RE: GOOD SEED--BAD CONDITIONS
Mark,
Last year one of the speakers at the Northwest Growers Seminar was a
genetic specialist from the University of Oregon. I asked her if a
seed from a 200 pound pumpkin and a 900 pound with the same genetics
were capable of producing equally large fruit. She told me that if
they were both the same cross, they have they have the same
"genetic potential" of producing equally large pumpkins. We did not
get in to a dicussion of poor soil, watering and other growing conditions
but my guess is that this does not alter the genetic potential of the seed.
I think that most growers (mysel included) think that BIGGER is better....
so what do we do.....we plant the seed from the 900 pounder and ignore that
200 pounder's seed.
Here's a good example......A couple of weeks ago at the California Growers
Meeting, two of Geneva Emmons 1262's went for $100 each at our auction.
That same day there were about a dozen packets of Jose Ceja's
900+ (uow) 01 on the table for growers to select during the raffle. The footnote
on these packets clearly stated that these seeds had the same cross as the
2001 World Record. There were 2 seeds in each packet. After 2 or 3 rounds of the
raffle most of these seed packets were still there. Why weren't they picked
up sooner.......BECAUSE WE THINK THAT BIGGER IS BETTER......and also because
uow seeds are largely ignored. If the genetic specialist is correct, these
seeds have the same "potential" as the 1262.
Mark, you also mentioned seed size. The size of the seed is usually a genteic
thing and has no bearing on how big a fruit it will produce. For example,
the 449 Marcellus is a very small seed and it grew the 991 Hunt and other large
pumpkins. The famous 567.5 Mombert was also a small seed.
Mark, I look forward to meeting you and the other east coast and Canada growers
at Niagara Falls next week.
George Webster
Napa, Ca
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pumpkins@hort.net [o*@hort.net]On Behalf
Of Mark
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2002 1:26 PM
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Subject: GOOD SEED--BAD CONDITIONS
I'd like to get some input on future generations' potential on the above
subject. If I had a seed that had good parents, great grandparents &
great-grandparents, etc and it was grown in poor soil, improper feeding &
watering, wrong set-out date, poor fruit set or pollination, poor growing
conditions, etc etc and it produced a small fruit short-lived by frost or
whatever reason, just how good is the harvested seed, assuming the pumpkin
was old enough to produce mature seed? My question isn't if the seed is old
enough (I already germinated some successfully) but rather what is the
potential? did it lose its good "blood" thru the generations or is it still
there? If my 792 Holland and Sherrie LaRue's UOW 1016 produced a 300 lb
pumpkin, would there be an interest in the seeds? And for those who would
want them, would you still want them if the seeds were small? If someone
grew these seeds PROPERLY, what might the results be?
I'd like to get some opinions on this. I'll be at the Niagara Falls seminar
if somebody wants to see the seeds, page me by BowTie or GoodSeed-BadSeed. I
don't think I'll know anyone there, maybe 1 or 2 at most.
Mark
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