Atomic gardening - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
  • NegativeInf@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    2 months ago

    I prefer the DNA shotgun method. Load up a shell with gold covered in the DNA you want and fire it at a batch of seeds. If you’re lucky, you get some that are just right.

    But for my own hobby gardening, I like microdosing seeds with Oryzalin. Causes polyploidy and then you get some really nifty mutants with a whole bunch of extra DNA space to play in. And it’s cheap, as it’s sold in weed killer. Just don’t drink it. Or rub it on yourself. Hooray genotoxic chemicals at the Home Depot.

    Thinking about it, I have really odd hobbies. Anyone else mutate Arctic circle plants for fun?

      • NegativeInf@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        2 months ago

        Maybe a fun obituary. Or a nice arrest write up. Doubtful any of the plants I work with are significant. Mostly model organisms and their relatives or local plants I have always loved. Unless the Smilax rotundifolia I have suddenly ends up a Devil’s Snare.

        Fun fact, the shoots of young Smilax rotundifolia taste a bit like asparagus when cooked and in native cultures was used as a sexual performance enhancer among other things.

          • NegativeInf@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5·
            2 months ago

            Mild ones at best. Or just a tasty veg when sauteed if it’s only placebo.

            ^And ^if ^they ^are, ^why ^not ^have ^a ^nice ^gimmick ^to ^motivate ^men ^to ^eat ^something ^other ^than ^meat.

            • Monument@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
              3·
              2 months ago

              Yeah, okay, meanwhile the local garbage dump is getting overrun with some weird new plant that grows like crazy and causes anything to eat it to go sex crazed.

              …. And I will help spread this plant to every country on earth. Biodiversity be dammed, we’re gonna make love, not war.

              • Iheartcheese@lemmy.worldEnglish
                4·
                2 months ago

                I recently read about The war Scotland is having with gray squirrels and for some reason it made me feel really patriotic.

              • NegativeInf@lemmy.worldEnglish
                3·
                2 months ago

                Same cloth. I once considered selectively breeding Dodder. A non-photosynthesizing parasitic plant that is bright red or pink. Only reason? Because it looks like the stuff from the Tom Cruise War of the Worlds movie.

                Example image