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Southington Ohio

What part of the world did pumpkins originate from? Who were the first people to cultivate them? Does anybody know of any books on the subject I'm just curios and would like to be able to get my hands on some info for a good read. These are such amazing plants to learn about, I'm sure there are other people out there that might have the same interests. Thanks..........BV

8/27/2005 6:29:35 PM

addison Il

the pumpkin originated from central america it was used here by native americans for a staple food source they ate the seeds which where belived to be medicanal they also dried out the skin somehow lol and made matts from it. the irish brought the idea of carving pumpkins becasuse in there country they would carve beets and such and light them and well when they came to america found pumpkins to be so much better. we took the idea of cultivating pumpkins from the indians here much like corn and used them to make pies and such before the whole carving idea came about,the pumpkin is actually a fruit although it is part of the cucumber family.pumpkins are orange becasue they contain a high amount of luten alpaha and beta carotine. the top produceer of pumpkins is my state illinois at least thats what i have read. all this and much more can be found right here on the net i got this info from the history channel dot com and by simply typing in pumpkin history and yes i do read alot have fun hope you grow big

8/27/2005 7:26:27 PM

Southington Ohio

Thanks for the info curvy1. I have allready read the info from the net, and I am already aware of the facts that you have posted for me. Things I am interested in are things like, Did the plant grow wild? And if it did We know the fruit developes above ground. So how would the seeds grow on their own. The fruit would rot, Or be consumed by animals and be deposited through their waste ect. How did the plant evolve through controled genitics? who were the individuals who did this, or developed the different strains of the cucubrit? Just curious! I'm just looking for something on the subject that is more in depth. Thanks again....BV.

8/27/2005 7:43:43 PM

[email protected]

The history of GIANT PUMPKIN growing is a great subject & one riddled with "creative" details I have discovered. LOL

With the help of Alan Nesbit, Howard Dill, Ed Ford, Ed Gancarz & Harold Fulp I have amassed a veritable fortune in stories, interviews & pohotographs. The interviews are released one at a time in our club's newsletter.
www.ctpumpkin.com

CT GS&PGA members will receive the summer newsletter soon. The current interview is with Ed Ford. Ed broke the 73 year old World Record - 403 Warnock 1903 in 1976 with a 451 lb fruit he grew as a newbie Giant Pumpkin grower. It's quite a story & one that is rarely told.

Someday if time ever permits, I'd like to take all of this material & put it in one publication.

For now you might find some of the links here of interest:

http://www.pumpkinnook.com/facts.htm

Steve

8/27/2005 8:36:07 PM