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New Ornamental Edibles For
2010
Ivory, Gold and Orange
Mix:
All of these litttle pumpkins have the same female parent, a single
much branching, sprawling powerhouse of productivity that cranked out
dozens of fruit in spite of not keeping them picked. The male
parents were selections from a Baby Boo cross as well as selections
from a Jack Be Little cross. This year they produced these nice
little semi-sweet pumpkins as they climbed up into my grove of bamboo
with some vines exceeding 20 feet. Some odd shapes will require
continued selection. These were photographed in the wheelbarrow
during harvest. I like the ivory whites, golds and oranges; some
with a slight bumpiness and think they make a very attractive
mix. Most are less dumpling-like and more rounded than other
ornamental edibles (OE's).
Antique Whites:
The Baby Boo clan. Yes, they do look a bit like Boo because of
the miniature pumpkin strong shouldered "dumpling" look. This
group of OE's have a different pedigree than the Ivory, Gold and Orange
Mix. Baby Boo is, of course the patented squash I like to
incorporate into my breeding, not that I can do anything commercial
with the progeny. One of the things about the patent laws that I
discovered is the illegal usage of patented cultivars as parents in new
breeding work. Apparently, one is not allowed to commercialize a
new variety that uses a patented cultivar in it's pedigree. That
is really so unfortunate since the progress of plant development
requires that breeders be able to use existing cultivars in their
breeding work. It has always been that way. We build upon
the work of those plant breeders before us. As patented cultivars
continue to become more dominant in commercial seed listings; it
remains unclear how all of this will affect the future of plant
breedng. We continue to play around with the progeny of patented
cultivars because we have no vested interest in profiting from them.
There were these little dark green ornamental edibles that appeared
last year. Two different parentages. One was super sweet,
the other green variation was about average in OE sweetness. My
guess is both originated by crosses that I made between Baby Boo or
Jack Be Little and the acorn squash I grew a few years ago, I may be
wrong. I wish I could keep records of every cross I make.
Alas, I don't have the ability with my time constraints.
There were several kinds of green acorns in my acorn patch. The
greens OE's are similar in size and shape with the rest of my
ornamental edibles and I'm glad to see the spectrum of color broadened.
The striped ornamental edibles continue to stabilize as I self more
plants and abstain from crossing, crossing and crossing. At some
point you have enough diversity and must concentrate on selecting
choice occurances and trying to make them into a stable breeding
line. You do that by selecting male blossoms on the same plant as
the female in order to restrict the genetics. Stability still may
not come for several generations of repeating the selfing
process. In any event, you are in for the long haul if it's
stability you are after. I have the following striped breeding
lines which I recognized last year and was able to see again this
year. If that is some indication of success, I guess I'm
content. I don't catch all the plants in time to get a good self
for each of the lines and so there is still some crossing and
mixing. In addition, some of the OE's do throw acorn and dumpling
shapes; a throwback to their heritage. Stabilization is a long
ways away but I seem to be getting there.
Striped OE's that I have seen in my pumpkin patch and would like to
stabilize:
Bright Orange on White
Lemon on White
Bright Orange on Yellow
Green on Tan
Festival Green and Orange on White
Orange and Speckled Green on White
Dark Green on White
Mottled Tan on White
Speckled Orange on Gold
Speckled Yellow on White
Mottled Dark Green on Gray-Green
