Mcloadie it is so good to find a fellow plant enthusiast on here and not just pot. I am completely consumed with learning more about plant life around us and have always been encouraged by my Dad to think outside of the box when it comes to production techniques.
He was a foremost scientist and has the patents on several herbicides in use still today. Now before some organic proponent accuses him of poisoning our planet with his products let me say that he was constantly working on coming up with products that were effective with the least environmental impact. Some of his instructors were no less than Aldo and Carl Leopold!
He helped me on our farm to come up with non-chemical cultural techniques or minimal pesticide use techniques that I now see in use today. Things like the use of trap crops, cover crops and mulches. But to any idea he would say, You know, we will never know unless we try." So we would and I learned alot from that man and my Grandfather.Mcloadie I think that we should be friends on here so look for my request!
I will look for that request sir, and I'm happy to have met you. Yes, I'm quite happy to grow anything........our main challenge in the world today is to make it all work out on paper. I have the credentials to get funding, as long as there is a means to an end. Purpose and profitability. Like ornamental s, I can tie up a greenhouse for a run, if there's a reward in the end, research or profit. The problem for small timers like me is that there are lots of hungry graduates fresh out of school....brilliant ones. A facility that would provide a setting for viable research would in itself be astronomical financially. As time marches on and the money holders see the potential profitability, the money for research will become available....for those who are in the right place at the right time. Change is slow to come to the 'hippie growers"...as I have heard then referred to, which may be attributed to older growers...or those who have simply gotten by using old outdated technique......so, for the moment I carry out simple, fundamental technique, and if I have a question I carry out simple experiments.........as best as I can adhere to scientific methods of gathering conclusions, while still maintaining "the buck".............which is the best I can hope to do in my environment.