Plant Mutation

**ClayPick** · 07-23-2012, 07:28 AM

I’ve been keeping an eye on the wild blueberries and have been looking forward to a day of R&R in the woods picking. It’s been abnormally dry here and there’s a bumper crop. Along the way I came across this fireweed mutation called fasciation.

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Here is the same thing in one of my tomatoes. Last year was wicked because of all the rain. My tomatoes are wonderfully blight free this year.

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**Jimmyq** · 07-23-2012, 11:34 AM

cool, around here it is relatively common to see fasciation on fruit trees (mainly apple) and also Forsythia.

**Rick** · 07-23-2012, 12:54 PM

Sometimes you can spot the steroid use pretty easily.

**crashdive123** · 07-23-2012, 04:16 PM

Great pictures. The bee in the first one is wondering.........is this plant safe?

**oldtrap59** · 07-24-2012, 12:25 AM

CP The varity of maters in the pic? Nice pix btw.

Oldtrap

**ClayPick** · 07-24-2012, 06:56 AM

It’s a Red Periform. The selection process over the years has been for early maturation and wind tolerance. The mutation turns up more than it should but it’s a good one. The tomatoes are tasty.

**Chris** · 07-26-2012, 07:59 PM

Some years ago dandelions all over my house had this, one had it to the power of 7.

**Rick** · 07-26-2012, 10:44 PM

One of the things that can contribute to this is lawn over spray. The stuff has a growth hormone in it that causes the plant to grow like crazy but the roots don't grow. The result is the plant starves itself to death. If a small amount happens to hit your garden plant then you can get some weird stuff going through the growth hormone. You'll see a lot of mishaped leaves, too, so that should be a clue that it's chemical. Naturally occurring stuff like above is pretty interesting to me. I appreciate you posting the pics.

**ClayPick** · 05-15-2013, 11:21 AM

Here is a wonderful one I just found in Forget Me Not. Best I can tell this one is real RARE! I don’t know if it’s the result of hybridization or a mutation. I’m going to collect seed and see if it will reproduce itself.

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**Davidlastink** · 05-16-2013, 02:57 PM

Any fracking or testing going on around your way, have never seen anything like that around me. It would be interesting to put this to use in some way like with blueberries or cherry tomatoes. Is this a disease or just the result of nature and elements?

**ClayPick** · 05-17-2013, 05:54 AM

Nothing by me but test wells has shown that there’s lots of shale gas. The public isn’t ready for it so a moratorium has been placed on any further mining. The money to do it is from away and I suspect that’s the real problem more so than environmental concerns. Fasciation is a bacterial thing and it would surprise me if the agri corporations haven’t tried invading DNA with it. The forget me not comes from a genetically stable population. My wife originally planted them over 20 years ago where we burry our dogs. This makes me think that it is viral or a mutation more so than a recessive gene. I’m hoping naturally occurring mutation, it would be a neat to have my very own variety.

**Davidlastink** · 05-17-2013, 04:24 PM

Would be interesting to have a lab and mess around with this, I could easily culture the bacterial cause but I don't have the time or patience at the moment. Might go out looking for some dandelions to see if I come across it.