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Lexington, Ky

Would it be worthwhile to perform a multi year study on the seeds that come out of one specific AG?

For example, if I had grown the 1068 Wallace and carefully mapped out the seed arrangement inside the fruit and grew them in subsequent years in near identical evironments....

Mission damn near impossible but it would be interesting to see if a pattern might develop.... i.e., would seed 1, 3, 5, 7 go 1,000 plus. Or, would the seeds at the stem end result in heavier weights than the seeds on the blossom end.

I have no idea why I even posted this! Thinking out loud I guess.

Jamie

10/10/2006 8:36:43 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Actually I've often thought & even once suggested that when using multiple male flower to pollinate a single female there may be the potential for seed quality variability with the range of seeds in the resulting fruit. Your suggestion (mapping the location of the seeds within the fruit) might help confirm such a theory.

If I read your idea properly, you are suggesting that seeds within the fruit might posses unique traits. So collecting the seeds & segregating them by location might demonstrate patterns?

I would agree this is would be a worthy experiment.

I'd like to take it a step further & try using both single & multiple males & grow out the resulting seeds to see if monogamy would insure greater control of progeny.

Alas it would take a VERY large planting to perform a reasonable grow-out.

10/10/2006 10:31:33 PM

Pumpkintown, SC

I believe if you speak with Jim Kuhn, he could enlighten you on his findings when he did his similar studies/tests many years ago. I believe the overall outcome was that no difference was found. Too bad. This was an idea I too thought might have some merit several years ago. BF

10/10/2006 10:41:03 PM

Ohio

Jamie, As I was taking my seeds out of one of my pumpkins I was going to save the first 10 seeds closest to the stem to see what kind of results would happen when I grow one next year. I was thinking that maybe(Just a total guess) these seeds might hold a bigger growing genetic then the other seeds inside the pumpkin. Never worked out though, I forgot which seeds I pulled from the stem end once I had all them seeds laying there,LOL!!!! I Thought of what your thinking of also, but I think Ill just grow the biggest and most normal looking seed I can find. Last two years I tried growing my seeds that was cool looking and had that extra outer edge that is on the seed. I was hoping and thinking it might grow something special and maybe grow something huge, but so far NOT so good,LOLOL!!


And congrats again on your 887.5 pumpkin off the 932 Tanner!! Next year Gordons seed will fall to a Bosworth seed in your patch LOL. We are tied now at one a piece in the Wexler patch. Ha!!

Brooks

10/11/2006 9:25:44 AM

Utah

Jamie,
I don't it matters where the seeds come from in the pumpkin. all you have to do is a little thought experiment to convice yourself. 1/2 of the genetics of the seed come from the male. Say you had two exactly identical females. and two exactly identical males. You pollinate one female with one male. Then you pollinate the other identical female with the other identical male only you rotate the male so that the pollen ends up in a different place on the female. The pollen would end up in a different location... in other words different seeds. Now what if you had a 3rd identical female and a different male flower. All the seeds would be completely different.
the only way this wouldn't happen is if the "big weight" gene or "heavy" gene came only from the female. I think history has show that this isn't the case.

Brooks,
you're going down !!!!!

10/11/2006 9:47:06 AM

Lexington, Ky

This all made more sense when I was drinking! Interesting and thought provoking replies to say the least. Thank you.

I like Tremor's idea of single vs multiple pollinators, that really has me thinking.

Tanner 1 Bosworth 1, OK, I'm keeping score now! Too bad I let the bees do the work on the 887. I never dreamed I would ever do that well. This year has changed everything.

10/11/2006 11:19:10 AM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

They say this works in humans... that is some of those little critters swim better than others, and that to get one result over another, one can change the odds ever so slightly by changing the pollination technique.......... (That's as specific as I'm going to get!)

That said, in the pumpkin world we're dealing with multiple pollinations within each fruit, and I view that world as "channeled", that is, there is no race, but wherever the pollen lands, it's pretty fixed in where it ends up. (Sorry for the run-on sentences.)

While we're on it, I've always wondered if there is an effect (not to thread-jack) in a section of the fruit that maybe does not develop, if the pollen was properly distributed in that spot. And... (you thought I was done?) since it's so hard to get the pollen all the waaay down at the base of the female part, why not just remove the female flower petals to make sure you cover the whole thing. Violent, I know, but it's for the good of the fruit.

OK, now I'm done.

10/12/2006 4:42:19 PM