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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Thursday, January 02, 2025
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Little Ketchup
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Grittyville, WA
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Entry 6 of 14 |
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I know its hard to see visually but the seeds on the right are bigger and they weigh a lot more (around 30% more). Now I cant rule everything out, but the thickness of both pumpkins was the same, and the location on the plant was similar both about the same distance from the roots. Two things to consider: The smaller seeds were the pumpkin on a sidevine, whereas the larger pumpkin was the one on the mainvine. But like I said, the thickness of the pumpkins was the same and the pumpkin on the sidevine actually weighed a bit more because it was a bigger flower to begin with. And thats the key to the difference in seed size. How so? Well, the pumpkin on the side vine had about twice as many stigmas, and stigmas correspond to ovaries, and ovaries correspond to... ovums. Eggs. Seeds.
The ovums (word of the day) in the pumpkins with the smaller seeds were competing with twice as many fellow ovums. The pollination rate was near perfect (hardly any duds in either pumpkin). So pollination rate wasnt a factor in the final seed count, only the number of "ovums". The seed count of the pumpkin with smaller seeds was twice that of the other pumpkin, (about 900?) and it produced more total weight of seeds even though each seed weighed less. And thats why each seed weighed less.
Anyhow, to sum it up, seed size is once again not determined entirely by genetics. One of the factors determining seed size seems to be how many siblings did it have.
Anyways, sorry for the dissertation on seed size. Its interesting but not really unexpected since the same thing happens in humans, for example, with more babies in a womb resulting in smaller sized babies. It probably has to do with nutrient flow because even if a mom ate more she couldnt give birth to octuplets weighing 8-10 lbs each. The limit to embryo growth is probably a nutrient restriction at the placenta or maybe there is no nutrient restriction maybe its all just the size if the womb. This is where my knowledge totally ends, I dont even know what question to ask next. So... onto the next question. When will my curiosity ever finally pay for itself? Now thats a good question.
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