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Wallingford,CT

The question is asked each year about how old do pumpkins need to be before there are viable seeds. A frequent response is something on the order of 40 or more days. There are numerous reports of viable seeds from later culls and fruit failures. What about all those early ones that may contain interesting crosses. This will simply be the account of 2 cases and the fate of their seeds.

The first case occurred in 2005 when for lack of available males in my patch I relied on the generosity of another grower to bag some males in his patch for me to use the next morning. This would be an early set for me and not the cross I had planned for the year. With limited space and only 2 plants I don’t have many options. The pollination was successful and I had a fruit growing. 10 days later the next female was ready and I had males in my patch for the planned cross. This pollination was also successful and now I had 2 fruit on the main. I only want one fruit on the plant so when the first fruit was at day 20 the choice was made and it was culled. The cross of this fruit may not be of interest to many but certainly was to me and the donor. I decided to let it sit in the patch right where it was culled to see if the seeds would mature. At what would have been day 43 I harvested the seeds. Washed and dried them as normal. They looked like most any other mature pumpkin seeds. Weight was reasonable and the shell was firm and tan colored.

8/4/2007 2:06:39 PM