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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 3, 2023 20:14:46 GMT -6
I know it’s not as many as you wanted, macmex, but those pumpkins sure look beautiful. Considering that any number of things this season could have prevented any harvest at all, I think you’re doing great. Getting one thousand seeds to SSE is definitely a valuable contribution. It’s good news as well that the seeds you got for the grow-out this year were not crossed at all, so you can preserve seeds from all the fruits.
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Post by macmex on Sept 7, 2023 8:22:41 GMT -6
I just received an unexpected card in the mail, from a long time gardening friend, with whom I used to "rub shoulders" over on the Gardenweb Oklahoma forum, Irene Jones. Apparently I had sent her seed to Warsaw Buff Pie Pumpkin years ago. She planted some this year (has kept the seed going all this time) and went on line to look up days to maturity. There, she found a post in which I stated that I had lost my seed. So, she wrote me note offering me some seed from this year's crop! This strain will be somewhat different from what I grew this year. It was more of the product of many years of inadvertent selection toward a more "pumpkiny shape." I'll be very very happy to get it back though, I have to admit that what I received from the Seed Savers Exchange is probably even more valuable, as it is a much closer representation of the original squash I started out with, back in 1985. Anyway, I'm pleased as can be to be receiving seed from Ilene! I will probably maintain the two lines separately. Both are excellent.
Sure hoping Ilene shows up here!
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Sept 7, 2023 22:28:53 GMT -6
Would love for her to write about that lineage. So wonderful that she has kept this variety going.
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Post by macmex on Oct 13, 2023 12:41:49 GMT -6
She told me she might sign in when the gardening season is over. Hopefully so!
I cut two more squash this week.
I really like the long version, though both were of equal eating quality (excellent).
Another observation: I've been spoiled with Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin, when it comes to seed production. With Warsaw Buff Pie Pumpkin I think I'm averaging maybe 50 seeds per fruit, which is nothing compared to Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin.
I need to process the rest of the fruit and get seed back to the Seed Savers Exchange.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 13, 2023 21:20:49 GMT -6
Those are beautiful specimens, macmex. Good job!
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Oct 14, 2023 18:47:35 GMT -6
Good work!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 23, 2023 13:30:01 GMT -6
Reading that post puts me in the mood for cooking up an Autumn batch of pumpkin atole.
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Post by macmex on Oct 29, 2023 17:48:25 GMT -6
Especially on a night like tonight: temp's dropping and it's been raining all day! Looks like we'll get a killing freeze tomorrow morning.
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Post by macmex on Dec 5, 2023 7:01:22 GMT -6
Well, last week I managed to process the last of this year's Warsaw Buff Pie Pumpkin crop. Normally, I'd want to stretch things out all winter, so as to enjoy the fruit, but in this case, with such rare seed, I wanted to get it all drying so that I could then mix it all and start distributing it where it needs to go.
My supply of seed is much more limited than I had hoped but I have earmarked some for Rdback, Frosty , Zeedman, Sandhill Preservation and, of course, for the Seed Savers Exchange. There's no way I could meet the 1000 seed contract on the Renew Program but we agreed that I'd grow it again in 2024 and send them seed then. In the meantime, I'm planning to split what I have and send half to them. They were such good stewards of this seed before, I see this as an exceedingly good step for assuring the continuance of this variety. Some here may not know it, but Zeedman and I go way back. We were in the old Gardenweb forums together and he had been looking for this variety for some years before I got it back (RdBack & Frosty too). Rdback had offered and tried over the period of some years, to restore it from old seed I had but which had been unsuccessful in growing out.
In 2024 I foresee that it will be very important to increase the availability of this seed by producing a lot more seed. I hope that those who receive it will take appropriate measures to keep it from crossing. It would cross in a heartbeat with any c. moschata. Rdback has agreed to take the "Long selection," which would be closest to the original, that I had returned to me by Ilene Jones (see higher up in this thread). I'm sending all of this seed to him, as there isn't that much to begin with. It will be interesting to compare it with the 1986 selection, I grew out from the SSE. I still have the "Round Selection" from Ilene Jones. Have no idea how much it has or hasn't crossed with the "Long Selection" but if really pure it should produce mostly pumpkin shaped fruit. I may stick this in frozen storage this year. I don't want to risk losing it.
As for me, I will dig up the last few 1986 seeds sent to me by the Seed Savers Exchange and will grow them along with saved seed from the 2023 grow out of the same. It's possible that this may be the only c. moschata I grow ... for the rest of my life. We'll see. I consider this seed to be the most essential, as it is closest to the original. Also, though I try to be optimistic, the fact is that my gardening abilities have plummeted in the last few years. My wife will be helping and we're going to take a really different tack on it in 2024. I have to grow fewer varieties and we will be depending more on plastic mulch and drip irrigation. Though I know fully well how to hand pollinate, I will not count on doing it. My seed will naturally cross, hence, the need to grow only this one c. moschata.
Now, having said that, I have to admit that growing just this one c. moschata is okay; better than just okay, really. It'll be great as long as I can make a large enough crop to meet our needs. The Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin is especially productive and dependable here. WBPP is noticeably less robust in our extreme heat.
Here are a few more photos, illustrating the quality of this squash.
When baked this one blisters a lot. When well baked I can scoop out the flesh and eat the skin while working. It's good though I wouldn't save it past that point.
