From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Syracuse, NY

What is today...Not April 1st...
HOLY!!! OMG. Bordering on, no, actually insane!!! lol---eg

11/6/2024 5:00:36 AM

Connecticut, USA

Is somebody pranking you?!?

11/6/2024 10:41:44 AM

Topsfield, MA

Hahah no! It actually happened LOL. I can’t believe it

11/6/2024 11:32:06 AM

Colorado

haha' Id bet a small fortune they didnt develop there.

11/6/2024 1:31:33 PM

Connecticut, USA

Next thing you know you will be telling me Trump is president again!

11/6/2024 2:15:59 PM

Topsfield, MA

Not even kidding guys. I found those seeds in the pumpkin. There was only about 6 or so but they were in the pumpkin like the rest of the pumpkin seeds

11/6/2024 3:00:44 PM

Connecticut, USA

I would you have to grow one just to see if it will germinate and do you get a gourd or a pumpkin?

11/6/2024 3:16:59 PM

Syracuse, NY

I even scanned the diary to see where the heck BGs (Ha Ha, the Bee Gees are in my head, anyway, today) were being grown...Well, I've always said that the seeds are the first to exhibit a NEW crossing. Sir O'Gate Mutha @ your service, lol.
eg

11/6/2024 4:10:32 PM

Grittyville, WA

I'm trying to think how that could genuinely happen but I've got nothing. If I found a pumpkin seed in one of my tomatoes I would definitely grow it!

11/6/2024 5:53:49 PM

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/how-to/cross-pollination-between-vine-crops
Apparently gourds and pumpkins CAN cross breed: “For example, a pumpkin-shaped fruit with greenish bumps on it may suggest a parentage of pumpkin and green-warted gourd.”
Were there any gourds growing in your area? Did you control pollination 100% by never letting the flower open on its own by tying the petals closed the night before they were to open in the next morning?
If you have space you should grow these and see what the fruits look like, it could be very interesting.

11/8/2024 10:30:14 PM

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

https://catfishoutofwater.com/whats-the-difference-between-squash-pumpkins-and-gourds/

This is another good article. Gourds and pumpkins share the same Family level and there are gourds in the genus Cucurbita that could have cross breed with your giant pumpkin - Cucurbita maxima

11/8/2024 11:07:02 PM

Lloydminster/AB

The pollination doesn’t cause a change in seeds of this generation, it had to be the generation before or… my understanding of how plant reproduction works is really really wrong. For instance you grow a white seed but the pumpkin it grows has tan seeds. The tan seeds are determined by the genetics of the seed you grew not by the genetics of the plant that pollinated it.
But to have two entirely different seeds leads to a question about that. Its not even a question of if they can cross. Its how there could be different types of seed in the same fruit.

11/9/2024 12:28:14 AM

Syracuse, NY

Googled
Can pollination affect this year's seeds appearance and size?
'Yes, pollination can significantly affect the appearance and size of this year's seeds, especially if cross-pollination occurs between different varieties of the same...' Probably everybody's other beliefs are intact but this was discussed before and I'll mention corn as the main thing I thought about then. Sweet corn should not be grown near Cow corn, for example, and Multi-Colored Indian corn is another. The seeds might not be 'Grandfathered in' and they don't even exist, really, until pollination is under weigh. In any event, I'm sure a few of us will try it to see how it goes and I wonder if, with AGs-only for a given grower, they've had brown, tan and/or white seeds all in a given fruit. All very interesting. eg

[Last edit: 11/09/24 4:07:05 AM]

11/9/2024 4:03:33 AM

Syracuse, NY

GPFM---Catfish Out of Water...even I had never thought of THAT 'site's visual logo! Some especially-good reading for if not now, once I am counting snowflakes 'til Spring, lol. eg

11/9/2024 4:15:57 AM

Topsfield, MA

Hey guys. To answer your questions I didn’t have any bushel gourd plants in the patch or around the patch this year. Based on that I assume the gourd seeds in the pumpkin had to come from past years in someone else’s patch. I will definitely be trying to germinate and grow one of those seeds in the corner of my patch next year because I’m very curious to see what it would grow!

11/10/2024 7:51:50 AM

Topsfield, MA

Interesting analysis and maybe I discovered the next world record strain of bushel gourds LOL

11/10/2024 7:52:55 AM

Nova Scotia

This is just baffling to say the least??? Even so in the past someone else's patch that had bushel gourds, how could these 2 entirely different species have a successful pollination to even yield seeds? It's too bad there's no photo showing them in the pumpkin? We have seeded countless AGs over the past 40 plus years, the seeds are either brown, tan or white. And yes you always get a few "distorted" ones. Then again nothing surprises me anymore in this World of Nature.

11/10/2024 9:20:11 AM

Syracuse, NY

In other news, this is how the F37 Hybrid 'Forrest Gumpkin' could come to be, lol---eg

[Last edit: 11/10/24 6:12:55 PM]

11/10/2024 6:12:38 PM

Bethlehem CT

Henry by any chance was there a hole in the pumpkin? My thoughts are that most likely a squirrel made a hole, Then hid a few bushel gourd seeds inside your pumpkin. As far as I can tell it would actually be near impossible for them to cross pollinate because they are just to different. THere is a big gap between them... genetically speaking.. Even when there are "mules" created between different species the seeds are usually not filled out and they are undeveloped. They look like the little seed pips you might see occasionally in a seedless watermelon.

11/15/2024 6:54:33 AM

valtierra/spain

Henry, if that's real, your pumpkin seeds will also have Bushell's gourd genes, it's possible. I think you shouldn't give seeds from your pumpkin to anyone this year. Grow some seeds from your pumpkin next year and check.

11/15/2024 4:32:09 PM

Syracuse, NY

That would be a year wasted, though and with the included disclaimer that these seeds MAY contain other genetics (butt only the ones that were affected already show the results) they could go on to infamy anyway and the BG/AG seeds would be in the test phase also. I have seeds that grew my biggest pumpkin last year that have Prizewinner in them. If I always waited for myself to see the results of my own seeds, I'd never sell ANY newer ones, lol...eg

[Last edit: 11/16/24 12:26:06 AM]

11/16/2024 12:23:05 AM

Sharon, MA

Cried wolf. Been doing these silly pranks for years. And the growers fall for it.

11/17/2024 6:38:59 AM

Topsfield, MA

Not joking Steve lol

11/17/2024 8:57:59 AM

Syracuse, NY

"the growers", lol---There will long be an element of doubt, no matter what or whom. 'In some English versions of the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, the boy is eaten by the wolf after the villagers don't believe him when he calls for help'...Ha ha ha.
I had earlier thought 'What a great movie idea' and it is somewhere, in fact, as depicted. Oh, boyyy...eg

11/18/2024 1:04:17 AM