In message
Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message
from Michael Bell contains these words:

I am trying to breed alder as a grain crop. One of my ideas is to
cross A. incana (the native alder) with A. cordata ("Italian" alder,
widely planted in municipal settings for its handsome dark green
leaves) which has much bigger cones.

I've grown A cordata . Agreed the cones are larger but the seeds
they contain are about the size and weight of dandruff.

How is such tiny seed ever going to be a useful or practical "grain
crop" ?

Janet

Yes, a lot of work is needed. We have plenty of tree FRUIT crops,
apples, coconuts, etc, but we have no tree GRAIN crops, by which I
mean a hard dry thing with good keeping qualities. Tree fix many times
more carbon than herbs; they put more green between the sun and the
ground than herbs, the ground beneath wheat can be quite brightly lit
whereas the ground under trees can be deep shade, and trees can put
out their leaves as soon as it's warm enough to be worthwhile, which
herbs, especially annuals, cannot do. (Some people are trying to
develop a perennial wheat) So, a possible worthwhile objective.

Have you any good ideas for my problem of how to protect the cones
from rogues pollen in wind and rain?

Michael Bell

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