:x-no-archive: yes : :In article , Pat Meadows : wrote: : : : :> Wouldn't it be more likely that this happened *last year*, :> i.e., that a bee pollinated a pumpkin or kabocha plant last :> year with zucchini pollen - and the seed you planted this :> year is a hybrid (mix)? : : : :Once a neighbor grew a "squash" that was a true hybrid of the zucchini he :grew last year and the pumpkin we grew last year. The resulting plant and :its fruit looked a little like each of those of its parent plants. : :If the plant doesn't look like a cross between the two kinds of vine but :*exactly* like one or the other, I'd think the seed company made a mistake :in identifying and packing its seed. I've heard of this happening before :with tomato varieties. : :-- dkra
I've never purchased pumpkin seeds or kabocha seeds. The ones I grow every year originally came up as volunteers, no doubt the result of someone throwing the remains of their dinner preparations into the compostables. This was when I had housemates. However, it's been 3 years since I had housemates and I haven't bought zucchini seeds for many years and never planted any here.
I think it is indeed likely that this happened last year and what looked like a pumpkin contained seeds that would grow something that looked very like a zucchini. Unfortunately, the plant isn't doing very well. I should have thinned my plantings but decided to let the seedlings fight it out. It's an interesting experiment but next year I'm going to thin my seedlings.