Greetings, fellow pumpkineers!

 

I'm a fourth year grower, and I have available free seeds from

some Atlantic Giants I have grown.  While my fruit always

seems to be much smaller than I’d like J , each year I figure

out a little bit more of what I can do better.  I have some nice

crosses below, so the genetic potential is there, if you know how

to grow a big one better than me.

All the “UOW” (UnOfficial Weight) fruit noted below were

weighed on a digital bathroom scale.

 

Here's what I've got...

 

194 Inzero 03 UOW- very orange pumpkin

223* Inzero 03 UOW- grass green squash

202 Inzero 02 UOW- orange pumpkin

280* Inzero 02- Brought to Oswego, grass green squash

194 Inzero 01 UOW orange pumpkin

128 Inzero 01 UOW very dark orange pumpkin

411* Inzero 00 -Won squash division at Oswego weighoff

285 Inzero 00 EST  orange pumpkin

240 Inzero 99 UOW  orange pumpkin

 

 

Background of these seeds:

 

194 Inzero 03 UOW

Really nice orange color, and beautiful shape.  Pollinated 7/4.

Would've been bigger, but one lobe didn't grow due to incomplete

pollination.  Plant died very prematurely due to powdery mildew

(my own fault for not spraying at all)- thus, I didn't have a big enough 

plant to support a really big fruit. 

 

544 Wilbers 02 x open  (Note the 544 has 801 Stelts in it's family,

which accounts for the nice orange.)

 

223* Inzero 2003 UOW

Great grass green color.

Plant grew great but died very prematurely due to powdery mildew

(my own fault for not spraying at all)- thus, I didn't have a big enough 

plant to support a really big fruit.  Late pollination: 7/21, 5 lobe.

 

535* Wolf 99 x self, then left open.

Same family tree as 411* Inzero 00

 

202 Inzero 2002 UOW

5 lobe blossom.  I was planning on giving this plant away, but it

was my second largest seedling, so I kept it.  I pollinated it on

time, 7/9/02.  This fruit was growing great, but then it really

slowed down on me.  After a week or so of slowness, in early

August, I discovered why- the fruit had grown so much that it

pushed the main vine against my shade tent’s pole, putting a

not-so-nice kink right in the main vine which fed it.   Straightening

it out, it made some crackling noises, so I’m sure the plumbing

was damaged inside.  The seeds are unusually large. 

 

                                                                  --- 850.5 Hester 99 (f)

                              ---194 Inzero 00 (f)---|

                              |                                   --- 986.6 Ciliberto 00 (m)

202 Inzero 02   ---|

                              |                                              ---

                              ---547 Kournikakis 00 (m)---| 935 Lloyd 97

                                                                             --- (x self)

============

 

280* Inzero 2002  (* denotes "squash")

A really-green fruit.  It was a perfect 5 lobe blossom.

Nice blocky shape.

This seedling was the most vigorous of the 6 plants I started with,

and grew the longest vine, and fast.  It was notable that it threw an

awful lot of females, easily 25 or more of them throughout the

season.  I even had two new ones open just a couple days before

the weighoff; this plant certainly wanted to go!  The fruit grew

very quickly, getting up to 280 despite missing a whole month

of prime weather in July-Aug due to late pollination.  It grew way,

way out on the main, perhaps 40 feet out.  I didn’t want to terminate

the main until I had set a fruit, and that took until Aug. 12th.  

Unusual summer heat aborted all earlier sets.   Curiously, the fruit

was even  green on the bottom side, with only a very small patch

of white in the middle. The plant was a pleasure to grow- vigorous

and prolific, with no problems.

 

                               ---771* Stellpflug 01 (f)

280* Inzero 02  ---|

                               ---open

   [“open” could only be 771* Stellpflug 01, 194 Inzero 01, or 128 Inzero 01]

 

============

 

194 Inzero 2001 UOW

A medium orange fruit.  It was a 5 lobe blossom.

Nice symmetrical shape for carving.

The Ciliberto seedling was easily twice the size of all my other

3 plants, and grew the longest vine.  The 850.5 double vined on

me, but I split the tip with a knife, and one half wound up

normal, which I continued to grow.

 

 

                             ---850.5 Hester 99 (f)

194 Inzero 01  ---|

                             ---983.6 Ciliberto 00 (m)

 

============

128 Inzero 2001 UOW

An incredibly dark orange fruit- it was darker than all the normal-sized

field pumpkins we bought.  Slightly pear shaped.  4 lobe blossom.  I

was hoping for a green squash, as the 986 was selfed, but it threw this

amazingly orange fruit.  Others that grew the 986 had orange results

too.  The Ciliberto seedling was  easily twice the size of all my others,

and the grew the longest vine.  The 986* had much larger leaves than

the other 3 plants I had.

 

                              ---986* Hester 00 (f)

128 Inzero 01   ---|

                              ---983.6 Ciliberto 00 (m)

 

============

411* Inzero 00   (* denotes "squash")

I wanted a really-green AG squash for Halloween, and I saw pix online

of Andy Wolf's 535* (squash) from 1999.  Andy's seed proved true to

 its parent, throwing the desired nice green fruit from flower to finish. 

The 411 was a 5 lobed flower.  It was a big green sphere (very

symmetrical) all season long, and it weighed an amazing 21% heavy to the

OTT chart.  I won the squash division of the Oswego weighoff with it

 last year.  A photo is up on the www.bigpumpkins.com web site.

 

                               ---                          ---

411 Inzero 00*  ---|  535 Wolf 99* ---|  815 Anderson 97

                               ---   (x self)            ---     (x self)

 

 

============

285 Inzero 00 EST

A light orange fruit.   The 285 is a 4 lobed self-pollinated

417 Andrews 99.  It started out really barrel shaped for a while

(until just over 200 lbs.), then the blossom end tapered as it

grew bigger (as seen on web site).  Unusual protruding blossom end.

 

                                     ---                               --- 560 Brooks 98

285 Inzero 00 EST  ---|  417 Andrews 99 ---|

                                     ---    (x self)               --- 720 Hester 98

 

============

240 Inzero 99 UOW

A nice orange, nicely shaped, symmetric fruit with smooth skin,

just like its parent was. 

Grown from the 771 Fortin seed, which won the Oswego weighoff in 98.

Medium orange, uniform color.  This fruit was fast growing- 31 inches

in circumference at 10 days!  5 lobe flower, self-pollinated. 

1999 was my first year growing, and this one plant grew 525 pounds

of pumpkins.

 

                                        ---                         --- 935 Lloyd 97 (m)

240 Inzero 99 UOW  ---|  771 Fortin 98 ---|

                                        ---   (x self)           --- 621 Fortin 97 (f)

 

============

 

A self addressed and stamped bubble pack envelope will do.

Send email for further details and my address.

 

-----------

Rick Inzero

near Rochester, NY

rdi@rochester.rr.com

 

"That silly elf song is driving me crazy"     -Santa, 1964