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Ohio

I had two plants last year out of about ten turn out to be a double vine plant. This year is the same. That makes it roughly 20% chance I will end up with a double vined plant next year.I have soaked my seeds in 3% peroxide both years.

I was wanting to compare peoples experiences with using only peroxide to soak there seed and people who just used plain water and see what kind of difference we come up with as far as a double vined or mutant plant was grown from how they soaked there seed.

Think peroxide might play a small part in a double vine?If it burns the cots like some say it does then I'm saying it could mess the rest of the seedling up aswell,right?

Peroxide might not have anything to do with a plant doubling, I just wanted to compare other peoples plants that used only water for a seed soak verses a peroxide soak.

Brooks

5/23/2005 8:37:39 PM

Massillon, Ohio

i soak in water and only a LITTLE peroxide. in 3 years and 17 plants, i've only ever had 1 double vine. that darn 840 wicked wide wilma. :) lol. i had problems with those ken.

5/23/2005 8:45:20 PM

Massillon, Ohio

ps watch it happen to me alot this year with the way things are going so far haha

5/23/2005 8:45:36 PM

Western NY

i used to have a fairly consistant rate of flat and double vines. i would estimate that overall from start to finish, there were a few years where about 80% of my plants would show some sort of this kind of mutuation, including those plants that had a double secondary, a double section of main that corrected itself, ect. very few were flat/double right from the start, but there were always some. it seems to have slowed the last 2 years a bit for me, and this year there is so far only one odd one out of 50+ seedlings, but i'm sure more strange things will show up, as it's still early.

the only two things i've noticed so far that i can correlate to it is genetics, and the possibility that higher germination temperatures might cause a few more oddities to pop up.

5/23/2005 9:14:40 PM

San Diego

I just put my seeds in wet paper towels, no peroxide. In 5 years of growing including this one, out of 10 plants, I've had 5 plants with atleast some double tendencies (some major doubles everywhere, some minor), so 50%. Not so good luck I guess. I wonder what gives with my high ratio, bad luck with seeds or ? Anyway, that's my ratio. Jimmy

5/23/2005 9:17:33 PM

[email protected]

Soak overnight in anything from straight 3% peroxide to a 70% water/30% peroxide mix depending on who went shopping that week. LOL

The only double vine we ever grew (last year) turned into a ribbon vine in very short order. It wasn't soaked at all.

5/23/2005 10:01:45 PM

Central Oklahoma ( [email protected])

This is my first year growing A/G and I soaked the seeds in plain water. Out of the plants that made it to the patch I had one out of four have a double main.

5/23/2005 10:36:04 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

I was wondering the same thing Brooks.
I'm hoping there is no correlation of double/flat vines with hydrogen peroxide soaking.
Double/flat vines are probably my biggest worry right now. Especially since I didn't plan well for backup plants.

5/24/2005 12:18:07 AM

Key West, FL

10 plants this year, all soaked in 3% peroxide, no flat vines yet, (knocks on wood)

5/24/2005 1:31:27 AM

Eugene,OR

Come on guys...genetic defects like flat vining and double vining are caused by holding a left-handed watering can in your right hand while watering seedlings in their first two weeks of life.

5/24/2005 10:07:51 AM

Ontario

I would suspect a shallower gene pool rather than germination techniques. A large pumpkin is a mutation as it is. With random pollination the AG would soon go back to a more normal size within a few generations. With bigger pumpkins we can expect higher genetic mutations in the future. It's just part of the joy of bashing your head into the wall... err.. I mean the joy of pumpkin growing :0)

5/24/2005 10:49:29 AM

Ga.

Does a plant having 2 leaves at each node make it a double vine? A mutant? Or does double vine mean 2 mains?

5/24/2005 11:10:41 AM

Minnesota([email protected])

I mentioned this on another post.
If in breeding is a problem with A.G's(which is only a theory), why isn't it a problem with other maxima species squash, such as open pollinated buttercups, and hubbards, which I woould think are much more inbred than A.G.s

5/24/2005 11:42:05 AM

Eveleth MN

Most people I know don't use there own seed from other C. Maximas, they just buy new seeds every year OR seedlings from greenhouses. Out of 10 plants I've grown so far one 1 mutated and that was on a secondary (156 Gerry) I soak in 1/2 & 1/2 3%peroxide/water mix

5/24/2005 12:03:57 PM

Aumsville, Oregon

The reason for so many deformed plants is the huge solar storms we have had in the last 2 weeks. This extra radiation from the sun causes birth defects in humans and in plants by damaging the DNA and or RNA in developing life. You can gauge the size of a solar storm by how far south you can see the Northern lights.

5/24/2005 4:40:04 PM

Long Island,New York

Ok...so if the seeds are soaked in the basement, germinated in the germination box in the basement, and put under flourescents in the basement these solar flares will effect them to the point of mutation?

5/24/2005 6:11:05 PM

Nikiski Alaska

in Alaska we dont wory about nun of that if we dont like the way it looks we mulch it and move to the next one

5/24/2005 7:24:54 PM

Ohio

Umm, I dunno about that Antediluvian Grower,thats a little to deep for me to understand.Ill just start keeping the left handed watering can out of my right hand.

5/24/2005 7:36:53 PM

Ohio

G, you have to grow your seedlings in a 20 inch solid steel room,come on we all knew that!

5/24/2005 7:38:45 PM

Pocatello ([email protected])

Well, I don't think I'll convince anyone, but, IMHO...
double vines and flat vines are totally genetic, programmed
well in advance of germination, and nothing you do (within
reason) will affect that. Remember also that each seed in a
pumpkin is different, genetically.

5/25/2005 10:41:22 AM

Pocatello ([email protected])

I should also mention that I use water, maybe a little
seaweed, some fish, soil amended with a little manure
from time to time. I also see somewhere in the ballpark
of 20% of my plants go either flat vine or double vine,
year in and year out. It's just a fact of (giant pumpkin)
life.

5/25/2005 10:44:28 AM

Ontario

I agree Cliff. Just as some pumpkins are prone to Dill rings and others to splits, double and flat vines in my opinion are a genetic thing. I had two 842's last year and I gave one to a friend. Both of these double vined. I ended up pulling mine out but my friend's singled out eventually and he got a nice pumpkin. I've heard of a a few 842's that did the same thing. Don't get me wrong, the 842 is a great seed (it's the current record holder) but it just seems to double vine more often than other seeds.

5/25/2005 10:50:21 AM

Eugene,OR

Hey Cilff, I think you're right! Genetic defects could possibly be caused by genetic problems that the seed has...and not something we do to it. That might even be why we all refer to them as GENETIC defects. Now if you use a sharp object to poke a hole in a seed and end up with cots with holes in them, you might have some human interference. Ah, but those ribbon vines and things which seem to keep showing up in the same seed stock...I think it may be genetic.

5/25/2005 9:39:59 PM