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Deer Park, WI

Hee Hee... I think this whole issue is hilarious. Its the most interesting pumpkin info to come along since the weighoffs. You really find out what people are like when opinionated issues are involved. I personnaly dont give a rat's-behind how it turns out. If the Dill's go as far as shutting down trades (which they cant do) then I guess growers are forced to propogate their own seeds (which is a great idea anyways). People got their undies in a bundle cuz if this sale goes thru, they think its gonna promote "seed whores" who will make profits off of good seeds. I say NO WAY. There are more good people than bad who will continue to play the game fairly. The "bad seeds" (no pun intended) will quickly be identifed, and smart people will ignore them. Sheeple forget they have a choice in the matter- You do not have to pay high prices for seeds. Look no further than this very website my friends. Lighten up folks, enjoy the ride. This one event will not change our hobby, for the better or worse.

10/30/2001 11:01:07 AM

Utah

ethics, morals, ... pretty funny subjects ?
I guess to some... not to others.

JUST MY OPINION !
g1t

10/30/2001 1:14:32 PM

Western Pa.

I've been staying out of this whole matter, and am "enjoying the ride!" What better to break the doldrums of upcoming winter? Joe, as far as "bad seeds" being identified and ignored, I believe this has already been "in the works". By the way, I want to go down in history as the one who coined the term; "SEED WHORES", if nothing else!

p.s. I expect a small royalty evertime "SEED WHORE" is used!
kilr

10/30/2001 2:30:22 PM

Greencastle, PA

are you going to auction off your terms kilr? "Seed whore" (courtisy of kilr)lol could go for some big money for your term makers organization, you could even be able to trade it for an "I've had enough" or a "Hell is not a bad word, it's in the bible" (both courtisy of me)
Tom

10/30/2001 4:54:03 PM

Greencastle, PA

P.S. The selling of AG is however a serious matter, take into consideration that this is a big time grower selling seeds, the Dills may not shut down everything, but they could stop allowing grower organizations to sell seeds, which could have an effect on the money raised, and might make the wiegh-offs have to be cheaper to have,and therefor less exciting, which may decrease the number of spectators, which could reduce the number of members, it could have a chain effect causing a tremendous loss to the grower organizations. Just something to think about.
Tom

10/30/2001 4:59:53 PM

South Hill, Virginia

I don't think too many people were overly concerned about how this turned out. It's not something new...at any given moment there are AG seeds being auctioned on Ebay. I don't really have a desire to have a huge collection of seeds. I'll probably never have use from more than a half dozen in any year.

10/30/2001 5:04:32 PM

Long Island,New York

Its probably all an unfortunate misunderstanding. The box the seeds are in is whats for sale....the seeds come free with the box.

10/30/2001 5:11:51 PM

Long Island,New York

LOL Joe......hey, you know what you did with your squash is illegal too right?.....G

10/30/2001 5:12:49 PM

Cincinnati,OH

I'm sure Howard Dill spent many dedicated years developing this variety because he loved growing. He should have control over the variety and should profit from it. Ever hear of Nicoli Tesla ? No ? He didn't discover electricity but it was his understanding of it that made it possible to use it the way we do to this day. He died an absolute pauper because he wasn't a buisiness man and some whore company suckered him to sell his ideas for chump change and made billions. Howard Dill he didn't discover the pumpkin but he made it what it is today. Hell we should give him a lifetime achievement award if he doesn't already have one !

10/30/2001 6:36:34 PM

Deer Park, WI

Im sure what i did with my squash is illegal to the squash police. Hee hee... but if you are talking about crossing different varieties, then lets shut down all seed crossing of any type. Its all bad and illegal and prevents lining of deep pockets. Tell the farmers that we can no longer produce hybrid corn seed. Nope, its illegal to cross varieties in an attempt to maximize desired genetic traits. Shame on me. Anywho, the degree of seriousness (is that a word?) applied to ethics and morals depends on how deeply involved/concerned the individual is to a certain issue. Since I am not too deeply concerned/involved in this seed selling issue, it has no impact on my ethics or morals. Therefore, I find all this quite amusing. Some are really taking it to heart- good for you! But when you take a step back and have a look at the situation, is it really that bad? Does it really require taking personal shots, like some do? I can think of one instance, lets call him "William", to protect his identity, where an unecessary remark was made.

10/31/2001 9:05:56 AM

Western Pa.

Howard has spent most of his lifetime producing and breeding his Atlantic Giant. If not for him, all growers would probably be struggling to grow one over 400#'s.The World Pumpkin Confederation has awarded him with their highest tribute,The Lifetime Service and Achievement Award,and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in the same year. HOWARD DILL, YOU DA MAN!

10/31/2001 9:09:34 AM

Tipp City, Ohio

I thought it was free seeds but just a handling charge!!!!!! lol

10/31/2001 11:09:24 PM

Greencastle, PA

like the stuff on tv, "yours free, just pay $50 for shipping and handling!" lol.
Tom

11/1/2001 5:34:30 PM

Tipp City, Ohio

I know of many farmers who purchase "premium" seed to obtain a higher quality crop, then sell it to the grain elevators. I guess that is illegal for the farmers to make a profit to earn a living. Lets lock them up!!!

My father farmed for over 40 years and when PVP came out in the 70's they purchased that seed to obtain a better crop. (The person or company holding the PVP permit sold his seed to distributors and collected royalties from the distributor knowing that this PVP seed would be sold by the farmers.) Then the farmers talked to the seed distributor about what they liked/disliked about that crop so improvements for better seed could be put into action. Sounds a little like BigPumpkins.com only with much larger fruits and with 21st century communications. Just my $.01 Tom

11/1/2001 8:30:08 PM

Tipp City, Ohio

I'll throw in my other $.01 of research. According to the actual PVP Act most of the people (I'm assuming) that use BigPumpkins.com site fall into the "Private Noncommercial Use" (see website) www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/7/ch57.html

I hope this helps. Tom

11/1/2001 11:52:53 PM

Roanoke Il

I don't want to piss any one off and I think we owe alot to Howard Dill. The pumpkins we consider atlantic giants have been cross with a few other varities to produce the seeds we are growing to day. If you look back far enough mid 80's most if not all of the seeds we consider great (935,567,723)
have had squash crossed into them. I would also tend to beleive the were Hungarian mamouth squash. But as for myself i really don't think anyone is getting rich or will get rich selling his or her collection. To collect that many seeds would cost in the hundreds of dollars.

11/2/2001 4:17:33 PM

Indiana

It is however also against the PVP to use them in any genetic pool and sell them.
So a hungarian grey crossed by a Dill atlantic Giant is still a DAG as far as the PVP is concerned.

11/2/2001 5:29:06 PM

canal winchester ohio

It now stands at $1,000 the last 5 hours should be interesting..........Paul

11/3/2001 5:41:47 PM

Deer Park WA

The moral issue of recoginizing (Or not) Mr. Dills creation of the Atlantic Giant Pumpkin.......... And respecting his efforts for the past 30+ years. As well as patent rights.

11/3/2001 10:00:54 PM

Rush, NY

The 1000 plus pound pumpkins grown today were developed by "The GROWERS of North America", not Howard Dill. He certainly deserves a lot of credit for his work, but there were 400 pound pumpkins 100 years ago. In most cases I doubt Howard Dill could prove in court that seeds came from his strain or the strains that previously existed.

11/14/2001 6:04:50 AM