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Huntsville Texas

Has anyone any experience in converting AG to tetraploid using colchicine? I know it is routinely used by daylily breeders to increase size and vigor of both plants and blossoms, although it is quite toxic if used carelessly.

12/22/2011 7:44:16 PM

Tinykinville

hmm sounds like some bs langevine said was the future long time ago.doing everything right without goofball tricks has served pumkin comunity well.

12/23/2011 3:24:14 AM

Hinckley MN

would tetraploid fruit need an asterisk in the record book?

12/23/2011 10:27:01 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Yep it has been done with poor results...Nick Welty or Andy Wolf did it..along withsome other growers like Ten Years ago

12/23/2011 9:19:20 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Do a site search..

12/23/2011 9:24:27 PM

Mount Vision, NY

I've hybridized daylilies for 15 years and have done my own successful tetraploid conversions with them. You have to realize that it's taken over half a century and many millions of daylilies seedlings and thousands of hybridizers to get them where they are today. You can grow out one thousand daylily seedlings in the minimum space used to grow one AG. Conversions are also a sheer numbers game. The success rate is minute.
Continued...

12/24/2011 7:27:14 AM

Mount Vision, NY

Even if enough growers with the resources required to take this on were even slightly successful it would take decades to see any real results and I'm not so sure it would be a worthwhile endeavor. I think you would find thicker, but more brittle stems, fertility problems for sure and even though the fruit would probably be bigger I think they'd be much more prone to catastrophic failures. I think there would be many postives to growing tetraploid pumpkins, but enough negatives to make it "iffy" at best.

12/24/2011 7:33:43 AM

Eastern Washington State

Sooo, if you want to go ahead with it anyway. There are two additional negatives to consider, lol.

First is that fertility issues are to be expected expecially in the first few generations. Second is that the tetraploid can't be crossed with normal pumpkins anymore. I mean it can, but the resulting plants will be sterile triploids (look up seedless watermelons).

12/24/2011 11:57:13 AM

Somerset,Ky

You will have to self the converted ones

12/24/2011 12:19:32 PM

Mount Vision, NY

On the cool side... "IF" pumpkin seeds followed the same suit as daylily seeds the tetraploid seeds would be 2-3 times the size of a diploid pumpkin seed. Think about the largest seed you have in your stash of seeds and think about it 2-3 times larger. That would be something to see.

12/24/2011 12:37:53 PM

Mount Vision, NY

You wouldn't have to self the converted ones, though you could go that route. You'd want to get to "generation tets" and away from "conversion tets" in your crosses as quickly as you could. Generation tets are the offspring of your conversion tets. Generation tets have never been touched with colchicine to change their ploidy. Fertility would be better, but still a challenge. Even using generation tets you'd have a lot of hurdles to cross.

12/24/2011 12:44:38 PM

Huntsville Texas

Thanks! lots of great info; did the sight search and discovered much more. Very interesting possibilities, but probably won't try this anytime soon, concentrating on mastering established techniques for now instead.

12/24/2011 2:16:38 PM

Huntsville Texas

Thanks! lots of great info; did the sight search and discovered much more. Very interesting possibilities, but probably won't try this anytime soon, concentrating on mastering established techniques for now instead.

12/24/2011 2:16:39 PM

Huntsville Texas

Thanks! lots of great info; did the sight search and discovered much more. Very interesting possibilities, but probably won't try this anytime soon, concentrating on mastering established techniques for now instead.

12/24/2011 2:16:39 PM

Huntsville Texas

????? sorry for multiples

12/24/2011 2:18:36 PM