Zeedman
Garden Addicted
A.k.a. hull-less. The green ready-to-eat seeds are often sold in the U.S. as pepitas. There are several commercial hull-less varieties & several heirlooms, most are the "Styrian" type. Those pumpkins generally have dark green seeds in large, mostly empty seed cavities. Has anyone here ever grown naked-seeded pumpkins?
This year I am growing one variety ("Little Greenseed") originally sent to me in 2011 by Ken Ettlinger of the Long Island Seed Project. I grew it, and found it to be very unstable. After reporting this issue, Ken sent me new seed, which I grew in 2012 with the same results. There was a wide range of crosses, and only a few plants yielded completely hull less seed. However, the two best plants were OUTSTANDING. Those pumpkins were just over softball size, thin shelled, heavier than they looked - and densely packed with completely hull less dark-green seeds. Lots of seeds, and unlike the large Styrian types, very little flesh to waste.
LISP, when I contacted them, admitted that Little Greenseed was a work-in-progress, and was not completely stable. They apparently never completed this project, and their website - while still visible - has been inactive since 2012. Furthermore, no one else appears to be growing Little Greenseed other than Salt of the Earth Seeds , who obtained their original seed from LISP & admits to not having stabilized it either (their seed looks worse than mine). All the other online references to it I could find are the same age as the LISP site - so except for SotE's strain, I may have the last surviving seed for this variety.
I froze a large amount of seed in 2012, from the last year of a multi-variety naked-seeded pumpkin trial. That year working hours prevented me from hand pollinating, so all of the seed - while saved from the plants with desired traits - likely contains additional crosses (some perhaps with the other pumpkins in the trial). Hopefully, the desired traits can still be isolated... but it may require a large population to do so. To anyone who may want to take part in this project, I would be happy to provide seed & full details. This variety is well worth saving (I'll post a photo of the seeds when my phone has charged.)
This year I am growing one variety ("Little Greenseed") originally sent to me in 2011 by Ken Ettlinger of the Long Island Seed Project. I grew it, and found it to be very unstable. After reporting this issue, Ken sent me new seed, which I grew in 2012 with the same results. There was a wide range of crosses, and only a few plants yielded completely hull less seed. However, the two best plants were OUTSTANDING. Those pumpkins were just over softball size, thin shelled, heavier than they looked - and densely packed with completely hull less dark-green seeds. Lots of seeds, and unlike the large Styrian types, very little flesh to waste.
LISP, when I contacted them, admitted that Little Greenseed was a work-in-progress, and was not completely stable. They apparently never completed this project, and their website - while still visible - has been inactive since 2012. Furthermore, no one else appears to be growing Little Greenseed other than Salt of the Earth Seeds , who obtained their original seed from LISP & admits to not having stabilized it either (their seed looks worse than mine). All the other online references to it I could find are the same age as the LISP site - so except for SotE's strain, I may have the last surviving seed for this variety.
I froze a large amount of seed in 2012, from the last year of a multi-variety naked-seeded pumpkin trial. That year working hours prevented me from hand pollinating, so all of the seed - while saved from the plants with desired traits - likely contains additional crosses (some perhaps with the other pumpkins in the trial). Hopefully, the desired traits can still be isolated... but it may require a large population to do so. To anyone who may want to take part in this project, I would be happy to provide seed & full details. This variety is well worth saving (I'll post a photo of the seeds when my phone has charged.)