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Warwood

Do any veterans know the cross of the 579.5 Nesbitt from 1986? It must go from Waterman to Dill seed somewhere in this time frame. I've studied some of the stepping stones in our sport. Mr. Holland, Mr. Srellpflug, Mr. Eaton and Mr. Nesbitt, Mr. McDonald are figures to be thankful for looking over early pioneering and I'm sure I've missed others to thank. Thank You, Don

1/7/2005 9:22:32 PM

Indiana

I am sure Alan will comment, but I am pretty certain that there is no Dill in the 579.5, as I think it went back to Gancarz. If I could find my notes, I could be sure, but they are lost along with other things at the current time...LOL

Tom

1/8/2005 1:46:57 AM

Warwood

Thanks for the info Tom. If you find those notes let me know your finding. My thoughts are that Mr. Dill started the whole thing and that all our pumpkins can be traced back to the Dill seed line. Were others also bringing about the Atlantic Giant type strain? DOn

1/8/2005 6:53:43 PM

Long Island,New York

Im not so sure but I believe the 579.5 was grown from the previous years Topsfield winner....grown by that pumpkin carver guy...around 575lbs I believe....

1/8/2005 7:32:12 PM

New York

Yes, the 579.5 was grown from the 1985 Topsfield winner...Scott Cully 515.4 Pounds...the same Scott that carved the 1337 and 1446. Scott's 515 was open pollinated, grown with a lot of other plants. I believe it was grown from a Dill 400+ seed he purchased that spring.He appeared on the Carson show.
The 579.5 was opened pollinated..everyone at that time pretty much let the bees do the work...we didn't know better. I had 100 plants in 1986, but it's most likely a self or sibb pollination as 3-515.4's were grown in the family garden separated from the other plants. As a side note the other 515.4 plants grew a 443 pumpkin (2nd in state) and another at 400+ that went down in September. I'm surprised the 515 wasn't more successful in the mid-80's. I'm not aware of any other offspring grown.
Gancarz grew it (579)in '87 and produced a 500...which Waterman grew in '88 to produce some nice ones. Alan

1/10/2005 7:26:20 AM

Indiana

Alan,
This old stuff is all really interesting. My notes are from emails that were exchanged with Scott. He wasnt sure where the seed came from, but he knew it was a New England seed and said he was certain it wasnt from the Dills.

Don,
A LARGE portion of our seeds genetics can be traced back to non Dill related lines.

Tom

1/10/2005 9:10:27 AM

[email protected]

What are these "non-Dill" lines?

The history of the lines we grow today is an interesting subject for winter fodder. I think it would be cool to try to identify the earliest known "lines" & where they come from.

What is the oldest known AG?

Is the 493.5 Dill '81 the "first"?

What about the parents of the 513 Fulp '77 Squash? The Fulps were from Idiana. Does Tom know them?

Helmut Laemmle (609 1989) - Trenton, New Jersey - his seeds came from Richard Wright of Allentown, NJ in the mod 80's. Was Wright planting Dill seeds?

Ed Gancarz (390 1984) - Wrightstown, NJ. Did he start with Dill stock?

Were all of Will Neily's lines from Howard Dill?

Where did Lorraine Orr (612.4 1992) get her seed?

Most interesting is the 451 Bob Ford 1976. Do we have any idea where this came from?

1/10/2005 12:25:35 PM

Knopp, Germany

i like your questions tremor, i sure hope you get some replys

1/10/2005 1:27:20 PM

Follansbee, Wv

As far as Bob Ford goes, don't forget that William Warnoch grew a 400 pound pumpkin in 1900! Couldn't the Ford pumpkin have been grown from the same type of seed? (Not the same direct genetic line of course but the same type of pumpkin). Or perhaps he was working on a line of his own...fascinating stuff here.

1/10/2005 2:32:10 PM

New York

Tom,
That's interesting stuff. I'll have to send Scott an E-mail to get the story.
I know he was working for a produce farmer who owned the land he was growing on. The pumpkins were basically grown as a cash crop. Scott saw what was happening and gave the plants a lot of TLC. Unfortunately the farm owner actually had ownership of the pumpkin and decided to keep it at the farm for sales. I remember Johnny Carson had a phone and wanted to call the grower ( on the air) and ask WHY the pumpkin wasn't given to Scott...since he grew it. Talk about putting Scott on the spot on National TV. Scott declined to call...it was still funny and I don't blame him.
It was always my understanding that these seeds were thrown together and planted (not marked) and were from Dill 400+ which Howard sold in packets of 6.
Scott actually had to pick the 515 a few weeks early because of a huge hurricane hitting the coast...large trees were near the patch and he feared the worst..the storm missed him...the pumpkin was still growing when picked.

1/10/2005 8:56:59 PM

Oakland, CA, USA

Wow, I want more! This thread is so interesting that I savedd it all in a Word file so I can find again easily. Thanks! -Erin.

1/11/2005 3:04:07 AM

[email protected]

Bob Ford has spoken & he is a really nice gentleman. I found him via the wonders of modern telecommunications. 70 years young, happy healthy & still working in his greenhouse. Like Ed Gancarz who he knows....well enough. The Gancarz line does decend from the Warnock fruit. Ed Ford's 451 is from that line. Ed stopped growing in 1981. Ed Gancarz no longer competes at weigh-offs, but he does grow.

The fruit we grow today is more Gancarz/Ford than Dill in some cases.

1/11/2005 11:57:40 AM

Warwood

Alan/Tom/Steve,
This is what this site is all about. Educated growers teaching, learning and listening. Thank you all for answering questions I've had. I'm interested in the Non-Dill lines and how they fared. I didn't even know there were any totally non Dill lines. Very fascinating! Don

1/12/2005 6:43:29 PM