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New York

Atlantic Giant pumpkins and Show King squash are exactly the same, except some are tracked and bred for green color while most maintain orange. Why, then, is the world record squash 490 pounds lighter than the world record pumpkin, and true green squash smaller in general than orange AGs? Is it simply an issue of not receiving much attention from the heavy hitters, or is there something else going on genetically? Just something I've been wondering for a while, and haven't stumbled across an answer yet.

5/28/2010 10:51:16 PM

Since I am a rookie my 2 cents dont really matter but.... pumpkins are hitting higher and higher numbers why would someone going for the WR want to take a spot away from a potential WR plant to grow a greenie. They would rather stick to ag's and try and become the new person with the jacket at niagra. Again this is just my opinion

5/29/2010 2:01:30 AM

Netherlands

They are grown a lot less, certainly by the HH, and if grown are often not given the best position in the patch and likely not the same care either. Furthermore there are very few successful squash lines compared to pumpkins. Remember that till the 1990s there weren't real big differences in weight between the two. The famous William Warnock pumpkins were of course squash as were many/all of the winning fruit before that, going back back to the "first" pumpkin record from Suffolk, England, in 1857 which was a squash as well.

In 2007 I grew a pumpkin and a squash in identical conditions (in a greenhouse) and there was almost no difference in weight (1256 for the pumpkin and 1234 for the squash).

5/29/2010 3:19:50 AM

Las Cruces NM

1234 is right up there with the WR -- Congrats! I suggest giant pumpkins are the most popular "giant vegitable". So there are more people growing them (hence bound to have better top results) and thus more competitive (more energy has gone into the Growz-em Big AG breading). Also, I think the color rules have changed in favor of the pumpkin over the years.

5/29/2010 4:36:30 AM

Rhode Island

many years ago green squash were on an equal footing with pumpkins. in fact growers prefered to toy with pollinating pumpkins with green squash because green squash by a large majority always weight over the charts when compaired to pumpkins. thats when the age of the scrumpkin ( part squash part pumpkin ) and all the bickering and disqualifications started occuring.
the cross pollinating and interest in growning green squash has diminished as time passed on.
in part because of that oeriod of time when color rules for determining which was grn squash/pumpkins was on a percentage of color basis, and caused many many arguments and hard feelings at weigh-offs.
secondly i think more people just like pumpkins and would rater grow them than green squash.

5/29/2010 7:04:50 AM

St. Thomas Ontario

Green and orange go well together. I think more growers this year are trying on this combo. The 'weight gap' will close this year...gonna need one of those bi-color Don Cherry jackets for the pumpkin/squash champ ... Big green colar, orange sleeves, I can see it all now;)

5/29/2010 7:25:43 AM

New York

That all makes sense. It seems to me that given how easy it would be to grow a WR squash, more growers would pursue that goal. Thanks for the info, everyone.

5/29/2010 11:48:58 AM

Eastern Washington State

Thanks for sharing that story, Brad.

5/29/2010 12:15:56 PM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Anything that went 32% over chart and had a remeasure and reweigh to check accuracy, is welcome in my patch! So Greenie is happening; will just have to be extra diligent in bagging with orangies and greenies in same patch.

Also most of the weighoffs are organized around pumpkins; squash get shorted. Our main weighoff in October; we do have a squash category but the main prize structure is for pumpkins... at least we have a squash category. If you could win $1000 to $5000 for a squash, they'd be more grown.

Then there's public. An October "Giant Pumpkin Weighoff" just seems to get more attention than "Giant Squash Weighoff" as more of the locals think Halloween for the first and Hubbard and Zuke for the latter.

They've been crossbred even to the present time, some lines will have some throw orange and some green from the same fruit's seeds.

5/29/2010 1:50:12 PM

New York

Personally I think green looks better than the white/cream/beige color that many AGs are. Maybe it'll be a fun project over the next few years to mix some top-notch orange seeds into true squash and breed them green again.

5/29/2010 5:26:11 PM

[email protected]

Grass green or blaze orange are our preference too. But even butt ugly cream colored squmpkins are fine if they tip the scales heavy...as is often the case. LOL

5/29/2010 5:59:57 PM

Long Island,New York

Its all in the numbers....less grown for years. If there's less grown genetic diversity is lost as growers who only grow one squash and 8 pumpkins only grow the one most successful squash. Currently accepted pumpkin colors are genetically dominant in mosts eyes so any pkn x squash or squash x pkn cross comes out as pumpkin...also to the detriment of the squash population. Some people continue to spread inaccurate information about self pollinated fruits as being bad so all those with only one greenie who selfed the fruit are looked down upon by the followers---another hit. Weighoffs for the most part continue to push pumpkins over squash with bogus reasonings like "sponsors want to see orange" and the old guard continues to push for orange winnings over green because THEY grow orange and grow for money.
Ask anyone who's growing a green one today what the story is and I'll bet you 3 times out of four its an afterthought or one of these situations: ....."its in the genetics patch"
..."I have 8 pumpkins and one squash"...."my pkns get 800sq ft and I have 3 squash in 400 sq ft"...."the squash get whats left after I spray the pumpkins"....I have 5 pumpkins here at home and a squash at grandmas....you know, the plant inbetween the concrete tire strips that used to be the driveway...where the grasss would never grow...." and my all time favorite frequent situation: I have 8 pumpkins and the wife has one squash. (substitute grandson, daughter, or my 5 year old....).

5/30/2010 5:43:07 PM

New York

Some good points there. I'm sort of guilty of that... three pumpkins and one squash.

5/30/2010 6:21:07 PM

Netherlands

At the Dutch Giant Vegetable Championship there are no colour rules for the prize money but separate trophies for squash and pumpkins. Last year a squash finished 2nd and was the heaviest AG ever grown outside in Holland.

This year, three of the winners from last year decided to grow mainly squash or only squash. The squash have been given the best patches and the pumpkins what was left over. We will see how pumpkins and squash compare at our October weigh-off.

5/31/2010 2:39:23 AM

South Finland

Im growing 3 plants, hubby is growing one. Alltogether 2 greenies, two pumpkins...and yes... in best growing spot I have a pumpkin.. But I was seriously thinking to grow a squash there. Maybe next year is the year ;) At least lot more greenies growing in Finland this year :)

5/31/2010 5:17:13 AM

San Luis Obispo, Ca.

Wow!

5/31/2010 11:07:48 AM

Germany

I have 8 plants going , 4 pumpkins 3 Squash and a pumpkin/squash cross which I will self to get some pumkin genetics into the greenies. 2 of the 3 best patches are squashes and they are doing well.

I think its much easier to grow a squash in the top-100 of the GPC listing than a top- 100 Pumpkin ;) ( When you ever get a fruit set lol)

5/31/2010 11:49:36 AM

Picton,ON ([email protected])

Yup...pretty easy to grow a WR squash...right Brad..;-) Every one should try it!

5 Pumpkins and 3 squash at my place this year! The squash are by far the best plants right now. They certainly get the best treatment here!

5/31/2010 10:27:29 PM

New York

Good luck with them. I expect no less than 1350 lbs this year!

5/31/2010 10:57:00 PM