When scooping out the flesh, it's noticeable just how fine textured this one is. In 1985 this was the very first solid food we fed to our firstborn. It didn't need to be run through a food mill.
The color and texture of WBPP is superb. I eat it without any sweetener.
When I grew this one further north it was more productive than here. Maintaining it while living in Central Mexico was simply a labor of love, as it produced much less there than in the northern USA or even here in Oklahoma.
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Post by rockwhisperer on Dec 5, 2023 13:37:58 GMT -6
George, thank you for your email with this link. I was delighted to read all that you wrote, and I remember some of the other folks, like zeedman. That was a good group and I enjoyed being on that GW forum. I still grow the garlic that Scott sent to several of us, and I still love Crunchy Muncher cucumber, Packman broccoli and Lazy Housewife beans. Falling out of love with Candy onion, as I'm tired of the struggle to get good plants here in the spring and growing them from seed is problematic for me, too. I like Walla Walla and Texas Sweet. For awhile I was on the Ozark GW forum, after Houzz took them all over and that was a nice bunch of folks there, too. There was talk of people getting hacked and I got concerned and closed my account. I also enjoyed seeing the picture of you and Jerreth that is on your forum entries.
I just wanted to say that my Warsaw Buff seeds never produced any long ones like in the picture you attached. And as best I can recall, I haven't ever grown them around other varieties of moschata. But this year I did grow some zucchini and summer squash at the other end of that bed, as a trap crop, since I know squash bugs are more attracted to the summer squash varieties. I hope I didn't make a mistake by doing this, I had information from *somewhere* that moschata doesn't cross with summer squash. I thought I had used all the old seed that I had but in digging around in my stash, I find I have some seed saved from 2014 that I put a note in saying they had germed 50% in 2023. So I will start those and ONLY those next year, in case what I sent you doesn't prove out.
This year I baked my Warsaw's in the oven after I scraped out the seeds as I usually do but instead of freezing the pulp, I dehydrated it. When fully dehydrated, the pulp is in threads much like spaghetti squash. These pack well into glass quart canning jars. I always vacuum seal my dried foods to protect from insects. The threads rehydrate thick and smooth, which was very reassuring because I was quite alarmed that it turned to threads when dry. I don't particularly care for spaghetti squash. Yes, the Warsaws would definitely make good baby food. I also wanted to say that I have most recently been starting my squash plants indoors in early February. They are more likely to survive a few squash bugs when they are transplanted rather than sown directly, because they bloom earlier. That's a good plan to hand-pollinate and I find if I poke around in the male blossoms that always come on first, I seem to get female flowers sooner. I think the plant thinks I am a bee. haha. In the end, the squash bugs emerge victorious but if I start several plants I can usually get a harvest.
Hello to everyone from me in Bartlesville, up north, almost in Kansas. -- ilene
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Dec 5, 2023 14:40:03 GMT -6
Hi Ilene! Tanks for the advice. I noticed better results last year when I started earlier in pots. I’ll just hafta push those dates back some more. I still lost a couple last year.
macmex I’m in. Won’t be doing a full garden next year. Perfect year to grow pumpkin for seed.
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Post by macmex on Dec 6, 2023 6:34:40 GMT -6
Wow! I even forgot that Amy was over on Gardenweb too. Bet I'll be forgetting others. Ilene, I really suspect that I selected the more squat form, early on, as I was enamored with the idea of a "pumpkin." I believe you did just fine. I just wasn't sure how much you did to isolate the two selections of WBPP, which is not really a big deal.
I'm most likely going to put the seed for the round selection in my frozen storage for now and concentrate on the original, which the Seed Savers Exchange sent me. Rdback will be growing the butternut shaped variant I received back from you, as he requested that.
Bon, I have an envelope ready for you as well as one ready for Rdback and Zeedman. I was down with a bug for a few days and made a project of working on seed requests. I'm not finished but made a good start.
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Post by amyinowasso on Dec 6, 2023 13:10:31 GMT -6
I'm still on OKGW. I stumbled upon an old spreadsheet the other day with names from that era. I didn't find an Ilene on it, but I read a lot of old posts so I'm sure I came across you. I was born in Bartlesville BTW.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Dec 7, 2023 17:34:56 GMT -6
IT arrived today. Not sure how. LOL Looking forward to preparing the pumpkin patch. It’s a bright spot.
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Post by rdback on Dec 8, 2023 8:47:09 GMT -6
...I just wanted to say that my Warsaw Buff seeds never produced any long ones like in the picture you attached. And as best I can recall, I haven't ever grown them around other varieties of moschata. But this year I did grow some zucchini and summer squash at the other end of that bed, as a trap crop, since I know squash bugs are more attracted to the summer squash varieties. I hope I didn't make a mistake by doing this, I had information from *somewhere* that moschata doesn't cross with summer squash. I thought I had used all the old seed that I had but in digging around in my stash, I find I have some seed saved from 2014 that I put a note in saying they had germed 50% in 2023. So I will start those and ONLY those next year, in case what I sent you doesn't prove out... Hello Ilene! Good to see you here!
I think the overwhelming consensus agrees with you - C.moscata does NOT cross with C.pepo, so you should be fine. However, there is one out there (there may be others?) that says they DO, according to their chart. I think they are mistaken, but in all fairness, this chart was published as part of a cucumber study, so maybe they didn't pay close attention.
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