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Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

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Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#171

Post by joshuaissac »

culi wrote: post #73
samwillis wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume they evolved to have the inedible husk to prevent damage while being eaten and increase the distance from the original tree, effectively delaying germination. (If you can describe evolution as having an intention…)

Yes this is exactly it. Mangoes lost their megafaunal partners (giant sloths?) so they're evolutionary anachronisms Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1259/

Giant sloths lived in South America, where they were the likely megafaunal partners of the avocado.

The megafaunal partner of the mango is probably the elephant, which is still extant in the native range of the mango.

https://blog.plover.com/bio/urushiol-2.html

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#172

Post by hutzlibu »

horsawlarway wrote: post #128
ornornor wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve wondered a lot about that as well and I think this is not only the product of picking unripe fruits so that they can be harvested sooner and not go bad in transit, but also because of the hybridization of crops. There are companies working very hard at developing new variants of fruits and vegetables that grow faster, are less susceptible to pests, don’t get damaged as much in transit, look like what consumers e…

Not really even a hypothesis. Farmers select for traits that increase profit. Since most markets don't let customers actually taste the product, they aren't choosing to buy it on that quality, and no one in the commercial space is trying to optimize it. Instead customers are buying fruit that LOOKS good - big, bright, colorful, blemish-free (survives transport without damage). So farmers plant fruits that will look g…

I sometimes feel, our whole economy is optimized for this: mass produced things, that look good, but seldom are good.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#173

Post by _448 »

I was born in the coastal region, called Kokan, of the state of Maharashtra in India. Various varieties of mangoes grow there(Alphanso/Haapoos mango variety is on of them). During my childhood one of the most exciting activity was to plant the seed of the I had eaten and then see it grow overtime.

I think seeing any sapling grow from a seed is mesmerising.

P.S: I don't know why the shell of the seed had to be removed as in the video. The sapling grows without removing the shell of the seed. This process looks like Cesarean of a mango seed :)

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#174

Post by culi »

joshuaissac wrote: post #171
culi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes this is exactly it. Mangoes lost their megafaunal partners (giant sloths?) so they're evolutionary anachronisms Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1259/

Giant sloths lived in South America, where they were the likely megafaunal partners of the avocado. The megafaunal partner of the mango is probably the elephant, which is still extant in the native range of the mango. https://blog.plover.com/bio/urushiol-2.html

Oh you're totally right. I forgot mangoes were from India. Thanks for the correction!

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#175

Post by culi »

tyjaksn wrote: post #135
mikro2nd wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many seeds need a dormancy period before germinating, and frequently a husk or germination-inhibiting coating (Tomatoes) surrounds the seed as a delay mechanism: the coating/husk has to rot before the seed gets contact with soil and water. For many it's way of ensuring that seeds don't germinate at the start of Winter. For others there's a (sometimes long!) maturation process that happens within the seed (Macadamias)…

Another example of a seed with long germination time is the coco de mer[1], coming in at 2 years. It also happens to be the largest seed of any plant. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodoicea

On the other end of the spectrum there are many seeds with quick germination time but extremely long dormancy periods. Some of the biggest weeds in agriculture are plants whose seeds could last multiple decades in the soil until the right conditions show up

These plants usually evolve to serve a particular ecological niche. It's kinda like the soil's immune system. Exposing bare soil to direct sunlight is one of the most harmful things you can do to a soil ecosystem. So many plants evolved seeds that lay dormant until they're needed to come and protect the soil

Plants like dandelions are known as major weeds, but they only germinate in soils that are too compacted (e.g. a farmland with a history of plowing). These dandelions take over, decompact the soil, and then get "outcompeted" by other plants (usually perennials with longer lifespans).

I use scarequotes for competition because it's a good example of a natural system where "competition" is a lens of analyzing nature that could cause you to miss the bigger picture

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#176

Post by gumby »

hutzlibu wrote: post #172
horsawlarway wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really even a hypothesis. Farmers select for traits that increase profit. Since most markets don't let customers actually taste the product, they aren't choosing to buy it on that quality, and no one in the commercial space is trying to optimize it. Instead customers are buying fruit that LOOKS good - big, bright, colorful, blemish-free (survives transport without damage). So farmers plant fruits that will look g…

I sometimes feel, our whole economy is optimized for this: mass produced things, that look good, but seldom are good.

Wait, are you talking about cars, fruit, furniture, or web sites?

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#178

Post by aimor »

antoniuschan99 wrote: post #117
VBprogrammer wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I should be amazed they exist at all. Exactly this. Go back a century and the idea of eating exotic fruits like these was the only available to the wealthiest. It's a shame in a way that bananas and the like have become ubiquitous, to the detriment of fruits which were locally available.

I remember watching a documentary on the Titanic movie and they said oranges were considered luxury only the rich could afford

Even today we still get an orange in the toe of each Christmas stocking.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#179

Post by hutzlibu »

gumby wrote: post #176
hutzlibu wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sometimes feel, our whole economy is optimized for this: mass produced things, that look good, but seldom are good.

Wait, are you talking about cars, fruit, furniture, or web sites?

Sometimes even about whole humans. With great make-up.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#180

Post by mschwanzer »

cwkoss wrote: post #95

I really want a solar powered time lapse camera that takes a photo around noon every day, saves to SD card. Would be great for plant time lapses. I haven't been able to find anyone who's done this already. It seems like there are trail cams and similar that have all the parts, so this should be possible to manufacture for a price point of around $50, and I think it would be an amazing product: I bet every gardening e…

Been there, done that. Terribly underestimated the challenge.

In 2013 I wanted to create a simple time-lapse camera: 3 intervals (every minute, hour or day - rotary switch), store on SD card, recharge via solar, weatherproof;

"Can't be that hard", I thought and started interviewing potential clients and because of the nice 3D renderings and eventual 3D prints I got back "So cool - I want one" and naiv as I was I registered a business and collected a few hundred pre-orders at $150. Even had a cheap startup booth at CES in the basement next to the washrooms one year.

When they say "Hardware is hard" they are sugar-coating it. I could rant for days about the things that happened over the 2 years that it took to ship the first camera. We underestimated everything: Optics for example and what role condensation plays when deployed outdoors for long periods of time, or the impact of temperature on batteries. Also, just having a "cool" product was not enough to launch a sustainable business. Without recurring revenue, customer support was a pain.

I was lucky that some of our early clients were enterprises who wanted to pay monthly fees for extra services, otherwise we would have gone bankrupt trying to make consumers happy.

Eventually I decided that for us "only a camera that generates MRR is a good camera" and stopped selling to consumers. But it sure makes me happy still seeing recently made videos on social media from cameras I assembled myself.

Anyway, times have changed, maybe someone wants to give it another shot, happy to share more of the experiences I had.

Be aware though, manufacturing electronics is even harder these days. I know because we still make cameras. They are a necessary evil to get the kind of data our customers in Agriculture and Construction need to operate.

I am Michael Schwanzer of Toronto based ZEITDICE INC. Happy to be contacted via LinkedIn or our website.

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