-gmo-s-monsanto-and-burpee-seed

I agree, it's nice when companies do label things non-GMO so you can have that peace of mind but if you find seeds you want from a source that doesn't do that, you don't need to worry that you're buying Roundup Ready corn by accident.

Chillybean--you're in the sort of situation where accidental contamination could occur through cross-pollination, although it sounds like they're taking precautions to prevent that by making sure you aren't growing corn within 1000 ft of their corn. Even if there is cross-pollination, it won't affect what you grow this year, the impact would be on the seeds you collect for next year so if you want to be extra safe, don't collect seeds from your plants if it's a crop that the neighbors are growing, buy new ones next year instead. But if they're growing beans and you're not then you shouldn't have to worry.

That's a great example you've given, ecrane. Perfect.

Chillybean, in your area you are more near the big mid-west farms that grow hectares of grains and soybeans, etc, much closer to huge test fields than the typical "backyard garden" I'm referring to. And keep in mind your neighbors test corn may or may not be GMO but yet could be another standard sweet corn or field corn and they don't want the variety crossing with a corn that will have an affect on it. They could even be growing seed corn and must keep the corn field restricted to two (or more) cultivars to ensure seed integrity.

"In saying all this, is it likely those crops will effect our gardens? This year will be no sweet corn because of the test crop"

Given windy conditions corn pollen can travel quite a ways, so yes, your neighbors corn could cross, and vice versa. (I'm brazen enough that if I was told I can't grow corn I'd ask for enough replacement corn, preferable sweet corn, to fill my freezer with! *grin)

I imagine the beans around you will most likely be soybeans, pretty much a standard crop for field rotations where the beans will help to replenish the N in a field one year so the following year oats, wheat, or another crop will follow. With beans being self-fertile and normally pollinizing there is slim chance their beans will cross with yours, especially with soybeans, especially from such a distance (soybeans are pollinized even before the flowers open so pollen seldom strays). And keep in mind, if they are growing soybeans those won't cross with your green beans so you're safe there.

flowAjen, yep, Territorial Seeds has taken the seed pledge. Baker Creek has as well. And I believe even Burpee states they don't sell GMO seeds. ohnny's Seeds are in the line-up as well. I'm sure there must be a list of companies on line who follow suit. That might be good to look up sometime. A Google for companies who are involved in the "SSI" (Safe Seed Initiative) should give a good list.

Shoe (off to finally go sow some seeds, in the greenhouse, mind you, a "safe seed" environment!)

Sorry ecrane, I got distracted (perking more coffee!) and posted after you did.

" Even if there is cross-pollination, it won't affect what you grow this year, the impact would be on the seeds you collect for next year so if you want to be extra safe,..."

Actually with corn it will affect this years crop. Crossing different types of corn will have an effect on the texture, sugar/starch ratio, taste (of course) and the saved seed.

Shoe

Horsehoe wrote:
(I'm brazen enough that if I was told I can't grow corn I'd ask for enough replacement corn, preferable sweet corn, to fill my freezer with! *grin)

Actually, when he came to our place and asked us not to plant corn, he told us we could help ourselves to the sweet corn he was going to plant at his brother's place down the road. Sadly, the crop was ruined from the heavy rains that year, but he came by some months later with a big bag of beef from one of his cows because we were not able to get any corn.

Nope, I am not planting any soy beans, just green for canning, and other beans for drying.

Wow, I'd say you have a great neighbor, Chillybean. And no doubt someone very easy to work with. I bet you could glean a lot of good gardening knowledge from him; I imagine it is a generations-old family farm.

Sounds like you're good to go on the bean crops, too.

Were you in the area that got lots of flooding last years? So many folks up your way really suffered. Wishing you a better year this go-round.

shoe

Thank you Shoe for the clarification. For one thing the GMOs are much more expensive (from what I can tell) so from a business perspective there would be no reason to sell these instead of regular seeds. I have found that assuming only gets me in trouble.

Flow-Untreated is not the same as GMOS.

From what I understand (not assume) the GMOs seeds must be labled as such those that arent dont. Companies do it though and it is good for marketing.

I didn't say untreated meant that they were non gmo

Thanks Terry, saving that page

Wow! Thanks, Terry. I had no idea the advanced search would pull up something like that. That search page could be a nice Sticky in the Sustainable Living Forum. And the Heirloom Vegetables Forum. And Seed Saving. After all, if there are seven pages of Companies who've joined the Pledge that would be great info to pass on to others, eh?

Thanks! Now I know where to go to find suppliers along those lines.

Shoe

Gitagal, yes you can use Store Bought to make Butter, if you do I would use the Store bought Sour Cream for the innoculate, and this still makes a mighty fine Butter...I hope you enjoy it...
Flowajen That Link is right on target, everyone should read that before they buy seed, and the links are amazing. I've just bookmarked it.
"...tiptoeing..."

This is interesting info

"Genetically-modified (GM) plants have escaped the confines of agriculture and are invading the wild in Canada and now also in the US. Some of the plants had a mix of modified genes, indicating that they are reproducing on their own. Once a GM crop is released it cannot be unreleased, and there are no systems in place to prevent genetic contamination through pollen flow, spills or human error. Although the GM plants found by the roadside are assumed to be the result of escaped seeds during transportation, the GM plants found away from roads show that the plants are taking on a life of their own and are a threat to genetic biodiversity."

Hard to get the genie back into the bottle, unfortunately. And we were told that this couldn't happen, right?