Re: 300 pound stock
>Little pumpkins and big off-spring - how about the famous Momberg >567.5
>and
>all its fabulous progeny?
>In a more general sense, don't the grandparent determine the fruit >more
>than
>the parents?
>My two cents.
>John - in cold and windy CA.
>Steve,
>Maybe big fruit is not inevitable. Think about the normal curve - and about
>structural limitations.
>Just some thoughts.
>All lines do not run straight out of a textbook.
>John
>
First, the 567.5 is tops not necessarily because of weight, (it has never
produced a 1000 pounder and probably never will), but for consistancy. It
has solid genetics, which also usually denotes good health and vigor in the
line.
The grandparents have about the same amount of influence as the parents,
overall. I don't know where you heard that from?
As far as fruit size, structural limitations are actually the whole point of
plant evolution. The whole process of evolutuion is nature finding a way
around limitations. In the end, I don't care how it happens, if big fruited
plants are only bred with other big fruited plants, over time, and possibly
hundreds of generations, the fruit will become progressively bigger. It is
all about survival. Of course in extreme situations, any species of any
living organism can be stopped in it's tracks, (like the meteor/dinosaur
event), where nature cannot find a way to continue the species. But this is
probably because the situation happens too fast for nature to keep up. (Like
species of animals and other organisms becoming extinct in the rain
forests), etc. But, nature, given enough time, can pretty much find a way to
make any species survive.
-Steve
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