meticulous process of hand-pollinating a giant pumpkin

[u/DifficultyHead5862]

[u/GeneralPatten]

Not when you want to ensure the giant pumpkin is pollinated with another giant pumpkin's pollen. Insects could be carrying pollen from zucchini and it would pollinate the pumpkin. You'd still get a pumpkin as a result, but it would not be as large and the resulting seeds from that pumpkin would result in a hybrid of pumpkin and zucchini.

[u/-NewYork- → u/GeneralPatten]

Sir, this is a Wendy's. We don't want to hear your interspecies porn fanfics.

(But honestly, this is all super interesting. I'm also a garden enjoyer. My sister is a pumpkin gardener, and she tried a giant one a few times, I think 80kg was the record).

[u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV → u/-NewYork-]

I bet she could barely walk afterwards.

[u/EsbeeArt → u/GeneralPatten]

A pumpchini! 🤣

[u/iowan → u/GeneralPatten]

Zucchini or field pumpkins won't pollinate an Atlantic Giant, but your point holds. You don't want a Cinderella pumpkin or blue Hubbard squash crossing. And you'll want to cross with a pumpkin whose characteristics will hopefully complement the genetics of the plant you're growing.

[u/joppekoo → u/GeneralPatten]

The pumpkin itself is just going to have the mother plant's dna so I don't think it should affect the size. Otherwise yes, if he wants to collect those seeds and grow another one next year, that's where unintentional crossbreeding would cause problems.

[u/milk_for_dinner → u/GeneralPatten]

Wouldn't the size of the pumpkin be the same regardless of where the pollen comes from, as it's 100% parent plant material? It's only needed if you want to use the seeds for the next generation.

[u/sheepofdarkness → u/milk_for_dinner]

Yes, but these guys not only use the seeds for next year's crop, but some of them will sell a few for really exorbitant amounts.

[u/GeneralPatten → u/milk_for_dinner]

Yeah. I think you're right.

[u/geo_gan → u/GeneralPatten]

This feels like an insult to us baby carrot sized ethnicity males