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Colorado

thought for the day:

the 1385 jutras was grown over 200 times, with the best fruit as the 1725harp, which led to the 2009 wallace, which led to where we are today with pumpkins increasing the WR from 1689 to well over 2000 pounds today (esp. if you include the big 2328dmg Meier) in just 6 years. so an increase in top weight of about 100 pounds a year...

if this happened at the same rate with squash we would have a 1 ton squash in about 5-6 years. It seems like most people agree that the problem is somewhat of a numbers game, and somewhat of a genetics game. you just don't have 200 people growing the 1037 Jarvis (if you want to make that the "green" comparator to the 1385 Jutras with WR pollen) to find the one seed that is awesome. and probably the squash genetics just aren't as good as pumpkin, but since they are all AGs there's really no reason that they can't be improved over time if you had enough people growing squash. and of course there is the color rule.

10/24/2013 12:09:57 PM

Colorado

So what if, instead of having a new squash club, we all just picked “the best seed out there” and ALL grew it next year, to see if we can move things forward with bigger weight? Obviously, there would need to be an agreement on what the best seed is. Do we need pumpkin genetics to help us out? I would say yes. Do we need the 1486 genetics in there to help us out? I would say yes.
Just an idea (and I haven’t talked to Mark who runs the show), but what if the worldwidegiantgrowers put on the usual world wide squash competition next year with a twist- everyone grows the same seed? That helps the numbers game. That gives us all a “virtual” squash club. That gives us all a really darn good prize structure too, which is always nice. And maybe that gives us a really BIG squash in a few years if we do it year after year…

I’ll start a new thread on what the “best seed” is, so we can separate comments on competition from thoughts on seeds.

10/24/2013 12:10:47 PM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

It's an interesting thought, Pete, but I'm not sure we'd get everyone to agree on one, or even two seeds, to grow. Providing some suggestions as to some good picks seems totally reasonable, though.

I think the greenies' weights/genetic advancement is being held back by the worry of not going green.

As a general rule, old proven green producers are widely grown for many years after their initial production (e.g. 996 Haist 2010, 800 Neily 2007, 848 MacKenzie 2004). Growing those is not a bad idea, really, if you want a green squash, but for genetic advancements in fruit weight to happen we need to keep moving forward with new "unproven" seeds almost every year.

That is, take some risk and grow a seed with large size potential (perhaps with an AG grand parent or two) and collectively we can roll the dice. We'll get some big greenies and some not. The road to the 2000 lb greenie could be bumpy, but I think we can do it.

I completely agree it is a numbers game.

10/24/2013 2:53:27 PM

norway , maine

if Edwin's 1264 has a good seed count it might be a good place to start

10/24/2013 5:01:19 PM

Sourthern Utah

well i believe the 905 V/M 09,, is still a great viable seed, and going to grow 2 this next yr

10/25/2013 6:16:09 PM