Two Cents Worth

I am not a geneticist, but I believe that in the Cucurbita family AG's will only cross with other C. Maxima types i.e., AG x Banana Squash. A Butternut squash is a Cucurbita moschata which will only cross with moschata types, i.e., Butternut x Cheese pumpkin.
It could be explained that the seeds of a Butternut squash that had been grown in a AG patch came out looking different than what it should have been, is because of a possible cross pollination with a different moschata type or the parent could have been a hybrid cross and its off spring resorted back to some distant cross made at the hands of a plant breeder.
I do think that it is interesting and valuable that people growing AG's come up with all these different crosses. The reality is that AG's today are not the AG's that H. Dill had when he introduced the Atlantic Giant pumpkin. Out West where I grew up, Banana Squash is much desired by stores, the bigger the better, because they slice them up and sell them wrapped in cellophane as individual pieces. One time I grew a Banana Squash that weighed 75lbs. The store owner loved it because all he had to do was cut and slice with very little waste. Since AG is a maxima and so is Banana squash, who knows, a 500 lb. squash might just be what the store owner is looking for.....
Russ 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pumpkin-growing archives: http://www.hort.net/lists/pumpkins/
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index