mospermia squash

[gilbert]

Hi Joseph,

I'm growing your mospermia squash, and there is a huge range in seedling vigor. Should I chop out all but the strongest? Or should I save everything in hopes of getting a high quality fruit, and selecting for seedling vigor later? Do you have any idea how likely is it that a given plant will have high quality fruit? 

[Joseph Lofthouse]

gilbert: I haven't yet found a high quality fruit among the mospermia squash. So good luck on that.

Until now, I have allowed everything to grow as it will. The current seeds are F2 and F3, so I'm likely to do some culling this year.

[gilbert]

Well, I'll select for seedling vigor then. Might as well have healthy plants.

[reed]

I also put out some mospermia. I planted late on purpose to try to avoid the stink bugs that are in plague proportions here but seem to strike earlier in the season. Planted just a couple weeks ago and have higher than expected germination. Planting late I guess I will also be testing for heat and drought tolerance. So far so good, don't think any two look exactly the same. I don't see a lot of difference in vigor, they all look pretty good except a couple that sprouted and promptly croaked. Most have really big cotyledons.