Saving Pumpkin Seeds Questions
 

This year, we bought a huge pumpkin to make a Jack O Lantern for our young grandchildren. I'm thinking it is a Connecticut Field Pumpkin that just grew really large. It is 17" across and 14" tall. The seeds are really large 0.5" wide and 1" long. Guessing, I would say it weighs at least 40 pounds.

What I'm wondering about is saving the seeds, and would these large seeds grow large pumpkins next year?

Do you save pumpkin seeds in the same way as you save pepper seeds?

Pumpkin seeds are easy to save. Just remove the seeds from the fiber you scooped out. Clean as much of the plant matter off as you can and let them dry on a plate. You will be able to tell the ones that are not viable because they are usually white and thin. You won't know if they will grow true to type until you plant them because a lot of pumpkin grower have many varieties in the same field and they do cross pollinate.

Roast some in the oven and have them with real strong coffee as something to snack on.
They go together like fish and water.:yes:
Worth

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;435557]What I'm wondering about is saving the seeds, and would these large seeds grow large pumpkins next year?[/QUOTE]

Children tend to resemble their parents... We know the mother produced a huge fruit with huge seeds even if we don't know nothing about the daddy.

One very important key is to give them a long time to dry thoroughly. I'll never forget going to use some I had dried and finding them in a bag full of mold.

If the mother pumpkin was pollinated by multiple pollinators each one carrying pollen from a different father flower.
Each seed can and will produce a different baby pumpkin.
Even though the seeds will all look the same and it wont change the taste or the appearance of the mother pumpkin.
The same goes for all non-perfect blossoms/flowers that dont self pollinate or are not self fertile.

Worth

What's your soil like? Pumpkins like a light, loose soil with lots of organic matter. It's never too early to find that one spot in the garden to amend, if it needs it.

Gary

[QUOTE=mensplace;435584]One very important key is to give them a long time to dry thoroughly. I'll never forget going to use some I had dried and finding them in a bag full of mold.[/QUOTE]

If you have enough seeds, an easy test if they're dry enough is if you can break a seed in half. If it simply bends, they need more time.

I am in the process of saving most the seeds. They still have a while to dry. I don't need hundreds of large pumpkin seeds so I guess I will offer them as trades or something like that. The seeds are huge compared to the Connecticut field pumpkin seeds I have seen. At least double in size.