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West Bridgewater /Brockton Ma. USA

As a first year grower of the BIG ones , I have heard a lot about collecting seeds and even now read that some of the cull and lost pumpkins are now collected ....At what point can you tell that the seeds are worth collecting or are not any good ? In that I could not get to the patch in time to hand pollenate should I even try to collect the seeds of an Open pollenation ? Reason being is I had a 250-300 lb start to go bad and I pulled the plant and collected the seed just not sure at this point if they are any good and how do I save them for next year ,,,freezer?
Thank You
Bill g.

8/12/2005 4:00:41 PM

Lake Elmo, Minnesota

Most grower feel the seeds are viable if the pumpkin made it to 50 days post pollination - regardless of the weight.

8/12/2005 4:05:14 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

To Save the seed you need to wash them with water. Then dry them for a minimum of two weeks.

8/12/2005 4:58:15 PM

I washed my seeds in warm water and got the flesh off them. I put the seeds down on a paper towel folded the next piece over layed the next batch on, till I ran out. Next I left them there for weeks till they were dry and had the flaky white stuff on them, peeled that off and put them in a jar making sure to label it. Very simple! Good Luck!

8/12/2005 8:02:01 PM

Rhode Island

bill
chances are if you open polinated then only the good lord knows what pollination really took place
could be a near by summer squash or cuke for that matter
best advise is to start over next year
get a good seed stock from any number of many outstanding growers at the topsfield weigh off
plant proven seeds, hand pollinate and go from there
lots of good clubs in the area
ct,mass,ri to name a few
all have their share of good growers with quality newsletters and advise

dick w

8/12/2005 8:51:11 PM

Follansbee, Wv

I wouldn't throw out the open pollinated seeds. They make great germination testing seeds!

8/13/2005 9:21:49 AM

Framingham, MA

From reading your diary it looks like you have a fair amount of space. You could try planting a couple of the open pollinated seeds next year and see what shows up. The 801.5 Stelts 1997's father was the 562 Rose 1995 whose mother was the 567.5 Mombert 1992 open pollinated. These genes show up in quite a few respectable pumpkins.

8/13/2005 9:53:03 AM

New Jersey

I don't know what the best advice is but here's a fact:
At least one World Record has been grown with a seed coming from an open pollination.

What was pollinated?

8/13/2005 11:56:19 AM

West Bridgewater /Brockton Ma. USA

As for the polinator ..it is either itself , or a a sibbling,Jutras(sp?) 998 or a Castellucci(sp?) 798...
I feel it's more likely the self or another 998 I had in bloom at the time ..there was no other blooms at the time but for these two AG's types
Bill G.

8/13/2005 7:27:55 PM