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Brooklin, Ontario, Canada

This will be my first year growing Atlantic Giants, and I have one question that I cannot seem to find the answer to anywhere. Should I be using a male flower from a different plant to pollinate the female, or should it come from the same plant? All of the seeds that I have are from the same company (seedman.com, JM110 Atlantic Giant) and I would imagine that they are from the same source pumpkin, so would using a male flower from one of these plants be any different from using one from the same plant?
Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

4/28/2005 12:33:27 PM

San Diego

using a male flower from the same plant is called "self pollination", it is perfectly fine to pollinate this way. Using a flower from another plant is called "cross pollination", again, perfectly fine to do this. Many growers are trying to pollinate for certain genetic qualities and characteristics. So they sometimes will "self" and sometimes will "cross" pollinate depending on the situation. if you don't care about this, then just self pollinate for simplicity. or have fun researching and make your own cross pollinations. Jimmy

4/28/2005 12:51:52 PM

Brooklin, Ontario, Canada

Thanks for the info, Jimmy. That is pretty much what I figured, but it's nice to have some re-assurance. I live in a sub-division with a fairly small back-yard and two of these plants would really limit the amount of lawn I would have left-over. I took my 3 year old son to the Pumpkinfest in Port Elgin last year and ever since then he has been asking when we are going to start growing one. I don't imagine we'll get anything too big due to our space limitations, but it will be fun to watch it grow and plot it on the charts. We planted on the 24th of April in 6" pots, and I'm impressed with the size of the plants that we have already.

Thanks again for your help,

David

4/28/2005 1:03:28 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Its still early...I would try to get a Ontario Grower to send you some proven genetics instead ot the Seedman.com seeds. I grew store bought seeds for 2 years, then found out about big pumpkins.

4/28/2005 3:38:18 PM

Sioux Falls, SD [email protected]

go to seedoutlet.com
get vwo 2005 contest pack ($4.95)
within the week you'll get 4 great seeds

4/28/2005 3:44:56 PM

Grow two plants, who need a lawn?!?! He he. Good luck elkman, your son should love it!

4/28/2005 5:20:43 PM

Oz

elkman,,try a super soil pit and a hill with dripp hose buried in.

4/28/2005 7:25:12 PM

Ontario, Canada.

elkman, Send me an email with your address and some good Ontario grown seeds will be in the mail.. You can also join the GVGO (GIANT VEGETABLE GROWERS of ONTARIO). Check out the attached link for more information. We have a few growers very near your Whitby ON location

http://www.gvgo.ca/index.html

Good Luck and Good Growing

Russ Landry

4/28/2005 11:21:30 PM

Brooklin, Ontario, Canada

Russ and Phil,

Thank you both for you offer of seeds. It's really nice to see a group of people so willing to help with not only great advice, but with their own seeds. You are excellent representatives of your association and I look forward to joining.

David

4/29/2005 1:06:13 AM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

If you're selfing, can you use more than one male flower to polinate the same female? Afterall, their genetics should be the same. So, all you'd be doing is ensuring that you got plenty of pollen in there. But, how much does the amount of pollen actually matter? I heard that it will affwect the number of seeds that your pumpkin will produce. But, how will it affect the overall growth of the fruit?

4/29/2005 1:44:23 AM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

David, seeds are going out this morning. Email me if you have any questions during the season.

Phil

4/29/2005 7:11:57 AM