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Rhode Island

ive read several articles referencing cloning of plants and understand what is being done
my question is however
do clone plants produce pumpkins at a simular size as the original plant ?, or is the cloning only benificial for males ?

what is the largest fruit ever grown on a clone ?

thanks

di

9/24/2004 6:26:27 PM

In the shade - PDX, OR

Hey Tom B didn't your 808 come from an 801.5 Stelts clone?

9/24/2004 7:09:56 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Welty produced the largest I have seen from a clone in 2003 on the 801.5 clone.

9/24/2004 8:24:12 PM

Jackson Twp, Ohio

Nic's was 720 pounds, went light, and i think it was still growing at the time he picked it.

Toms 808 was pollinated with the 801.5 clone.

More people need to try them to know for sure what can happen with them.

Nick H

9/24/2004 11:10:44 PM

[email protected]

We grew one here for pollen this year (845 Bobier) that I eventually did set a fruit on July 24th after losing our plant in the East end of the patch. You saw that fruit at Durham & it weighed 281.6 which isn't all that bad for a shade grown after thought.

9/25/2004 8:21:47 AM

Colorado Hail, CO. Elev. 5,900 FT

"do clone plants produce pumpkins at a simular size as the original plant ?"

The answer is yes, if the plant made from a cutting is given the correct set of conditions in which to grow in. Just like its "momma", it needs to be pruned just at the right times, watered at critical periods, vine buried and trained just right, ect. Nobody has done much in the way of trying very hard to grow them for fruit size. I've half heartedly done a bit of work, mainly for experimenting on different techniques rather than for end results. I have grown enough of them to see its all in the technique of who is growing them.
Once transplanted outside, the clone needs totally different care than a seed started plant. It requires a "stump", which the grower must "trick" the plant into making by pruning the plant at a specific time. The plant also needs different nutrients initially than seed started plants. The timing of fruit set also differs, but still is geared around the size of the plant during that period. Vine pruning and plant vine patterns do have considerable effect upon inital fruit growth and final results. Done just right, a 1,000 pounder is likely, but if done wrong, the clone plant acts like a poor gentic of no significant value. A Grower might have had a silver bullet plant and never had known, as you would be surprised to find out just how much pruning and patterning affect fruit growth! This season I really had the chance to experiment and find out how plants respond when grown with different techniques. I am blown away by what I'm finding out {the season isn't over till they get weighed}...................



"is the cloning only benificial for males ?"

9/25/2004 10:14:41 AM

Colorado Hail, CO. Elev. 5,900 FT

"is the cloning only benificial for males ?"

No... that is one benificial aspect. The clone plant can be used for a specific seed cross using it as the mother genetic. This kind of genetic cross might be the best method to use. Since the grower knows how big the fruits get on the plant which a cutting was taken from, the clones off that plant could produce many, many fruits in a small amount of space. I'll give you an example:
Imagine if Frank Calai had taken cuttings off both the 876 Llyod {the male plant in the 846 seed} and the 801 Stelts {the female plant in the 846 seed}, then kept both plants alive over the winter. The following summer, Calai set aside just 500 SF for both plants. Lets say he gave the male clone plant 100 SF, and the female plants 400 SF{one male and say...8 female plants}. The male plant, if pruned correctly, may produce male flowers all season without ever using all of the 100 SF area. The female plants can grow a single fruit in a 50 SF area {trust me, I know this for fact... I am doing just that!}. So, by seasons end, Calai will have produced 8 pumpkins which all are the exact duplicate genetics of the 846 seeds. These seeds are not "remakes", they would be exactly the same seed gentics as the seeds he pulled out from the 846 fruit!!!
You can figure out the math on what kind of seed amount you'd get from 8 pumpkins... pretty much a life time supply!
Using just 500 SF, this all would be possible by using the clones mainly as female breeders...

I am still in the research stages of this technique, but the potential benefits certainly exist and need to be explored!

9/25/2004 10:47:16 AM

That State Up North

Listen to the Madman, he has some very good ideas.

The 720 I grew off a cone was 805 est, but as July 31 pollination, and killed by frost in Sept was cut short of its potential. That clone fruit was 441 est at day 30, so I think with the proper care an imense fruit of equal or greater size is possible from a clone.

Nic Welty

9/27/2004 10:56:24 AM