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Rexburg, Idaho

How many seeds are normally in an AG? Last year mine had over 600 which I figured was normal. This year my 847 had about 120 seeds 30 of which are empty. Both my other pumpkins had about 200 seeds half of which are empty. All three have quite a few seeds that are severely misshaped. Is this a normal thing?

10/30/2001 8:15:56 AM

Ga.

Brian,,my smallest,about 50 lbs est. had 275 seed,,my medium had 325 seed,about 75 est.,,,tonight we will open the 143 and see.......

10/30/2001 9:11:27 AM

Utah

Brain-
It can vary, as you found out. My experence is that the typical number is between 200-400.
gordon

10/30/2001 10:05:26 AM

Chester Co., PA

Brian,
Sounds like your 847 is a good example of how really big pumpkins put all their energy into the pumpkin and not into seeds. If it hadn't gotten so heavy it might have had more seeds, I think most of us would rather have the weight.
P.S. my 400 - 450 pounders both had about 500 seeds.

10/30/2001 11:33:37 AM

Choctaw, OK

the amount of seeds i do not think determines if it put more or less energy into the pumpkin. The variances in seeds amounts in pumpkins has to do with pollination. There are instances where a fruit can set with out any living pollen(sperm) to fertilize the eggs in the pistol of a pumpkin flower(heat can kill the male reproductive cells as well as other factors). THere is a certain growth hormone in pollen that promotes cell division and growth, and this hormone will make a fruit set whether the sperm cells from that pollen are living or not. I suspect this is the way they make seedless watermelon and grapes, but i am not sure of that. This probably may be part of the answer to the differences in the number of seeds in each pumpkin(i do think the number of seeds is also do to the coverage of pollen on the pistol of the female, sometimes hand pollination cannot get every spot like the bees can). I am new at this stuff, so if anyone wants to correct me, go right ahead......also could be partly the reason why the 1131 checkon had no viable seeds...there are probably other factors i am not aware about. hope this helps

i did not have more than 325 seeds from any of my pumpkins this year.....a 1/4 or less were hollow in each one.

Case

10/30/2001 12:02:47 PM

Chester Co., PA

Many of the largest pumpkins are low on viable seed, it will be interesting to see how the seeds from the three 1200#ers do next year.

10/30/2001 12:45:49 PM

Western Pa.

My 673# pumpkin had well over 600 viable seeds. My 634.5# had probably half that much with a lot of immature seeds. I think there are a LOT of factors involved here, including input from her majesty, MOTHER NATURE!

kilr

10/30/2001 2:22:59 PM

Greencastle, PA

my 30 had about 600 viable seeds, maybe it's got something to do with micronutrients in the soil.
Tom

10/30/2001 5:01:16 PM

Long Island,New York

I got about 900 out of my 534.8 lber. A similar amount from a 81.5lb cull off same plant...the cull had a much harder life-on a side vine that was cut from tha main so it didn't take anything from the big one. I heard Hester's 895 squash from the 900lyons(same as mine) had over 1000...so tendencies may be genetic. Weather and care definitely have a hand too..............G

10/30/2001 5:05:09 PM

Deer Park WA

HI, my 644# (from Danny Dills 98, 810) has very large white seeds, last year it had maybe 200 viable seeds, I crossed it with a Waterman "one ton cross' in 2000, it was an agressive brown seed. It produced this years 644# pumpkin. I only harvested about 100 viable seeds, they were very large, and slightly grayer than the previous year, but still white. Interesting to note is that the origional seed sent me by D. Dill, had a "curly que" on one side, as if part of the edge of the seed detatched or something. Anyway over the past couple of seasons I still find this same curly que in about 15% of the seeds? I wonder if that is what makes up the "Pre-dominate" gene in this strain? Should I grow this seed over others from the same stock?
If anyone else has experienced this curly que please respond. Thanks Gerry........

10/30/2001 8:43:06 PM

Rexburg, Idaho

Interestingly I cut open a 40 pounder tonight that was on the vine when I harvested my big one and it appears to have just as many "good" seeds as the big one. I find it interesting that all three pumpkins (three different plants) had a similiar number of seeds. Genetics, environment, weather, or pollination techniques doesn't sound like anyone has a great answer.

10/30/2001 10:03:23 PM

Deer Park, WI

The size of the pumpkin has no impact on the number of potential seeds. When that little baby punkin forms in early july, it already has alllllllllll the potential seeds in the works. How many of those seeds actually develop into full-viable seeds is dependent on a variety of genetic and environmental factors.

10/31/2001 9:18:15 AM

Ga.

Joe4,,what about size of the seed?What determines that?
I got a 143 which had smaller seed than a 75 lb'er...

10/31/2001 10:07:18 AM