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Cologne / Germany

There are many discussions about genetics, but they seem to base on weight results. The cross pollination between different seeds is only explained in lbs (parents etc.), are there other facts to be considered like shape, colour, resistance during the growing period?

10/19/2001 8:57:28 AM

Greencastle, PA

defenetly, a lot of things are considered other than just pounds.
Tom

10/19/2001 1:45:45 PM

Sequim, WA

Absolutely. It may not be discussed much in the message lists, but many of us consider these factors when making our pollination crosses during the growing season. Also when choosing which seeds to plant. Some seed lines may produce large pumpkins but over the course of several seasons prove to be great ones to have in the family tree. One that I have noticed over the course of the past few seasons is the 935 Lloyd. This is a seed that as a seed parent or pollen parent is producing some very big offspring. Just to use one well know example the 723 Bobier was a pumpkin grown from the 935 Lloyd. That pumpkin at 723 lbs. isn't really a monster by current standards, but many of it's offspring are. Other growers look for seeds from large pumpkins that have the 990 Bax as the pollen parent. Pumpkins that have the 567.5 Mombert in their lineage often produce a good color. Others that have the 900.5 Lyons squash in their background, or 730 Stellpflug tend to produce offspring that weigh more than the charts say they should for their size. Much of this is speculative by the growers, but observation and experience help in these choices. I recall at the PNWGPG spring growers meeting in 2000 Jack LaRue and Joel Holland looking through the seeds that had been donated and remarking that the liked the cross of the 723 Bobier. I respect their judgement based on their success and experience, so I made it a point to pick out a few of those for myself and purchased them at the time. The past two seasons have proven that their judgement of the seed to be correct as it has produced a number of very large pumpkins in the gardens of good growers. Shape is often the hardest to predict although these traits tend to be genetic as well. As for disease resistance I believe most growers rely on chemical warfare.

10/19/2001 1:52:27 PM