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Post by canadamike on Jul 8, 2008 20:29:39 GMT -5
Through our friend bell4562, from France, we got in touch with the " SOCIETE D'HORTICULTURE DE LUNEVILLE" a group that is working the 2 glorious cucurbits of the area, the famed squash "POTIMARRON" and the "MELON DE LUNEVILLE", once glorious and created for the beloved Duke-King of Lorraine, the last king of Lorraine before it joined France. The melon has NOIR DES CARMES and PRESCOTT for parents. Some picures of it will follow, along with potimarron. In my melon trial, I got the seeds way later after the others, it was seeded 3 weeks after the others, and despite that, is more vigourous and bigger as a plant than almost all of them. This is a northern melon with lots of guts, and my friend bell4562 is as impressed as I am. One of its parents, Prescott, a true cantaloupe, is also very healthy and robust. The melon almost disappeared in the thirties ( WWII) and has been revived by the society. Later in the year I will translate its history, and I intend to distribute it as much as I can. It sure would be nice if I got help from the people here. here are pictures of this though rascal... img185.imageshack.us/img185/8427/dsc2103xf4.jpgimg185.imageshack.us/img185/3743/dsc2105fl1.jpgimg185.imageshack.us/img185/8972/dsc2111ip1.jpgthe Potimarron: the society sells them for fundraising img124.imageshack.us/img124/3584/dsc2091ki4.jpgimg124.imageshack.us/img124/3058/dsc2096pz0.jpg |
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Post by flowerpower on Jul 8, 2008 21:14:49 GMT -5
Mike, great pics! I don' t think you will have trouble finding volunteers to grow those melons out. They look very good, nice and healthy. Are all those squash in the last pic Potimarron? I would definitely like a few of the Potimarron seed if you could spare some. I think it has a nice shape when it matures.
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Post by canadamike on Jul 9, 2008 0:21:59 GMT -5
Yes they are, but I might not have been clear: the pics are from th society in France... seeds won't be a problem I think, for neither of them...
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Post by flowerpower on Jul 9, 2008 21:14:08 GMT -5
oh I thought you were showing us your melons. lol
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Post by canadamike on Jul 9, 2008 21:29:19 GMT -5
Picture of mines will come later, as I planted way later than our french friend, and I am waiting for some fruit to show...I have minute baby fruits now in some, but the melons have been delayed by the sunless rainy June. But this Luneville guy is very robust, much more than almost all of them seeded earlier as I said, and resisted ( up to know) a c. beetle invasion much better than others. I started spraying today for them, with peppermint oil soap, and the numbers have dramaticly decreased in 30 minutes, only a couple were left, I'll recheck tomorrow.
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Post by raymondo on Jul 15, 2008 5:31:22 GMT -5
Excellent looking melon! Do you know which of the Prescott melons was used? And Potimarron is very tasty. I asked over on Tomodori whether they thought Potimarron and Red Kuri were the same pumpkin. Some seemed to think they were. I must grow them side by side one year.
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Post by canadamike on Jul 28, 2008 23:56:01 GMT -5
Yes, some think that, including the president of the SOCIÉTÉ D'HORTICULTURE DE LUNÉVILLE, in charge of preserving Potimarron. But I am not sure really, You can ask Alan, I sent him a whole squash , a chance ''bee cross'' of Gros jaune de Paris with an unknow father, and it was EXACTLY a Red Kuri in terms of morphology.
It is quite possible the japanese have developed their own. This is a shape that is incredibly common in the squash world, same with the color.
Not the hardest combination to envision. And I am the living proof it is possible to achieve such a shape, even out of sheer luck.
For the Lunéville, it is PRESCOTT. THE one named only Prescott. I am groing it now. And I was growing NDC, but I uprooted it to replace it, it was going nowhere at the 2 leaf stage. And Prescott is huge, like Lunéville, which is smaller than Prescoot but bigger than most others, even after having been severely attacked by the cucumber beetles, which almost ate it all. It bounced back strongly. It was also planted 3 weeks later.
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Post by lieven on Jul 30, 2008 6:37:52 GMT -5
As far as I know, Red Kuri & Potimarron & Baby Red Hubbard are different names for the same variety. Of course, there will be different strains around. It is post-1937: otherwise it would certainly have been mentioned in Hedrick's 'Cucurbits of New York'. Well: quite a recent heirloom, if you ask me :-)
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Post by Alan on Jul 30, 2008 11:22:40 GMT -5
I too would agree that they seem to be the very same varieties of squash with different names but at the same time I have seen very similar shapes and sizes come from completly unrelated crosses, particularly mikes cross and a couple of mine have shown up being very similar to Red Kuri/Potimarron. It's kind of hard to say I suppose.
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Post by canadamike on Jul 31, 2008 1:12:44 GMT -5
Here is the THELMA SANDERS/SWEET DUMPLING plant I was talking to you about, Alan. It is a single plant, I uprooted 3-4 volunteer plants with a shovel in my squash corner and threw them on the grass growing over the gravel to pick them up later. I never did. All died but this one This one plant is growing in a shovelfull of good manured soil over grass rooting in a hardpan clay/gravel mix. It is now 6x8 and is just starting to vine. I will have either to redirect the vine or curtail it, it is getting ready to take over the melon patch. The basal leaves are huge, 2 feet across. I put a Bic on one leaf, which is bending under its own weight, so you can't see exactly how large it is. Even then, optical illusion included, it still looks friggin big. And it is. The fruit form is definitely an acorn, nothing like Sweet Dumpling.   I wanted to eat te baby acorns as they make a much better zucchini, but I think the genetics require preservation. My other pepos are dwarves compaired to this one. Everything cucurbit is late, but not this one |
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Post by biorag on Jul 31, 2008 3:30:17 GMT -5
Hi Mike, I saved only one plant of this melon ! It's more vigourous than the others I sewed at the same time (2 Carmes and 1 far north) It's the first on the right :  For the moment I try to avoid cross-pollinisation ! |
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Post by canadamike on Jul 31, 2008 10:08:14 GMT -5
Good. Mine was beaten up almost to death by the cucumber beetles, since it was palnted 3 weeks later than the others, they zoomed on the younger more tender leaves, but it sprung back like a champion.
And it is now conquering its kingdom, expanding in all directions. I gave him more room than others upon Michel's advice...
I am afraid I will make less crosses than wanted, it's ok in the little melon greenhouse, but in the main row in the field, its very hard to walk between rows, the soles of my shoes end up in China...
If it could only stop raining, at least for a couple of days during flowering time, I could get on...
We have sun this morning, but thunderstrorms are coming this afternoon again, and again and again...
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Post by canadamike on Aug 2, 2008 12:28:09 GMT -5
I have selfed the LUNÉVILLE, but won't make any cross probably, it is getting late and with mildew around, I treated but WILL NOT touch anything to expand the disease, at least not for a while...
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Post by grungy on Aug 3, 2008 2:06:59 GMT -5
One word - WOW!!!
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Post by canadamike on Aug 3, 2008 7:35:08 GMT -5
I would tend to agree Grungy, you know I would never disagree with you intentionnally  , but which of the discussed things here is deserving of the WOW? The melon or the squash? |
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, but which of the discussed things here is deserving of the WOW? The melon or the squash?