Question about Varieties Crossing

This may be a "dumb" question, but if plants cross will the seeds themselves still look like they did in the parent plant?

I know that if the plants cross pollinate, the fruit will still be true to parent #1, but the seeds from it will grow something different. But will the seeds inside the fruit still look like the seeds from parent #1. after all the seed is the baby.... or is only the genetic information in the seed different, but it's appearance the same.

I hope that is clear ............ I am asking this because of this experience:


I tried Lady Godiva last year. The plants grew great and produced several nice pumpkins. The fruit was what I expected, except for being a bit larger than catalog descriptions. Thing is though, none of the seeds were hulless.

I'm trying to understand why my seeds had hulls and if I should try again. I don't plan on hand pollinating.

It depends on whether the parent is a hybrid or not. If the parent is "open pollinated" (not a hybrid), the offspring will resemble it. If the parent is a hybrid, the offspring might resemble it, or one of the "grandparents" or earlier ancestors, or something intermediate.


There are two classic heredity examples from high school biology class.

Dominant and recessive genes: If you cross yellow peas with green peas, the offspring will all look like yellow peas, but they carry the recessive gene for green peas. If these hybrid yellow peas are crossed, you will get 25% pure yellow peas, 50% hybrid yellow peas, and 25% green peas.

Incomplete dominance (I think it's called): If you cross red snapdragons with white snapdragons, you get pink snapdragons. If you cross the pink ones, you get (I think) 25% red, 50% pink, and 25% white.

Thanks Kelli,

Well unless I am wrong, Lady Godiva is OP.

I understand about recessive and dominant genes and their effect on how the new plant may look, but how does it effect the first generation of seeds? My guess is that they should have been hulless unless the seed I was given had crossed.

Hi Tree_Climber,

Are you saying that you planted Lady Godiva Pumpkin seeds and the seeds of the plants which grew had hulls?

If so, your seeds were probably from an open pollinated cross.

Found this page with info on the Lady Godiva variety:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_MV117

Sounds like Lady Godiva needs to be hand pollinated with itself to guarantee that the seeds produced will grow plants which also have hull-less seeds.

Eje,

Yes that is what I was trying to say. My seed was from a trade, but I was told it was retail seed, but the article you directed me to definately makes that suspect.

"Gardeners growing naked-seeded varieties do not need to worry about isolating these plants from other squash or pumpkins to prevent cross-pollinating. Although crosses will occur, the seed will not have a tough seed coat since it is formed from maternal tissue. Of course, such crossed seed should not be saved for planting, as the next generation will result in seed with regular seed coats."

Thanks so much for directing me to this information, it is exactly what I was looking for.

Now I just need to find a reliable source for seeds for next year.

I am also thinking about Kakai,
another variety :
Delicious ""pumpkin nuts,"" striped fruits.
These eye-catching, medium small, avg. 5-8 lb., black-striped pumpkins have been a hit with visitors to Johnny's farm. After displaying the pumpkins in the fall you can scoop out the large, dark green, completely hulless seeds which are absolutely delicious roasted. Kakai is a variety of the Austrian type that yields the valuable green pumpkin seed oil which some European studies show promotes prostate health. Avg. yield: 2-3 fruits/plant.

Right, you must have had some seeds that were outcrossed or mixed up with another variety. The hulless trait is recessive, so any cross with a hulled variety, even a zucchini, would produce hulled offspring. Keep us posted on Kakai. I ordered seeds, but haven't grown them yet.