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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 25, 2016 15:54:27 GMT -5
The other day I harvested the squash that are descended from suspected mixta/moschata crosses. I think that these are F2 and BC1, therefore, the traits are wildly variable as expected from this type of cross. Some peduncles look like moschata squash, some look like mixta squash, and some are mid-way between. Some fruit shapes look like moschata squash, some look like mixta squash, and some are mid-way between. I'm waiting about a month to open up the squash and evaluate eating quality... I hope that at least a few will taste like butternut squash. Those two huge squash are much larger than I have seen in my mixta squash.   Mixta skin patterning and color, Moschata shape, peduncle mid-way between species.  Looks like a classic moschata squash. Grandmother was an archetypal mixta. Mother looked like a hybrid. Suspect that this is ([mixta X moschata] X moschata)  This has sure been a fun project. Looking forward to continuing it during the coming years. My mixta squash population has definitely been contaminated. Hee hee hee. It would be really clever to transfer this precocious yellow skin coloring into a butternut necked squash.  |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 25, 2016 16:45:44 GMT -5
I attempted some manual inter-species squash hybrids today. The pollen donors were F2 plants from the mixta/moschata crosses. A female that I sealed last night before it opened was Lady Godiva, a hull-less seeded pepo. This crossing attempt was not successful. |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Oct 2, 2016 21:20:09 GMT -5
This project of yours really has me excited to see what you come up with in a few years. A maxima x moshata sounds like it would be really good. But i love all of your inter-species crosses and i love how you are letting interspecies hybrids breed with other interspecies hybrids thereby maybe helping remove these barriers by creating crosses that can breed with other crosses. Fantastic! I've suspected such was possible to those who really gave it a go, but your really the first person to really dedicate yourself to it. And look how it's starting to pay off. You may yet have more squash varieties named after you in coming years.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 3, 2016 9:13:10 GMT -5
keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.): I have F1 seed in hand for a maxima X moschata hybrid: Tetsukabuto winter squash from Pinetree Garden Seeds. It's typically grown as rootstock. It's sterile, so requires a pollinator if grown for fruit/seeds. I'm already plotting to attempt to pollinate it with moschata, maxima, and pepo, by planting it in the middle of patches of the other species, and letting things take their natural course. I'm being a bit whimsical, and contemplating calling the 4 way interspecies hybrid Cucurbita lofthousii. I'm doing plant breeding as an artist, and not as a scientist, so I might as well poke fun at the splitters. I suppose that another name that might work for this population is Cucurbita harmonyi, or Cucurbita unityi. I just can't bring myself to put [Cucurbita argyrosperma x moschata] into a seed catalog. I ended up splitting the hybrid swarm of Northern/Southern corns into four populations: High Carotene sweetcorn, Harmony grain corn, Unity Flour corn, and an as yet un-named sweet corn...
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Post by urjtobreed on Oct 3, 2016 11:35:06 GMT -5
I have grown Tetsukabuto and was impressed. After reading about your argyrosperma x moschato crosses, I also started thinking about crossing them with Tetsukabuto. Pollen sterility makes crossing easy.
I love your approach to breeding and the results. I think it is the best method when sustainability is considered.
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Post by taihaku on Oct 3, 2016 13:12:57 GMT -5
Since we're talking about interspecific hybrid squash this may be of interest to some of you (if you haven't seen it already).... http://instagr.am/p/BKXmheFAiwo |
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Post by steev on Oct 3, 2016 16:27:49 GMT -5
Joseph: maybe Cucurbita lumperi.
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Post by jondear on Oct 3, 2016 18:30:18 GMT -5
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Post by shoshannah on Oct 4, 2016 13:45:24 GMT -5
Harmony, Unity and Tranquility parts of the International Space Station or ISS.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 29, 2016 17:54:16 GMT -5
Today, I cut open the squash from the mixta/moschata interspecies hybrids. Some of them had orange flesh. Taste was bland through the whole population. Here's one that looked great. Nice to see that orange color in a squash that looks like a mixta. Some of them looked like moschata squash, and had orange flesh, but taste was iffy. Oh well, better luck next year. I am thrilled with this project.  |
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Post by caledonian on Feb 1, 2017 14:32:48 GMT -5
Joseph Lofthouse, a question:
I was intrigued by the mottling patterns of the squash leaves in some of the earlier photos in this thread, particularly the ones that were almost entirely pale 'mottle'. I vaguely remember Carol Deppe writing in one of her books that mottling didn't seem to have any effect on productiveness, even though we might think that they'd be less efficient at gathering sunlight.
Have you noticed any effects of intense mottling, either good or bad? I'm just wondering what use we might find for that sort of variation.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 1, 2017 16:47:54 GMT -5
Carol Deppe and I collaborate on growing squash. I sent my moschata squash to her, she grew it two generations, and then sent seeds back to me... About 75% of my plants are mottled. About 25% of what she sent back are mottled. When I look around me, the desert adapted plants tend to have gray leaves. So I suspect that the silver mottling helps the plants endure the intense high-altitude sunlight here. And that gray mottling is not as useful in low-elevation Oregon which tends to be more overcast.
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Post by walt on Feb 2, 2017 12:49:16 GMT -5
Silver mottling in begonias is due to air bubble between epidermis and the next layer, I forget the name. Anyway it has no effect on photosynthesis. No idea if squash is the same.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 22, 2017 17:28:13 GMT -5
I think that a maxima/moschata hybrid showed up in my buttercup squash patch this year. The mother was my buttercup squash. The fruit has maxima coloration on the skin. The peduncle however looks like a hard 5-sided moschata stem, instead of a round corky maxima stem. The seeds look like moschata seeds (small, and with a dark colored margin). Seeds from my buttercup/maxima are shown in the attached photo with a box drawn around them. The squash was long keeping, which is more like a moschata trait than a maxima trait. Flavor was mediocre, which is not at all like the buttercup mother. More like a moschata. Seed set in the fruit was low: What I have come to expect from inter-species squash hybrids.  |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 5, 2017 15:09:20 GMT -5
One of the Mospermia squash had an interesting phenotype this year: Yellow speckles in the leaf... Looking forward to seeing what the fruits are like.  Higher resolution photo |
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