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Nashville, TN

I'm been having a rather interesting conversation about Dill's.. Let me clarify something: I STARTED this project with commercial Dills seeds.. they did quite well in the cold frame, when everything was transplanted - two things happened: LATE frost and one massive bug attack...

ALL the GP plants struggled, some of the 'privately grown varieties' survived - NONE of the Commercial Dill's survived..

I 'direct sowed' a final 'round' the first of May... Interestingly MOST of the Private varieties germinated with this technique.. NONE of the commercial Dill germinated..

This is why you don't see me mentioning Commercial Dill's anymore - don't have any in the garden. Those of you that told me that Private seed would be superior to commercial SEEM to have been vindicated.. Those of you that are emailing me in Private to say that commercial Dill are Superior - GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!! I WISH YOU MORE LUCK WITH THEM THAN I HAVE HAD!!

6/25/2005 6:11:53 PM

Rhode Island

i cant speak for the dill family but i think danny or howard would be the first to tell you that field grown ag seeds are not going to have the impact that private stock would have
a common fact that any experienced ag grower kmows

as for germination comparisons who knows what could have caused you to get those results

further, the dills also do have a private type seed stock from their competition pumpkins that they do sell and/or trade upon request

bottom line is dills packaged ag seeds are for people that do not desire to grow for competition rather just to grow a big pumpkin for shits and giggles, or are new to the hobby and dont know any better

just like most of us got our start, with a package of seeds we saw or someone gave us

please pardon me for saying it but without howard dills breeding and developing the ag line not many of us would even be talking about this hobby today

i guess i just dont like a good family like the dills mentioned in a negative article

6/25/2005 10:40:22 PM

Jaffrey NH

good words pap. The dills have done a lot for us growers.

6/26/2005 10:02:07 AM

[email protected]

Hey, the Dill's also sell "Private Stock" seeds. Their seed auction is held right here at BP & kicks off & sets the tempo for the entire winter games. I wouldn't suggest for a minute that their general offering is somehow being misrepresented. I *would* suggest that ST had poor luck with the general stock seeds that he planted.

6/26/2005 10:38:33 AM

Oz

ALL my plants(SEED)come from Dillyville.
They are from my 2003 batch.60+ germinated.
Only two mutants.

I have some that are doing just fine.
2 were even in a killing frost but survied.
Most of my problems are self inflicted.

IF,I get a whopper this year I am going to cross the
mcp dills with something real strong next year.

Then,,if all goes well in 2006,I will do another cross with a reaaaal big-un.
Now that I know H.DILL has select seeds,I am going to try to get some.

The problem with with your study is that you have come to a conclusion with out long term study.

I imagine some of the weakness that some whopper AGs have,is because selective breeding has caused some "strong" genes to be lost.

FIRST RULE IN AG growing,,they might all die.

6/26/2005 10:42:32 AM

Nashville, TN

This is why I call them 'commercial Dills' - I have no quarrel with the Dill's themselves. They're private seeds are probably much more superior than what the commercial growers have turned them into...

I've just had a rather obnoxious person emailing me privately saying that his 'commercially bought' Dills seeds were far superior to anything that 'private growers' are growing...(and he uses a lot of juvenile insults...) Granted he doesn't seem to want to accept that many of the 'privately grown' seeds I've gotten trace back to COMPETITION DILL's....

Maybe the main error I made was to initially start with a packet of commercial seeds. Next year I will try to get some 'privately grown Dills' - for more accurate results of that particular line.

6/27/2005 8:07:51 AM