Re: Cucurbits, pumpkins, squash, squmpkins--AHHH!

Chris:

When I think of pumpkins, a symmetrical, dark orange fruit with a twisted 
vine handle comes to mind. The word pumpkin evokes visions of Cinderella's 
coach and halloween jack o'lanterns. 

What doesn't come to mind is large, amorphous blobs of varying color called 
pumpkins because they were planted from another pumpkin's seed.

My remarks will no doubt, incite to riot. Yes, I do agree that in theory, the 
ideal pumpkin is symmetrical with dark orange skin. Those two qualities 
synergize to make a pumpkin different from a squash.

The reality is, nature gives us fruit from our pumpkin's seeds that sometimes 
do not resemble the original Goderich Giant, the foundation pumpkin to 
today's AG. They have odd shapes and pale color. 

What we do have are lots of heavy AGs, but they do not resemble the picture 
perfect pumpkins in our mind's eye. Deciding what is a pumpkin and what is a 
squash is left to competition judges and rules that are determined prior to 
weigh off.

We need to decide if the AG is to be bred for weight, primarily, or 
color/shape. I think everyone knows the answer....it's the weight factor that 
speaks the loudest. Color and shape are moot points.

Some growers wish their fruit were all dark orange..heavy and dark orange is 
a nice goal, but some growers feel that the lighter the skn, the heavier they 
tend to weigh. 

No shape requirements, so flat, long, lumpy, sag lines, blocky, high or round 
doesn't matter....try explaining the difference between a flat, heavy but 
pale colored AG and a perfectly shaped, dark orange hubbard...or a perfectly 
shaped pumpkin that's green.....the green fruit was grown from a pumpkin 
seed, but it's color is off, the Hubbard is dark orange, but has the shape of 
a squash...is the green pumpkin more of a pumpkin than the Hubbard? What 
qualities make each a pumpkin or a squash?

We could beat this poor subject to death....to each his own, so long as 
they're within the GPC/WPC guidelines for color.

Barb

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