The Time is Near

Duncan,
 
I have not made my final selections yet as to what I am going to plant. For sure I will put in my 977. Some people suggest that self pollination is not the way to go as it produces duds. Yet many good pumpkins in the past have been self pollinated. Based on one of our lectures by a geneticist during the Ottawa St. Lawrence Growers Seminar this past Sunday, it was suggested that depressive traits in pumpkins will typically not show up for about 5 years. Another words if you continued to self pollinate the same fruit for 5 years (on average) you would not see any negative decline in weights until the 5th or 6th generations and only as a result of continued inbreeding over the course of this period of time. In that my 977 was the best thus far from the Greer 1006 I may very well have captured the best genes by self pollination of the fruit. Then again maybe not but we won't know until enough are planted or review the outcome of this growing season. I am thinking on the positive side and hopefully someone will produce a 1,000 lber from it?
 
Chris Andersen
 
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