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South Bloomfield, Ohio

Dr. Liggett's 898 Knauss is going grow-crazy at the present and I've wracked my brain trying to come up with a cross for it. Dr. Liggett and I both considered possibilities and he pretty much left it up to me.

I would like to self-pollinate it and cross it at the same time. I can figure out a decent cross for it, but my question is this: should both fruits be grown on the main vine or one on the main and one on a secondary?

5/29/2007 9:12:15 PM

southwest MO

There should be some real aggresive secondarys on the main real close to the crown. Train one of these in an opposite direction and manage like a second main.

5/30/2007 11:01:23 AM

Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

or....wait for late pollination on a secondary, well past the primary fruit. set your primary fruit on the main and cross pollinate.

5/30/2007 3:06:37 PM

Syracuse, NY

or...., lol, if you have pollinations all over the place
happening, just make the cross and once you have culled-away all the "undesirables" then you are left with a
shock absorber fruit that will have the 898 X SELF
seeds in it, and then perhaps your other dream cross
pumpkin on the main vine. i believe that at 40 days or so the seeds are reasonably mature inside the fruit(s). eric g

5/30/2007 6:52:37 PM

Farmville, Virginia (mfowler@hsc.edu)

Will growing two fruits on one plant possibly reduce the final weight of the pumpkins versus only one pumpkin per plant?

5/31/2007 12:08:43 AM

President - GPC

Go for at least two, the 898 is too much of a stud pollinator not to....there are other seeds for big and heavy potential, I would grow more than 2, each one unique.

5/31/2007 8:42:26 AM

Mark,,yes it will in almost allll cases,,

Joe,, I like the idea of one on the main pollinated with something else,,,no idea what your options are for pollen but go for it,,,

The secondary fruit if set on one of your first(bigger) secondarys, then cut from the main to create it's own seperate plant with help from the tertiary vines seems like a good idea to me, this requires space for vine training.
Remember, now days it seems growers want seeds from big fruit no matter how great the cross looks on paper, that's my reason for this suggestion. You'll have a far better chance for size esp on that main vine fruit.

Just my 2cents

5/31/2007 11:58:32 AM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

I appreciate the input of all who cared to respond.

Dan, you are correct in that growers want seed from bigger fruit, no matter what the cross. I'm no different. But now that I've had time to research AG lineage, the 125 Wolf really comes to mind. It's a popular seed because someone took the time to grow it based on its genetics. And it's a good cross. Genetics doesn't change due to fruit size, does it?

I would love to take your suggestion of cutting a secondary away from the main and growing that fruit by itself, but space is a limiting factor here. I wish I had posted this thread before patch preparation.

Buddy Conley is growing the 845 Bobier and will most likely cross it with the 898 to create another 1068 Wallace. Maybe a reverse cross here?

And Dr. Liggett is growing two Knauss crosses(I think) and intends to cross this Knauss back into them to create a "super seed". He saw the merits of the 898 a long time ago.

And then again, we have the 664.5 Liggett x 1030 Armstrong cross from last year.

Thanks again everyone.

5/31/2007 9:38:11 PM

Hey Joe,,sounds like you have the crosses covered,,good luck!!

and the guys that grew that 125 Wolf were a couple of cheeseheads what do they know? ;-)

5/31/2007 10:01:47 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

LOL Dan. And by the way, one of my best work buddies is a cheesehead.

6/1/2007 4:51:39 AM