Saturday, November 16, 2019

Giant Pumpkin Seed Gentics's Lineage of the Kings

When you look at pumpkin seeds that have consistently grown the biggest pumpkins in the world over the years you find a line that connects the dots to the seeds that seem to point a path to the future.  From time to time there have been side shoots to these lines, but typically the progeny on those lines peter out quickly.

So a little history.  Today's lineage and the seed that was the one that everyone wanted when I first started growing was the 1068 Wallace.  All of the big pumpkins today come from the 1068 genetics.  The first pumpkin over 1,500 pounds was grown by Ron Wallace from his own 1068 seed.  A lot of growers grew a personal best from the 1068.

The next big seed was the 1161 Rodonis.  I grew a 1161 Rodonis and it grew me a personal best pumpkin.  That seed grew the world record 1810 Stevens, but that seed line seemed to peter out.  A number of big pumpkins came from it, but the progeny didn't seem to produce any lineage that continued to grow big pumpkins.

There was also the 1404 Bryson that grew the 1818 Bryson, but that line fizzled out as well.

The next big seed was also a world record grower and it is a second generation out of the 1068 Wallace.  That seed was the 1725 Harp.  The 1725 Harp produced what I would call a game changer seed. The famous 2009 Wallace seed, which was the first one ton pumpkin and was grown by the same Ron Wallace that was mentioned earlier.

I got a 2009 seed from Ron and I didn't even ask for it.  Unfortunately it was the only seed that didn't germinated that year.  The 2009 produced the world record 2032 Mathison and the world record  2323 Meier world record pumpkins.   A lot of big pumpkins came out of the 2009 Wallace seed.

At that point the seed line deviated just a little.  Out of the 2009 Wallace, but not directly came the 2145 McMullen which produced the current world record 2624 pound pumpkin.  I say deviated, because I would have expected the line to the next hottest seed to be directly out of the 2009 seed.  There have been a lot of big pumpkins from 2009 progeny, but none have seemed to be as good as the 2145, which is 3rd generation 2009.   The interesting thing is that mama's side of the genetics in the 2145 is a lot of 2009 and papa's side was mostly 1161.  So in some ways the 1161 Rodonis line didn't really die out, it just took a few generations for it to pop back up.

What is the next big seed?  My money is on the 2005 Haist line.  It produced the biggest pumpkin in the world in 2019 and the average weight of the pumpkins grown was something like 1,700 pounds and all of them went heavy to the chart.  I grew that seed and wish I could grow it again.  Didn't have ideal conditions this year, didn't have good health and would have changed up my fertilizer program some knowing what I know now.  My guess is the next world record will come out of the 2005 line.

My 1325 Johnson seed takes the #1 seed of 2019 in terms of average weight, being the 2005 Haist and crosses a top 25 seed pollinator 2255 Zaychkowsky.  I think it has some good potential.  The seed is available for sale here.

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