Another Heirloom Sweet Potato patented

[Fusion_power]

Just for background, sweetpotatoes are notorious for producing somatic mutations. They usually affect something like color, shape, or growth habit. The variety Puerto Rico consistently produces a mutation that causes blotched color on the outside of the roots. Beauregard is an orange flesh sweetpotato but it has produced at least one white mutant. Growers have to watch for the variants and cull them out before planting for the next season's sprouts. Several such mutants have become successful cultivars in their own right.

DarJones

[Worth1]

This is as bad as Harley Davidson trademarking the sound of their motor bikes.

How do you patent a sound.

I had a rich woman comment with a big smile on her face after I started My Triumph up with strait pipes "Nothing sounds like a Harley". I told her, "sorry mam, it's a Triumph". She said, "WHAT"

But this is a thread about sweet potatoes which happens to be in the potato section of this forum and it isnt a potato but it is in the same order as the potato but not in the same family. It is sometimes called a Yam which it isn't and a Yam isn't even in the same order or family as the potato or sweet potato.

The next time you have candied YAMS for dinner you just aint gonna do it, you are having candied sweet potatoes.

So what the heck, I wouldn't give two hoots and a holler about any stinking patent on a plant that it seems as though not anyone can figure out what to call anyway.

What a mouth full

Worth

[Fusion_power]

For those who want a place to purchase plants of Mahon aka Bradshaw, here is one link.

http://www.heavenlyseed.net/

Also, a previous poster indicated that they would be available through his website next year.

DarJones

[DuckCreekFarms]

yes, here is a direct link to the sweetpotato page

Mahan Sweetpotato

http://duckcreekfarms.com/pdfs/Sweet...atalog2011.pdf

[rodger]

I am the provider of this potato to many in the garden forums network. I also list this potato with SSE. I recieved the potato in 2001 from Dr. David Bradshaw who is now retired but was a horticulture professor at Clemson University. I don't recall if Mr Bradshaw every stated where he recieved the potato from but he did state he had grown it for a while and it was hands down the best sweetpotato he had ever grown. Mr Bradshaw started and maintained the Heirloom garden in Clemson SC at the South Carolina Botanical gardens. He also offered this potato along with many other heirlooms from his seed collections as part of an heirloom program at Clemson. With budget cuts the University drop his seed line but Mike Watkins who recently retired from the seed lab at Clemson is continuing Mr Bradshaws heirlooms seeds and the Mahon Sweetpotato renamed Bradshaw sweetpotato. Mike started his own company heavenly seeds after retireing and has permission from Mr Bradshaw to continue selling his varieties. After being made aware of this I have sent an e-mail to Mr Bradshaw and to Mike along with copies to the pat. link. It is possible the man that patented this sweet potato is the same person that gave the original potato to Mr Bradshaw since he is from SC and his name is Mahon. I will let ya'll know when I get an answer. Rodger

[DuckCreekFarms]

Thanks Rodger

I'm anxious to hear what Dr Bradshaw has to say

gary

[RandyG]

The company that proclaims itself as the world's largest producer of hybrid vegetable seeds has patented a grape tomato hybrid designated as EX01419137. According to the patent information, available on the internet, the parents of this hybrid were both developed by selfing 'Santa' to get two stable op lines, which were then crossed to make the new hybrid. Looks like they just reinvented the wheel and claimed rights to it for themselves. Any thoughts?

[Tom Wagner]

Thanks, Randy.

I am reading the many pages that support this patenting.

I need to read more before I can make sense of it. For others, please read from this link:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7829768.pdf

Seminis Seeds ...part of Monsanto and has been for 6 years

Hmm...let's see....patenting the inbred tomato lines CHD 14-208 CHI 14-2079, both of which are stable Santa derived clones. These are compared to your NC1C, Randy, which is also derived from Santa......which makes me wonder if you have grown either of these patented lines so similar to yours.

I have true breeding lines of Santa and breeding lines out of NC1C hybrids. Where does that put me? At odds with all kinds of patents?

[RandyG]

Tom,
NC 1C is a cherry tomato line I released several years ago as the parent of the F1 hybrid cherry tomato 'Mountain Belle' and has no parentage coming from 'Santa'. I developed and released three grape tomato lines NC 1,2, and 3 grape that do include 'Santa' in their pedigree but also have genetic material coming from other sources and are distinct in plant and fruit traits from 'Santa' and the lines developed from just selfing 'Santa'. The fact that numerous people have saved seed from 'Santa' and found the resultant lines to be so similar as they are to 'Santa' indicates that there is little genetic diversity in the parents of 'Santa'. The main difference seems to be that one parent of 'Santa' is determinate and the other is indeterminate. Seed company breeders routinely self popular hybrids to develop inbred lines and then cross them to come up with a new hybrid that they hope is as good or maybe superior to the previous hybrid from which it was derived. They do this because they are under pressure to develop new hybrids very quickly, which can compete for seed sales with existing hybrids from other companies. Seed companies are generally very tight lipped about the source of genetic material in the new hybrids they develop, but in instances where they apply for patents or PVP certificates and have to provide a complete pedigree, information comes out regarding how much use they are actually making of lines and varieties developed by others. I do not support plant patents that attempt to restrict other breeders use of genetic material in developing new hybrids, especially not when the patented line or variety is derived completely from the background of something some one else has developed.

[rodger]

TO follow up on my last post. I heard back from Mike Watkins owner of Heavenly seeds and the Mahon sweetpotato mentioned is in fact the same potato. Mr Mahon gave Dr Bradshaw some slips of his potato years ago 20+and Dr Bradshaw named the variety Mahon after the man who gave it to him. The potato that is patented is the strain that has been cleaned up by NC University so no problems with distributing what is already out there only the cleaned up (no disease etc) is patented for commercial sell. Rodger

[Fusion_power]

I broke down the patent for the santa derived monsanto tomato. There are only 3 chromosomes difference between the two inbreds they developed. You can get to that level of detail by looking at the recessive traits listed in the patent application.

This constitutes the most egregious misuse of patent law that I can imagine. It amounts to one company tweaking another companies variety and patenting the result.

DarJones

[DuckCreekFarms]

So sending an heirloom to a lab for theropy/virus indexing to remove a possible virus/disease makes it new and distinct and patentable ....What will they think up next!

As a sweetpotato collector, I have looked into sending some of my varietes to a lab in Californina to do just that. They will do it for about $300.00 per plant. I was thinking about having it done just to have a better product to sell. the problem is that you have to do the theropy about every year to keep the stock clean, or grow the mother (first generation) stock in an screened, insect proof greenhouse.

[Fusion_power]

Here is a contact for the sweet potato center at LSU. I have sent an email and will post the reply here re availability of Evangeline for this season.

DarJones

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/commun...ors/TSmith.htm

[DuckCreekFarms]

It will probably be early Febuary before they will give you an availabilty. they will supply Lousiana growers first and what's left over will go out of state.