Re: What to plant --------------
- To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: What to plant --------------
- From: P* <P*@aol.com>
- Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 22:46:49 EST
In a message dated 98-01-13 15:47:06 EST, you write:
<< Subj: RE: What to plant --------------
Date: 98-01-13 15:47:06 EST
From: MikeN@optiosoftware.com (Mike Nepereny)
Sender: owner-pumpkins@mallorn.com
Reply-to: pumpkins@mallorn.com
To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
The way I understand it, each segment of a female flower can be
pollinated by a different male. Each segment results in a separate seed
sack inside the pumpkin. This could explain wildly different results
from seed from the same pumpkin.
For this reason, I really have to wonder just how accurate the lineage
charts I am seeing really are. If a grower hand pollinates and then
leaves the female flower open, who is to say that the pollination 'took'
and that Mother Nature's bees did come along and do the job with pollen
from who-knows-what male flower? It seems that only flowers that remain
covered at all times in the absence of the grower could be reliable in
their offspring. Is this a common practice amongst those that hand
pollinate?
Always thinking (don't ask about what),
Mike
>>
Mike,
If a blossom is open pollinated, even the seeds within one seed cluster can
contain different pollinations. The way it works is as follows: When pollen
grains land on a carpel or segment, the pollen grains germinate much like a
seed does. There are two parts to a pollen grain...The tube nucleus and the
reproductive nucleus. The tube nucleus actually grows a pollen tube down
through the center of the female to the awaiting ovules ( immature tiny
seeds). The reproductive nucleus supplies the genetic information from the
male flower and enters the ovule and the seed develops. As you can see
different male pollen types could grow down and give different genetic info to
each seed. People that are doing serious crossbreeding should cover both the
male and female flowers the night before, to insure bees don't get to the
females and the males early in the morning before you are there.
pumkinguy@aol.com
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