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Colorado

Is there any known correlation between the amount of orange a fruit displays and nutrient uptake? Meaning if a ‘kin is deprived of a particular nutrient will it show less color or a different color? Or is color purely a matter of genetics?

9/13/2006 3:12:28 PM

Salmon Arm, BC

Good question. Hydrangeas will throw blue flowers in acidic soil and pink ones in alkaline soil..no idea about kins?

9/13/2006 6:49:03 PM

with all the "manure" that's spread around,,surprised they aren't brown,,,,,,,,,,,,heh heh

9/13/2006 8:39:11 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Dan...I mean unka...you are a funny guy...LOL...Peace, Wayne

9/13/2006 10:22:11 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Carotenoids make orange fruit orange. Lycopene is red. If a pant has the genetic code to produce these compounds, the plant will do so pretty much regardless of nutrient availability. A LACK of proper plant nutrition may limit production. However I don't know of any cases where MORE color producing compounds were had ny adding nutrients.

9/13/2006 11:28:26 PM

President - GPC

LB has told me his Reiss fruit is long,(Slug like) not round and more yellow than orange, mine is very orange and very round. Is it common to have such a drastic difference between two pumpkins that came from the same original kin? And in keeping with the "manure" part mine is big and his is small..........lol...sorry master I couldnt help myself, I know younger pumpkins tend to lack their final colors but both of these went in pretty close to the same time....

9/15/2006 8:44:46 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

Wiz, have read over and over and over...here on BP.com that genetics is pretty much a crap shoot...I am 5'9" and blondish hair...a full head of it...I have a brother that is 6'1" and a red head...what little is left of it...and a strawberry blonde sister....genetics? or the mailmans kids? LOL Peace, Wayne

9/15/2006 11:04:36 AM

Colorado

LOL Wayne. I'm 6'3" bald on top with a beard down to
my belly button. Why does the beard grow on my chin
but I can't grow squat on the top of my head. Genetics -
strange stuff. :)---LB

9/15/2006 11:41:37 AM

Colorado

Tremor - Is there anyway besides genetics to introduce
Carotenoids or Lycopenes to a plant? Such as foliar or soil drench?
Thanks Kirk

9/15/2006 11:46:04 AM

President - GPC

Master, sometimes a genetics transformation translocates in a definitive manner over to the garden from your head .....For example I suggest you take some hair off Waynes brothers head and relocate it to your pumpkin........or we could ask the mailman to plant in your patch next year..... that way you could go big and orange......SASBE sent your way Wayne...... grin :)

9/15/2006 12:13:10 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

LB,

Interestingly there is a lot of research going on with carotenoids which are thought to reverse some of the effects of aging. To increase carotenoid content of vegetables is to make grand health claims (or at least benefit from the desire to live forever) & profit from aging boomers.

Probably 99.9% of the carotenoid enhancement is via genetic manipulation (natural & synthetic) but some environmental (fertility) research is going on.

Keep in mind that since these researchers smell money, they aren't going to be giving away too many trade secrets.

Here is a link to a project involving saline irrigation water(YIKES!) on tomatoes.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/jhsb/jhsb/2001/00000076/00000004/art00013

You know.....if Longbeard grows a nice deep red pumpkin, maybe he should make a puree of the skin & rub it on his head. Orange hair is better than no hair right?

9/15/2006 11:33:45 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

I know that Canary breeders often feed high beta-carotene diets (red peppers) to yellow birds which then turn orange. Plant & animal tissues differ to the extent I doubt the same can be done with plants.

9/15/2006 11:35:23 PM

Colorado

LOL -Tremor
Orange hair, my grandson would love it.

9/19/2006 11:51:53 AM

Salmon Arm, BC

Interesting...I had one plant throw a bright orange fruit and then a white one (same plant)

9/21/2006 4:02:52 AM

President - GPC

Yes, Interesting too is LongBeard's Reiss plant, instead of round and orange it was whitish and oblong, not the characteristics of my Reiss at all......would of loved to see another kin on this plant to see what it would of looked like.

9/21/2006 11:06:58 AM

Wilmington.Ma.

Steve will it change GRAY BEARD ti orange ???

11/15/2006 3:29:12 PM

Eastern Pennsylvania

Wow how did I miss such an interesting post? I agree that the genetic code must be there, but that can't be all it is. Otherwise how do you explain great color in fall leaves one year but less color the next? They're still the same trees so how do we account for this variation? It must have something to do with the physical world- temp, moisture, nutrients, light...

11/15/2006 8:07:43 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

The good fall color we see in autumn leaves is a *lack* of clorophyl & not the production of carotenoids. The colors we see in fall leaves is the result of the tree having the proper conditions to completely remove sugars & starches (carbs) that it needs to store in the roots. Under the right weather conditions this will ocurr with stunning color staying behind in the leaves.

It might still be interesting to try to introduce more cartenoids to an AG. In theory, any red or orange fruit or vegetable yields an extractable beta-carotene that might be made into a powder or poltice, turned into a tea & "fed" to an AG. Whether the plant can utilize beta-carotene to turn more orange is questionable.

George, I do believe that a betacarotene poltice would dye a grey or white beard orange. Eating it wouldn't work since the aging body stops transporting the color stuff to hair. But we can slather it on like a dye.

11/15/2006 10:28:41 PM