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Minnesota

2009 crossed with "The Freak" 2 world records or 220 "Snowball" more of the same great 2009 genetics?? debating on which to go for.

12/26/2013 1:39:02 AM

Whitehall Montana

2009 x freak

12/26/2013 10:19:13 AM

Lodi, California

Well, the freak he's been known to go lite. Its a great seed and has excellent vigor but it simply tends to go lite. The 220 isn't really the same thing as the 2009. The 2009's genotype is % 50 1725 and % 50 1409. On the other hand, the 220 is % 75 1725 and 25% 1409. My question to you is, are you growing all 3 plants? Crossing the 1789 with the 2009 would be one of many options. Its hard to tell whether the 1725 or the 1409 part of the equation is why the 2009 produced such large pumpkins. We will know for sure which os dominant next year, as more snowballs will be planted and a good few 2009's as well. Once we know which genetic line is dominant, you could isolate it, which os the logical thing to do, but of course, there are many variables going on between a patch a 2009 is grown in and a 220 that is grown 1000 miles away from that 220. So in conclusion, if you are growing all 3 plants, I would make crosses such as:

2009x220, 220x2009, 1789x2009
Or
2009self, 220x1789, 1789x220

And so on.

If you could breed heavy genetics that produce really large pumpkins (220 is a great example of heavy producing and large producin so far) into the 1789, you would have an extremely vigorous pumpkin (coming from the 1789 side and also from the 220 side) and a pumpkin that would mostly go to chart (from the 220 side). This would be a deadly combination.

So In essence, it might be a great idea to cross that 1789 with the 220, and perhaps the 2009 with its self or with the 220, and the 220 times self or with the 2009.

12/26/2013 11:45:44 AM

Lodi, California

Should say between that 220 and 2009 at the end of the first paragraph.

12/26/2013 11:54:39 AM

Eurasia

Ashton, I thank you very much!
I will grow selfed The Freak seed in 2014 only to use it as pollinator for one of our first melonpumpkins a true intergeneric crossbreeding with our chimera name Cucurbita maximelo (F2 from Cucurbita maxima kabocha group x Cucumis melo inodorus group) to blow it up. We don´t need heavy pumpkin´s flesh.
By the way: the fruit of the selfed 1789 only meassured more then 15hundred pounds, but I do not know the weight Michael Oliver in Bristol RI grew. Maybe it was a 13hundreder.
Most of our new C. maximelo had a thick wall or were like watermelons completely filled with flesh and tight placental tissue. And most of them were acorn-shaped or a little flattened (elliptical cross section). But one fruit was stably round with the size of a basketball and had only a one and a quarter inches thick wall.
We want to blow up this `Basketball´ and grow light boats for the first pumpkin-regatta in southeastern Bavaria or Salzburg/Austria (where Mozart lived).
Yes, the selfed 1789 will be the best pollinator for our purposes. Our boat-fruits can no longer be named Atlantic Giants, ´cause we always will have melon-like seed but a very thin wall.
20 years ago the Austrian-American FM4 / Blue Danube called me to the Salzburg Festival, where I met my wife and stayed.
We will call the new competition class "Blue Danube Giants".

12/26/2013 4:18:19 PM

Torrance, Ca.

Man your fired up Ashton,,,,,,,,, good job! My kids your age are outside right now trying to figure out how to make a mallet out of dirt clods.


Keep up the good work my son:)

12/26/2013 6:41:15 PM

Colorado

Isnt the 2009 the freak 2? Freak 1 is the 1789.

12/26/2013 11:33:09 PM

Minnesota

Growing the 2009, will pollinate the 2009 with 1789 or 220, Will be growing 2 plants, 2009 and a orange plant, the other pollinating plants will get pulled. Not much room.

12/27/2013 1:33:38 AM

Hinckley MN

ouch, you can't find a grower with space for a 220 or 1789 nearby and share pollen with them?

12/27/2013 9:55:09 AM

Minnesota

Its possible, but the nearest grower is 50 miles away.

12/27/2013 11:11:22 AM

Lodi, California

I will take the 220 for you Richard! Lol. Is there no one out there that is growing a 220 that would share 2-3 flowers with you? I would try and hunt someone down and save the 220 for next year, or find a grower who is willing to take on the burdan (a lot of people) of planting a 220 so that you could use it as a pollinator.

12/27/2013 1:33:36 PM

Lodi, California

or grow the 220 and do that woth the 1789

12/27/2013 1:34:24 PM