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Australia

I was wondering what the fruit would look like, since my marrow is open pollination and the only 2 Cucurbita Pepo's i'm growing are a marrow and a field pumpkin. I'm guessing they could cross. I don't know if I should keep the seeds or not. I normally don't keep open pollinations.

1/30/2013 8:03:28 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Im going to try this cross this year....see what happenZ in 2014

1/30/2013 3:54:48 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

They cross very easily..

1/30/2013 5:34:19 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

I will be doing a closed pollination with my 81 wolfy boy.

1/30/2013 5:41:28 PM

Springfield, VT

The cross creates long pumpkins, the color maybe off or stripes appear in the fruit.

1/30/2013 6:30:42 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Ribs

1/30/2013 7:36:51 PM

Australia

Thanks for the info guys, I might keep a couple of seeds to try next year.

1/31/2013 6:50:13 AM

Netherlands

I have involuntarily grown a few. They can be long and take a long time to turn orange. You generally speaking get an odd shaped fruit with an ugly colour. Of course they cannot be entered in a fair or show, so for competition purposes are useless.

1/31/2013 8:42:04 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

... Dutch.. I was going to use your marrow seed...lol SO you say they are not worth crossing a pepo into for the next year on increasing the weight of the Marrow? Not sure it would be worthZ putting a marrow into a PEPO to make a super strain?

1/31/2013 1:13:14 PM

ShagHarbour n,s canada

what about crossing a marrow to a AG is that possible

1/31/2013 4:05:09 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Nope AG C Maxima--- Marrow C Pepo will not cross

1/31/2013 5:54:40 PM

Hanover,Ontario,Canada

Yes they cross very easily and that is why we had to drop the marrows as a prize class at Port Elgin Pumpkinfest. The marrows were coming in huge and with very suspicious colouring!!!!!!

2/1/2013 9:57:13 AM

ShagHarbour n,s canada

dave is that about the AGXMARROW?

2/1/2013 10:34:33 AM

Netherlands

AGs don't cross with marrows. FPs do very well. In general marrows are larger than FPs. Any crossing done between the two would automatically disqualify the kiddies.

2/1/2013 10:38:21 AM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

Brad, Do you mean FPxMarrow offspring would be disqualified as a Marrow? That could be true for F1s, but some F2s and marrow backcrosses might still qualify as marrows.

EGVGA Marrow rules:
http://egvga.webs.com/showrules.htm#687754605
"The colour must be green or light yellow. The green marrows might have light green stripes."

Not sure if there is a GPC standard for marrows?
________

I couldn't find much in the rules to indicate FPxMarrow crosses would be disqualified for entry as a Field Pumpkin.

If they have a hard green stem (as pepos do) and are orange or green they meet GPC FP requirements (what I could find):
1) Field pumpkins are classified as having a hard, green stem.
2) Vines must be trimmed to within an inch of the stem.
3) Green (unripe) field pumpkins are allowed for weigh-off purposes.

The EGVGA standards don't seem to indicate disqualification either:
EGVGA Field Pumpkin rules:
http://egvga.webs.com/showrules.htm#683177820
Nothing in there that I saw would disqualify any C. pepo from entering as a Field Pumpkin

2/4/2013 6:17:41 PM

Netherlands

All crosses of every sort are disqualified, not specific to only FPs and marrows.

The light yellow ones are known as white marrows which are a 100% true marrow sort. As soon as orange appears, they will be disqualified. I'd be suspicious of any short, round marrows as well.

Rough skin is also a characteristic of FPs with a marrow background, along with an elongated shape.

2/5/2013 2:54:54 AM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

Is there a more complete listing of the GPC or other giant vegetable competition rules for marrow and field pumpkin somewhere? I have not been able to find anything more than what I posted links for before.

I believe you that somewhere it says crosses are disqualified (although I don’t see that on the webpage I found). Assuming that’s the case, it's my opinion that saying all crosses are disqualified seems too vague to be a useful rule for C. pepo (Marrow and Field Pumpkin).

See the fruit from a Shymanski Marrow x FP F1 seed I grew last year (the one on the left):
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=192065

Could anyone reasonably tell that's not a field pumpkin and disqualify it as a cross?

Also note the “marrow” on the right in that same photo. The seed it grew from had a green mother and a green pollinator and came from a very reputable marrow grower. It was solid green a couple weeks before, but ripened to have lime-green/orange stripes. We know many marrows are contaminated with FP, but all are not necessarily disqualified as Marrows if they are weighed before they ripen. I don’t see “no crosses” as a verifiable standard.

I think we probably need some more clear rules than just “crosses are disqualified” (I think something like we have for "squash" vs AG would be more fair and fun than widespread disqualifications.). On a basic level I'd say long and green is a “marrow” (how long and how green is debatable), anything else is a “field pumpkin”?

2/5/2013 12:41:08 PM