Intro & seed genetic question
Hello pumpkin growers,
I've been absorbing lots of very useful information from you since I
joined this list 2 months ago, so I thought I should introduce myself
and say THANKS for all your growing tips.
Central Wyoming is the location of my pumpkin patch. It's probably not
the ideal place to grow a
huge pumpkin, but I've enjoyed striving for personal bests in recent
years. Some of my
challenges are an arid climate, hot days with cool nights, cold days
with cold nights (spotty frost
damage on bean leaves June 30), and periods of strong dry winds (30-50
mph) that can last for a
day or two. A 5' tall stand of native rabbit brush offers my pumpkin
plants some protection from
this wind.
I would be happy to exchange seeds with someone out there, but I've
never grown anything over 200 lbs. My 1998 199 lb. pumpkin came from
descendants of seeds bought from a seed catalogue several years ago.
Seeds from that pumpkin grew my smallest 3 of 6 pumpkins in 1999 (75
lb.). I have a strong suspicion that the seed genetics from my AG
pumpkins are inferior. If anyone has seeds from a 400 or 500 + lb.
pumpkin that was 2nd to your big one, or seeds you feel like you should
save for genetics, but not quite confident enough to plant them, I would
enjoy trying them. E-mail me privately with your address, and I'll send
my self addressed stamped bubble envelope to you. Thanks.
Now for my question. When I first started growing AG pumpkins about 8
years ago, I read some information that stated that 1 out of every 4
seeds from a large AG pumpkin has the potential to grow another large
pumpkin. Is this the case with seeds from 500-1100 lb pumpkins? I've
been planting 7 or 8 of my saved seeds (abundant) per hill , then
thinning back to the 2 best, and then finally saving the strongest of
those 2. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again for all the info,
Ron Hoffman
Riverton, WY
ronalho@trib.com
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