Future of pumpkins?
- To: "'Pumpkin'"
- Subject: Future of pumpkins?
- From: T* G* L*
- Date: Wed, 2 Dec 1998 08:51:41 -0800
Future of pumpkins? Calabaza is easier to grow and tastes better
Associated Press
XXXX City, XX State. - When is a pumpkin not a pumpkin? When it is a
calabaza, a tropical pumpkin being developed by a University of XXXX
researcher. On future Thanksgivings, Don XXXX believes people may go for the
calabaza because it is easier to grow and tastes better.
The tropical pumpkin belongs to the same family as butternut squash and the
traditional North American pumpkin. The tropical pumpkin is native to
Central America and became a favorite in the Caribbean and South America
before appearing in XXXX with immigrants from those regions. The calabaza
has a smoother, less stringy flesh than North American pumpkins, said XXXX,
a vegetable specialist with the university's Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences.
The only thing keeping calabaza from winning pumpkin popularity contests has
been its cumbersome 50-foot-long vines, XXXX said.
Under a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, XXXX started crossbreeding
pumpkin varieties in 1991 at the university's XXXXX Research and Education
Center in XXXX to reduce the tangle of vines.
After developing the bush type, XXXX and some colleagues began evaluating
how the calabaza grows in XXXX's climate. They have found that calabaza
tolerates heat, low and high moisture and insect pests of all kinds. This is
one tough pumpkin," XXXX said.
He next plans to breed ideal characteristics in order to get that round
shape and that yellow-orange color.
XXXX said farmers are sure to like the new pumpkins' growing cycle. The old
tropical pumpkin took 110 to 115 days from planting to harvest. The new
varieties can be harvested in less than 80 days.
"I think this is the wave of the future. Farmers are going to like the short
vine types, and we continue to get requests for seeds from around the
world," XXXX said.
The appeal of the pumpkin is worldwide, XXXX said, especially for autumn
holidays. "In almost any culture, pumpkin is a component in Thanksgiving
dinner. And in many cultures, it's a tropical pumpkin," he said.
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I read the article above in an on-line news paper a while back.
I am hesitant to bring this to the group but I am anyway because I don't
want to waste a whole season or two on these and I figure sooner or later
everyone will find out anyway. In the mean time I am trying to keep some
parts of it secret.
I have contacted this researcher and am in the process of getting some of
his seeds from a cross that we all might find very interesting but he
didn't.
He promises me that they have some very desirable characteristics concerning
plant and fruit size, growth rate and resistance to heat, bugs and disease.
And that they aren't typical Calabaza seeds but a unique cross of his.
My questions to the group are:
has anyone heard of these CALABAZA's before?
or know what type of genetics they have ? the article says they belong to
the butternut squash and traditional North American Pumpkin family.
would they cross with an AG pumpkin ?
any help out there on this one ???
Gordon Tanner
Maple Valley, WA
application/ms-tnef
