Not an ad or anything but I got it from light.bio if you’re curious. Super cool product, I’ve been waiting for a company to successfully bring a bioluminescent plant to the market for a decade and it finally happened!

  • Hello_there@fedia.io
    122·
    2 年前

    Man… Fuck the US patent system. “Our Firefly Petunias are protected under patent, and as such, propagation and breeding are not permitted. These petunias are sold exclusively for personal use.”

    • Emil Muzz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      24·
      2 年前

      ‘Personal use’ covers propagation and breeding by an individual, for non-commercial purposes. Nobody’s saying -you- can’t try to propigate or breed them, but you could be libel if you try to make money off the endeavor.

      In this case I would say the patent system is working as intended, in that it gives some protection to LightBio’s investment into creating the firefly. While I would LOVE to see an expanded variety available from other -commercial- growers (with MUCH larger operations and funding), I don’t want it to be at the expense of LightBio’s effort, or the commercial success they’ve earned for creating it in the first place.

      • acosmichippo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 年前

        I mean they invested into R&D to develop it, I think it’s fair for them to have exclusive rights to sell it to recoup that investment and make a profit. This is a novelty item, not like an essential staple food or medication.

    • Zetta@mander.xyzOPEnglish
      5·
      2 年前

      ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it is what it is, however petunias are very easy to propagate and you can do whatever you want with your plant as long as you aren’t selling it.

      I already have a second one growing from a cutting I took.

      • Hello_there@fedia.io
        3·
        2 年前

        Ok, I’ll take back some of my hate. I thought they had put some sort of monsanto-like ‘if you try to reproduce it on your own they’ll die’ gene.
        If it’s not ‘pay $40 if you want another plant’ then that’s more reasonable.

      • Zoolander@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 年前

        Did you do anything special with the cutting? I want to keep growing a few more of these and maybe save some for next year.

        • Zetta@mander.xyzOPEnglish
          1·
          2 年前

          I just dipped the base of it in root growth hormone powder before planting.

    • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.worldEnglish
      32·
      2 年前

      To be fair, they probably spent years of time, effort and money to design this product. Why should someone else be able to propagate it and profit from their blood sweat and tears?

    • Zetta@mander.xyzOPEnglish
      3·
      2 年前

      I used the night sight feature on my phone’s camera for this photo, however I would say the brightness level is pretty accurate to what you’d see with the the naked eye once adjusted to low light.

      Perhaps a tad dimmer in real life, but it provides enough light to faintly illuminate really close objects such as my hand. It’s super cool

      • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        2 年前

        Super neat. At some point I need to intern at a plant breeding lab just to inject that into all of my houseplants that can tolerate it. Right now I’ve got a mix of pothos, hoyas, philodendrons, and jasmines trailing around my house and it’d be so much better if they were one long nightlight.

        • Zetta@mander.xyzOPEnglish
          2·
          2 年前

          I really hope this company (and others) are successful, it would be so awesome to have a variety of plant species available in GMO bioluminescent forms lol.

  • BakedCatboy@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    2 年前

    Nice! I got mine recently too but haven’t checked it for luminescence since I’ve been busy - I still need to repot it and hang it in a better spot that gets better sunlight so I’m not expecting it to be bright just yet.

    • Zetta@mander.xyzOPEnglish
      4·
      2 年前

      Mine had almost no glow when I first got it, and I mangled the roots during repotting so it lost all of its leaves. This is its first new growth and it’s nice and bright, I hope yours does well too!

  • tehfishman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 年前

    Mine arrived all mangled, with most of the roots ripped off during shipping. It’s recovering now, looking forward to hopefully getting to see the bioluminescence in a few weeks

  • Luccajan@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    2 年前

    I live in the Netherlands and GMO’s are banned here so I hope some get to Switzerland(not EU) where I could buy them and then import them like glofish.

  • 0110010001100010@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 年前

    I got mine yesterday! It had a very, very slight glow last night. I’m hoping once we re-pot it and fertilize it the glow will get brighter.

    • Zetta@mander.xyzOPEnglish
      3·
      2 年前

      I was in the same boat with a very faint or no glow at first. With fertilization and some bright lighting you’ll start getting new growth that’ll glow!

  • Emil Muzz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 年前

    Nice! Mine should be arriving soon and I can’t wait! Does Light Bio send out shipping notices, or did you all just have it arrive as a nice surprise?

    • Zetta@mander.xyzOPEnglish
      1·
      2 年前

      They should send you a shipping notice. I purchased mine on March 17th and got a shipping notification email on April 1st.

    • Zetta@mander.xyzOPEnglish
      6·
      2 年前

      I think it might be against the law in Europe. I’m not 100% sure but I think it’s a lot harder to sell/ship a GMO plant there.

      • aasatru@kbin.earth
        2·
        2 年前

        I think that’s mostly food regulations, but I’m not an expert of the field. Might apply more broadly as well.