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Ca

I don't have the time, inclination or background to look up (let alone interpret) the genetics of the seeds I get. So, my strategy is to cross, more or less randomly, a large well-shaped orange pumpkin with another large, well shaped orange pumpkin and see what happens. For example, I am planning to cross a King 483 King '04 with a 502 Zunino '01 (Bellaluna), without paying attention to the lineages. My question is this -- given the limits of what growers know about AG genetics, is this a reasonable approach, or am I setting myself up to find myself with the AG equivelant of a light yellow-green Chihuahua? Also, is there a strategy when deciding which pumpkin should be the pollinator, or the pollinated?
Richard Trout
Albany, CA

6/14/2005 5:45:16 PM

Long Beach, CA

Hi Richard,
If you cross two good color seeds, the offspring should also produce nice colored fruit, though it seems that can sometimes be unpredictable. I believe that, when crossing two plants, which plant grows the fruit has no bearing on the progeny, at least in theory. Some people may have had experiences to the contrary, though...

Oliver

6/14/2005 8:40:33 PM

Deer Park WA

Must be a Kerry Supporter... (LOL)

6/15/2005 1:20:05 AM

Long Beach, CA

Hey, if you mean I'm flip-flopping... No worries, I voted niether for Kerry nor Bush (:

Oliver

6/15/2005 1:39:28 AM

Cincinnati,OH

The 483 King 04 is (560 King 03 x 898 Knauss)
The 560 King 03 is (845 Nesbit x 805 Pukos)
I don't know the cross on the 502 Zunnio.

The problem with crossing pumpkins by only looking at its color is that it may have been crossed with a pumpkin that doesn't make a lot of orange pumpkins. With random crosses I think you will get green,orange,yellow and white chihuahuas from the same seed.
I think the 483 King has lots of potential for the heavy part of your plan. I would cross it with something with lots of orange like a 981 Zunnio or 997 Zunnio.
Probably your best plan would be to request heavy orange crosses from growers, that way they could lead you in the right general direction until you better understand the genetic part. Email me, uncron1@hotmail.com and I will give you one of mine.
Ron Rahe

6/15/2005 8:50:07 PM