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Southern Illinois

i have a 1 acre patch where i will raise these plants,1061 ciliberto==1230 daletas==1156 larsen==1097 beachy==1020 nesbitt==1023 hester==1178 rivard==1236 eaton==1005 mombert==1173 mombert==1038 emmons==1105 stucker==1140 emmons==1063 hester==1024 pukos==1076.5 werner==1012.5 papez==1058 sandvik==1020 kuhn==1083 johnson==1059 johnson==1020 nesbitt==1245 bailey==1001 needham==1056 dueck==1092 burke,all of these plants will be open pollinated,i think it will be very interesting to see what good seed could come out of a multi cross pollination from seed out of 1,000 pound fruit,i have a few more seed on the way that i will add to the patch.

3/2/2003 10:55:36 AM

Western Pa.

Heavy,

Seed that has "no traceability" is less desirable by growers than those from which the parents are known. Is your goal to grow a giant pumpkin, or just have a lot of seeds? In order to grow a big one, you will have way to many plants to tend to.
Just my 2,

kilr

3/2/2003 11:09:35 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

I won't grow open pollinated seed..no true history to build on for future crosses.
Good luck Rick...sure seems like a bit much though.

3/2/2003 11:16:05 AM

Kuna, Id.

Rick,

Kilr has a point, you have some proven seed in there that may be hard to get in the future. If you were to grow them as all open pollinated I would have no interest in having any. You have some seed that I would like crosses from and your "1000lb" patch has some seed in it that have never been crossed. As Kilr said a seed with "no traceability" may never get planted by anyone but you. The hole idea of crossing is to try and make a better genetic line, not to drop the genetics in a blender and turn it on. Don't take me wrong Rick you do as you want, but your wasting seeds that some of us would like to get our hands on for crosses in the future.
Ken

3/2/2003 11:28:50 AM

Southern Illinois

hello kilr,i have 10 seed picked out that i will try to grow a giant pumpkin with,i set up displays of pumpkins at store and at homes,i charge for the pumpkins and the straw,but i go back and pick every thing up after halloween,alot of people do not like to set up displays because they do not want to do deal with the pumpkins and straw after halloween,i figure if i grow the seed i have mentioned,i should get a few good size fruit,and yes the seed to me is very important,more than likely i will try to self all of them,but i will leave some for multi pollination,this way i can make some money from the fruit,plus have the seed for any one that may want some.

3/2/2003 11:39:00 AM

Montoursville, PA

Worse yet if ten monsters and a national champion show up as the first generation next year there wonn't be a ghost of a chance of knowing how they came into being.

The offspring would be (weight)(you)X somebody open. Well now anybody can be a somebody but there is no way to tell who the anybody was. Should a cross result in a real negative monster genetic situation you will not have the foggiest how that happened either. The implications are more than a little bit scary. Not the least is the fact that your fellow growers may mentally black ball you to the point your pleasure in the hobby may or could become completely wasted.

As of this moment you know with a very high degree of accuracy exactly what is going into your planting. That's the end of the knowlege and the begining of possible big time questions that can never have an answer.

As of this moment it is possible for anyone knowing and recording the history of the crosses literally anyone in the hobby could indeed have the next big surprise. The surprise could be repeated as a known cross created something desirable.

So you are growing an acre of pumpkins the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen wouln't dare to look at, no seedsman would want and the potential for difficulty that could not be traced if it appeared.

3/2/2003 12:38:20 PM

Farmington, Utah

HG, in your genetics patch(specialty crosses), what pumpkins do you plan on growing?

3/2/2003 3:54:08 PM

[email protected]

One only has to look back to the mid '90's for seed that was routinely open pollinated. And many of us would trade our current starters to get our hands on those genetics!

Hey Rick,
I didn't see the 845 Bobier in that line-up? Is that going in the 10 plant "super-patch"?

