Naked-seeded pumpkin project

heirloomgal

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So opened that pumpkin today, and it has all the traits I am seeking... a good quantity of hull-less seeds, and little waste. The vine died prematurely (the reason I picked it) so the seeds are not as fat as they could be; but good enough to grow.

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Those seeds look excellent; I've tried Styrian Hulless and Lady Godiva. The fresh seeds straight out of the guts were divine 😇
 

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Those seeds look excellent; I've tried Styrian Hulless and Lady Godiva. The fresh seeds straight out of the guts were divine 😇

if you wanted all of mine you could come get them. they're sitting there in the gardens looking ready to do something with, but i have to put beans. tomatoes and melons above squash seeds. oh and i still have to get the onions lifted and cured.
 

Zeedman

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if you wanted all of mine you could come get them. they're sitting there in the gardens looking ready to do something with, but i have to put beans. tomatoes and melons above squash seeds. oh and i still have to get the onions lifted and cured.
You might not want to wait too long. Seeds from pumpkins from the "Styrian" line (the larger ones, often with green stripes) often sprout while still inside. I opened up one of the others today (because there was some leakage from the stem end) and about 5% of the seeds had already sprouted. One of the traits I find desirable in the smaller strain is that it does not seem prone to internal sprouting.

The good news is that so far, with 3 pumpkins opened, all were naked seeded.
 

ducks4you

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I had Great plans to plant all 5 varieties (not really any Named ones) of pumpkins, lots of seeds saved from 2020...but the year got away from me. Looks like I will only be harvesting white pumpkins, and mini boo, but I had mini boos over a month ago. The two plants have engulfed and devoured my flower patches north of the garage! FORTUNATELY, no deer or other critters to eat my fruit.
 

flowerbug

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You might not want to wait too long. Seeds from pumpkins from the "Styrian" line (the larger ones, often with green stripes) often sprout while still inside. I opened up one of the others today (because there was some leakage from the stem end) and about 5% of the seeds had already sprouted. One of the traits I find desirable in the smaller strain is that it does not seem prone to internal sprouting.

The good news is that so far, with 3 pumpkins opened, all were naked seeded.

thanks for the mention, if i get a chance to take a peek at one tomorrow i will, but i'm not sure how it is going out there, the last time i saw much i would have been better set up with mud boots and a kayak or canoe for going out there to do anything. we've had about six inches of rain the past two days.
 

flowerbug

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the following pictures is how it used to get after a heavy rain, right about where those old bed frames is where the current green seeded squash are moon bathing in the gloomy weather (Addams Family humor :) )...

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now at least they're not sitting in water, but it is very soggy out there even with the drains installed.
 

flowerbug

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So opened that pumpkin today, and it has all the traits I am seeking... a good quantity of hull-less seeds, and little waste. The vine died prematurely (the reason I picked it) so the seeds are not as fat as they could be; but good enough to grow.

View attachment 43545 View attachment 43546

i didn't see these pics for some reason before, too busy i guess... :) compared to the first squash i picked this is a much darker orange - mine was pale yellow to white colored inside. the seeds were not fully developed in terms of plump, but they were edible (i've long since eaten all of them). :)
 

flowerbug

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i picked four of the squash today (one was small and it wasn't even close to being done when i cut it open) and took the seeds out. i decided i wanted to roast these in the oven at a low temperature with some salt on them to dry them out. the first batch i soaked in salt water and then dried on a plate but they never dried all the way before i ate them. this batch i'll keep stirring once in a while until they're dried out.

it was interesting to see that the seeds in all three of the bigger squash were different from each other. the first one i opened up the seeds were all fairly large, not very plump but still without hulls and edible. the next two were smaller seeds, more plump and again hullless and edible.
 

flowerbug

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after they were roasted a bit i had a full pint jar of salted green seeds. i've decided that tomorrow i'll finish the rest of them since it will be too wet outside to do much else, it has rained another three times today. i took the squash and wiped them on the grass to get the mud off them.

pulling the seeds out of them was pretty easy. i think i had them cut up and seeds out in a half hour. they shrunk quite a bit with roasting, but the flavor is excellent. they'll be a nice snack. :)
 

flowerbug

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another round of picking and roasting. i have the 2nd batch in the oven to roast now. i figured out it takes me about 10 minutes a squash to pick, wash off the dirt and cut up and get the seeds out. the 2nd batch had four larger squash to work with but i improved my technique a bit by using a knife to cut around the edges and then cut underneath and that let me save a few seconds of trying to get the seeds/pulp out without such a struggle. some of those pulp strands are pretty tough. :)

i did save some seeds to replant plus i have leftover from what you sent to me so now the question would be where to plant them next season. i've already decided that they're too vigorous to combine with other squash plants so they'll go into their own dedicated spot next year.
 

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