From

Location

Message

Date Posted

No Place Special

Take any given seed, for example, maybe the seed that grew the world record this year and I don't know what that was, and plant it. It grows a 1200+ lb pumpkin. Now say this seed was polinated by a different plant grown from a different seed. Can I assume that the seeds from the 1200lb er are 50% the same as the seed it grew on and 50% same as that from the other planted seed? Assuming again that that is true, the seeds identical to the seed that grew the 1200 lb er are more desireable than the seeds from the 1200?
Say that the 1200 was SELF polinated.........
Would the seeds from the 1200 be identical to the seed it grew on?
Are all seeds contained in a pumpkin identical twins if you will, or do they vary geneticaly in some ways?
Sorry for all the questions!
If someone would rather steer me in the direction of a book or article or something instead of trying to explain this to me that would be fine.
Thanks,
Mike

12/20/2001 5:00:36 PM

Long Island,New York

Confusing stuff...and you'll find more opinions on this than politics...but here's my shot at it :after pollination, you might be able to say the seeds produced are 50% of what they were, but you cannot say they are 50% the same as the one that grew the world champion.Each seed in a pumpkin is different...just like every kid you have with your wife is different.Same genes-yours and hers--but a different arrangement so to speak.At least we know your starting with the same genes and thats enough for people to keep growing the parent seed, whether they all are arranged in the magical order or not.The MOST desireable seed would be the one that grew both 1200lbers, not the seeds from the 1200lbers. The 1200lber might be good though, as they have alot of the good genes and maybe some in the good order.
The selfed seeds would not be identical to the parent, but wouldn't have a newly introduced set of genes...it would have re-arranged same genes i think with purhaps some recessive genes showing up in the offspring that didn't show up in the parent.
All seeds in a given pumpkin are different as far as we are concerned.. (statistically there is a chance that there can be exact duplication but the odds are astronomical).but there are usually enough common qualities that they will have a few similar enough to grow similarly......anyone else?...G

12/20/2001 6:40:01 PM

Cincinnati,OH

This is how I see it.
A plant selfed would produce seeds that would display traits from it's ancestors.
A plant crossed would produce seeds that would display traits from it's ancestors and traits from it's cross' ancestors.
Seeds from a pumpkin would be fraternal not identical, that is to say any given seed from the same pumpkin randomly could display any traits from it's ancestors.
Crossing introduces new traits to your seed. So only cross if the other plant has traits more desirable than yours.
Seeds can randomly display traits from anywhere in it's ancestory so seed from a 1200 doesn't mean you will have a 1200.
Traits are left to chance so the idea is to bring in as many good traits as possible to increase your odds of bettering your seed.

12/20/2001 6:50:21 PM

walton n.y.

i think that is the general opinion just look at identical twins they may look alike but can follow different traits so many good seeds so little time

12/21/2001 12:23:13 PM

walton n.y.

i think that is the general opinion just look at identical twins they may look alike but can follow different traits so many good seeds so little time

12/21/2001 12:23:22 PM

No Place Special

WOW! I knew it wouldn't be as simple as I wished it was. Thanks so much for the replies, I have something to think about now. Sounds as though there isn't scientific proof on how it exactly works, I thought they would have it all figured out. Thanks

Mike

12/25/2001 12:04:53 AM