Steve

3/2/2003 4:06:35 PM

Roanoke Il

Way to many plants Rick >...................mark

3/2/2003 6:36:07 PM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

Hey Rick, As far as the shape and color of the fruit, split and wilt tendency, stem length and other characteristics are not affected by the male pollinator, you experiments can be a good help to know which kind of plant and fruits those impressive seeds are going to produce. And like you are going to sell the pumpkins and not take the seeds, I don't see any problem with that. I think your idea is great, and many growers will watch your diary to know which kind of plant and fruit his or her seed is producing.
Way to go Rick and grow'em big!
Don

3/3/2003 2:34:19 AM

Circleville Ohio USA

Why not hand pollinate the first female to a logical cross and open pollinate the second fruit on each plant and compare the result.
Bob

3/3/2003 8:52:34 AM

Utah

It would be nice to be able to obtain all of the "good" charateristics of those 1000+ pumpkins you have listed by having them all open pollinated... but it deosn't work that way.
Each seed come from only one pollen grain. So every single seed is (or in your case, will be) a specific cross, but in your won't know what that cross is.
I believe there is quite a bit of variablitly in the seeds from a known cross. What you are proposing would introduce even more variablity into every single seed. You idea is a good one but what you are proprosing is not going to get you the desired results. There is no way to get all the good characteristics of your 1000+ seeds into a single seed without years of crossing them together.
Gordon

3/3/2003 12:51:22 PM

Stafford, Virginia

The Dr. did have an interesting though in that it might give an indication of the female potential. The other comment about pollinating(hand) one on each plant could be very productive, especially with the quality seed listed. I briefly added up the value of the seed(based on recent auction results) I bet you've got $1000-$1800+ worth of seed there.
The thing that struck me the most though was- last year I spent an average of 7 hrs/week/plant on 4 plants. Your acre souds like a lot of time - my hat's off to you. John

3/3/2003 12:56:00 PM

Utah

Don- You posted this above: "As far as the shape and color of the fruit, split and wilt tendency, stem length and other characteristics are not affected by the male pollinator," I'm sure most people understood what you said but just to clairify incase some missed it...
This is true for years plant and fruit only. It is not true for the charateristics of the plant and fruit that will come from any of this years seeds.

3/3/2003 1:06:45 PM

syracuse, ny

i would feel strongly also about seeds from open-pollinated fruit...in that i would not want them for anything other than to grow for pumpkins to sell and forget about getting the seeds back from them. (unless it's a 562 Rose, the only open-pollinated one i can think of that EVERYBODY wants!) my opinion combined with all the above would be to plant all you want, knowingly cross the 3 on the plant you're growing to get the seeds from, absolutely no bee activity on those 3, and sell the rest for your commercial crop---making sure to get the seeds out YOURSELF from the BIG 3! i'll be the first in line if i can be to get them
kick-tushi crosses you're sure to have!!!

3/3/2003 1:49:19 PM

Ga.

Guess my only gripe is,,I ask for some of these seed from growers,,just to get different seed from them..Then I see you have some of these seed,,and you're gonna waste them like this...What a shame!!

3/3/2003 1:56:23 PM

French River,P.E.Island, Canada

The 562 Rose/95 is open pollinated and so is the 816 Rose/95.These are the only to in the AGGC that show
grown by Jerry in 1995. Both are from the same mother
seed , the 567.5 Mombert/1992, so the bees didn't have
any other plants to visit, so probably safe to say they
were either selfed or sibbed from the 567.5 Mombert seed.

Maybe he grew more and they are not entered, only Jerry could answer that.

3/3/2003 4:50:04 PM

Pumpkintown, SC

Of course the 2 Rose pumpkins aren't the only ones to be sought after(at least by me). Anyone got any 923 Browns(yes, I'm still looking!) 827 x Open was the cross. Sorry, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity <:^}> BF

3/4/2003 11:37:37 AM

Tipp City, Ohio

I would not expect that all seeds produced in your 1000 lb patch would be from only plants grown in this patch since they are to be open pollinated. You have the chance of crossing with your neighbor's Long Island Cheese, Prizewinner or anything else that is C. Maxima. Also your commercial crop not in the 1000 lb patch will cross pollinate with them as well.

I would not mind a few of those as well(like others have mentioned), but my patch will be at capacity this year.

Since you seem to be interested in What the seeds produce. I would suggest finding a few individuals to grow these seeds for you let them cross the plants and split the seed. The seed that you would recieve will be of much higher quality and the plants would reach more of their potential...Tom

3/5/2003 12:50:42 PM