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Mineral Virginia

I saw this referenced in another thread so thought I would break it out. Since I've never had occasion to raise a really, really large one, can someone provide some insight into this? Is it a case of letting the pumpkin sit to long prior to seed collection? Since they apparently continue to grow nearly right up to weigh-off, you wouldn't think the pumpkin would move itself into reproduction mode prior to rotting.

If this is the case, and seed collection is a priority, would gathering the seed in promising specimens be more prudent than letting them sit for months as display?

4/14/2003 2:56:39 PM

Usa

http://www.hort.net/lists/pumpkins/nov02/msg00000.html

4/14/2003 3:11:03 PM

Mineral Virginia

Well, not wanting to read too much into that post, I hope the clue old coger was trying to give us was that Don opened the pumpkin probably within 3 weeks after the weigh off. So that may rule out time in the case of his specimen, but the next question would be when was it cut from the vine?

What I’m really hoping for is input regarding what the handling process has been for others who opened pumpkins and the seeds were partly germinated.

4/14/2003 3:17:19 PM

North Ga

I cut my 400 from the vine July 20th last year and kept it in the shade till mid sept. When I did cut it open about 30 seeds had germinated and were actually growing. The stems on a few were over 6" long and the cotyledons had a slight tinge of green on them. I cut my 537 open a few days after harvest and all seeds were intact.

4/14/2003 4:00:20 PM