Growing irradiated flower seeds, what can I expect?

So I'm growing Marigold seeds that had been subjected to high and medium levels of irradiation. Besides lower germination rate, what can I expect? Will they mature and flower and set seed, will seed pass on odd traits? Do I have to treat them differently, (ex are they more easily burnt by sun)?

I'd expect many weak plants with various weird deformities and if you grow enough maybe something interesting.

Forgive my interest BUT !!!! why in Gods name would you want to Subject any seeds/plants or other living things to that and expect them to pay you back by growing.

Just Asking, not wanting WW111 to kick off LOL.
Best Regards, WeeNel.

Thanks Keithp2012, Now you tell where the seeds came from but, omitted to give answer as to why anyone would want to grow plants that have been dosed with Radiation,
I'm quite surprised they have been let out of the Lab, regardless of how LOW the radiation is.

I worry about further down the growing linage, could pollination insects be affected, cross pollination, could this harm the gene bank, AND when they grow in the dark, will they be seen from space LOL.

Best Regards. WeeNel.

No plants that I grow come Via a lab, promise you that much, the garden, all 10 acres, is chemical free, make my own compost OR get Horse manure where the grazing is chemical free, and as husband has now retired from Nuclear industry, I can tell you, we are nopt as advanced as you when it comes to issuing seeds from lab to public.

I'm sure there will be a lab somewhere in UK who experiments with Modified seeds. But these would be grown under strict enclosed conditions either inside or out and not in households with Novice gardeners trying them out.

lets know how things turn out, cant give you any advice as you can guess, I'd be very sceptical and worried about the growing of these seeds but as I say on many, many occasions, ALL gardeners learn about new things every day.
Good luck and Best Regards.
WeeNel.

All living organisms are exposed to radiation all the time and it changes the DNA. Most of the time it doesn't help a plant as there are many more ways to break a chemical pathway then there is to build a new one. Be assured that many of the traits that we propagate were the result of damage done by the background radiation we are exposed to everyday.

This is a very interesting video about wolves living around Chernobyl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0wuc8SsMMI

Keith, do you know if this is true? I have heard that Canadian companies that sell breakfast cereals with hemp seed in them must use irradiated hemp seed in order to be in compliance with US anti marijauna laws.

Of course marijauna is not hemp, you could smoke a whole field of hemp and not be stoned, hemp is used for fiber products, hemp oil and nutrition, and also a possible biofuel source.

(Also today's pot is so much stronger than the pot of 30 years ago that you might say marijauna is not even marijauna anymore, but that's another story. There is a very funny early Craig Ferguson movie called "Saving Grace" which hints at how much that plant has been intensively cultivated, legal or no... and the movie is hysterical.)

I'm going to watch this thread. It's been an interesting issue and conversation. Will you, please, show pics of what you get? The girl scietist in me wants to see the end results.

I even think seeds (marigolds? beans? sweet peas? Don't recall....) were sent to the moon and back for informational purposes and the resulting variations are marketed. I'll have to check on that; now I'm curious too!

Some seeds started to sprout! Forgot technical term but dose of 5,000,000 only had like 3 sprouting the 500,000 is getting about half sprouting.

Likely roentgen, rad,or rem.

This might interest you, although it's about irradiated African violets.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/4704/

Hmm you mean if we reproduce out there?

Interesting to ponder.

Are you sure of the dosage numbers. The LD50 I'm finding for seeds is around 20,000 rad. could it been millirad for some reason.

They have though of it, and Mars is so close they have thought of Mars a lot, ever since telescopes got good.
Mars does not have the sort of protective atmosphere that Earth has, the water that exists is I think I remember frozen in the ground, not in the air. Radiation is logically predicted to be brutal. Mars is a fascinating place, believe me I am happy we are exploring it, but live there? Not so much.
Call me when it is terraformed. Maybe.
Of course we and other Earth life have mutated due to
radiation but slowly, slowly. Mars is so hostile we would need a serious bio-engineered head start.
(I mean bio engineering Mars, not ourselves. or at least waiting until the very last to change ourselves,
because the odds of guessing wrong about what we need to change are astronomical, :-) yes, pun intended! )

This planet, our dear home, grew with us and we with it. Happy Earth Day, everyone.
Heather Y

Heather, I doubt they'll let old geezers like us (all included) be colonists whenever they get around to it. They'll probably start with young, healthy and/or fabulously wealthy folks.

They are welcome to it- as I said I'll read the reports with interest,
sitting in my garden.;-)

Hey, Keith,
What happened with the marigolds?
Did anything grow?

Yeah, good question. Anything happen???

They grew into giants, and dwarfs, and lots of color, petal,size, and shape mutations! For the most part they are big and beautiful!

Can we see pictures?

Thank you.