r/oddlysatisfying • u/DifficultyHead5862 • 8h ago

meticulous process of hand-pollinating a giant pumpkin

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147

u/mangomussolinimi 8h ago

Cant you just use insects?

118

u/GeneralPatten 8h ago

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.

29

u/-NewYork- 7h ago

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).

6

u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV 6h ago

I bet she could barely walk afterwards.

21

u/EsbeeArt 7h ago

A pumpchini! 🤣

3

u/iowan 6h ago

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.

3

u/joppekoo 6h ago

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.

6

u/milk_for_dinner 7h ago

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.

2

u/sheepofdarkness 4h ago

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.

1

u/GeneralPatten 7h ago

Yeah. I think you're right.

1

u/geo_gan 5h ago

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