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Location

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Date Posted

Spooner, WI

what's the difference between brown and white seeds? is it genetics or maturity and is it better to cross brown with brown,white with white .if it makes a difference on what they might throw.

2/12/2023 3:58:27 PM

Lodi, California

It's just a genetic trait relating to the thickness of the shell casing. Making choices based on what kind of shell the seed has is just speculation or superstition. Perhaps you could make the argument that the seed isn't as developed, but I haven't seen anything that would indicate this. lots of big pumpkins have been grown from both types of seeds.

2/12/2023 5:22:13 PM

Bethlehem CT

Not sure if this still applies with todays genetics, but a few years back a white seed would often be a sign for big and orange pumpkins. Are there many white seeded pumpkins left? I would be interested in hearing what seeds today are still white.

2/12/2023 5:33:41 PM

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

I grew the 1810 Werner a couple of years ago. (Crossed with the 1317 Clementz) The seeds from it are white. It has been producing red-orange pumpkins.

2/12/2023 7:20:34 PM

Spooner, WI

big moon l think I'll start crossing white with white for a couple years and see what happens.

2/12/2023 8:01:33 PM

Grittyville, WA

White is recessive... Statistically in an evenly mixed gene pool there will be three brown seeds for every one white seed. But interestingly, the odds are that 2/3 of those brown seeds will be carrying a recessive white seed gene.

Squash tend to be almost exclusively brown seeds, but a few white seed genes have entered the squash gene pool as well.

2/12/2023 8:19:35 PM

Spooner, WI

My 1640 I grew this year had all white seeds and I found one brown seed in it .

2/12/2023 9:27:49 PM

Nova Scotia

Both white and brown AG seeds have been around since the late 1970s anyway. Yes big moon there was some truth to the "white seed" theory at one time, and still today as we seeded some nice orange fruit last Fall with white seed. But back in the day when Howard was producing green/grey Show King squash, every specimen yielded big white seeds! However most giant squash today are brown seeded?

2/13/2023 8:10:25 AM

Bethlehem CT

Danny Do you still have any of those old Show king seed from back in the day. I remember growing those 'Show King' seeds as a kid. I want to say I got mine from Henry Fields seed and nursery Co. I also grew some Jumbo Pink bananas that same year, the seed line (for the Jumbo Pink banana) that they had back then was really good. All of them weighed over 60 pounds. I have bought Pink banana from modern seed companies and none even approach the size I was growing back then. I still wish I had some of those seeds in the coffee cans that I stored them in as a kid.

2/13/2023 8:28:05 AM

Nova Scotia

I will have to check some of our old seed storage containers, hopefully there are some of those old Show King seeds? And I remember those massive Pink Banana squashes in their day, Dad grew some big ones as well. Send me your email big moon, not sure I have it? Danny

2/13/2023 9:04:31 AM

Bethlehem CT

It's cmc27inct@aol.com

2/13/2023 9:43:50 AM

Lodi, California

It's not specific to AGs. Many different cucurbita maxima seeds display this charictaristic. I have a pound of blue hubbard squash seeds and they're all white seeds. I can assure you that none of them will be orange

2/13/2023 10:49:50 AM

Lodi, California

A lot of squash also have white seeds. They're separate characteristics.

2/13/2023 10:50:50 AM

Grittyville, WA

I meant AG squash is a gene pool comprised largely of brown seeds at this point but as ashton correctly points out, there are no associated traits that I know of. Rodebough's 'Ruby' for example is I believe a brown seed, whereas in the past one might have guessed that kind of color would have come from a 1059 vincent McGill lineage, which I believe happened to be a white seeded one.
I wonder if some of the early seed sellers like Wallace or Holland avoided the white seeds as to avoid the "is-this-an-authentic AG?" type of questions. But avoiding the white genes would have been difficult because it moves around so easily as a recessive trait.

2/13/2023 12:30:07 PM

Colorado

Too much crossing back and forth with the different strains to read anything into white or brown seed shells. Theres a lot of rough/dirty white seeds lately. I like the white shells because they seem to hydrate and sprout a little easier. Dont worry about seed size or color.

2/14/2023 2:00:16 AM