squash question

[yotetrapper]

Ok, so Ive read you can plant different species (right term??) of squash and not have to worry about cross pollination. The winter squash I wanted to grow, hopi pale gray, was a c. maxima. The pumpkin I wanted to grow, winter luxery, is a c. pepo. So I'm ok so far, but then there's Zukes... as far as I can see all zukes are c. pepos. Do pumpkins and Zukes have different enough blooming dates so that I could somehow plant both without cross pollination? Or do I really to just pick one?

[Worth1]

Ok here is the deal,
If you just want to eat the squash you don’t have to worry about cross pollination the fruit will come true to what you start as seeds.
On the other hand if you want to save seeds the seeds may become crossed and then the resulting plant will be a hybrid.
I plant all kinds of squash next to each other every year with no problems, it just won’t happen.
Almost all pecans are a cross the seeds/nuts will be what you wanted them to be but don’t expect to plant that seed/nut and get the same thing.
Worth

[yotetrapper]

Guess I should of been more specific, sorry, I meant for seed saving.

[Worth1]

From what I have read zucchini and pumpkin will cross but not to worry.
All you have to do is to protect the female blooms from cross pollination.
To do this you need to get to that bloom as soon as it opens and pollinate it with pollen collected with an artist paint brush.
Then after the blooms are pollinated you can protect the bloom from bee’s ants and so forth with panty hose or a fine net over the entire plant.
Once the fruit starts to grow just remove the cover.
You can get plenty of seeds from just a few fruit.
Worth

[yotetrapper]

I had issues last year trying that LOL. Including tomatoes. I was running around bagging blossoms all over, and everything I bagged, never made fruit. Blossoms died and fell off.

[Wi-sunflower]

Maxima and Pepo I'm pretty sure WILL easily cross. I'm not so sure about some of the others.

You need to have different vqrieties of squash isolated from other varieties.

Commercially they do it by a long distance like a mile or more. But for just a hobbiest, you should be able to get by having them several hundred yards apart. I've had things at opposite ends of my farm with decent results. Having something tall like corn between the varieties can help the seperation too.

It's not foolproof.

Having varieties split between friends that aren't right next to each other can also be a way to keep varieties apart.

Carol

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by yotetrapper

I had issues last year trying that LOL. Including tomatoes. I was running around bagging blossoms all over, and everything I bagged, never made fruit. Blossoms died and fell off.

I wouldn't worry about the tomatoes much, they are self pollinating.

The blossoms more than likely fell off from the heat and not pollinating.
many of us here just shake the plants or thump the truss.

Worth

[bcday]

To answer your other question, my zucchini and other C. pepo varieties did not have different blooming dates. They all had blossoms open at the same time.

So to save seed, you'd have to either pick just one or tape the blossoms shut and hand-pollinate.

[yotetrapper]

Wow Carol did some googling when you said that and see a lot of conoflicting info. Seems the majority say pepo and maxima wont cross, while some say they CAN cross. Hmmm. Guess I'll have to try taping the blossoms and hand pollinating the Hopi Pale Grey as that is the only one I'm really worried about saving seed from. It's kinda rare. I believe only one person offers it in SSE but i see SSE catalog is selling it this year now too.
Wonder what the heck a pumpkin zuke would look like? LOL

[Wi-sunflower]

Maybe not ALL Pepos will cross with every Maxima, but they do cross enough that you can get some rather awful resultant grow-outs. The fruits will be OK, it's just that the seeds might not be worth growing.

I know this year we are going to be trying to isolate a couple of OP winter squash varieties that I've been having problems getting the last few years. It's going to be a PITB for us but if I don't do something I'll lose a couple of good sellers.

Carol

[WVTomatoMan]

Yotetrapper,

First of all members of the cucurbit family will cross polinate (same species different varieties). To make matters even worse some members of the family will outcross (different species). I think maxima and pepo are the two family members that will outcross, but I'm not 100% sure without looking it up in Carol Deppe's book at home.

Secondly if you want to save seeds you will want to use masking tape (or similar) to tape the blossoms closed BEFORE they open (just to be sure). Then of course you will have to hand pollinate. You can use the same plant or a different plant of the same variety to get the pollen from the male flower. The female flower has the bulge behind the blossom.

I hope this helps.

Randy