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wvcruffler

Help ID Pie Pumpkin

wvcruffler
19 years ago

Howdy all,

A local nursery/veggie/country store had some weird pumpkins last year they called Amish Pie Pumpkins. They looked quite a bit like a good sized watermelon with pale green skin and darker bands. They were oblong. The flesh was dark orange and the seeds were a darker brown and thicker than typical seeds. Unfortunately, the seeds that I saved moulded! Any help finding this plant would be appreciated.

Doc Phil

Comments (13)

  • carolyn137
    19 years ago

    Any help finding this plant would be appreciated

    Google is your friend Phil.( smile)

    I was going to refer you to the SSE Public catalog/erbsite but when I looked I saw they had a crop failure. Thus to Google I went.

    Seeds for Amish Pie are available from heirloomseeds.com, a good place,BTW

    And it's a good thing you didn't use the seeds you'd saved b/c they no doubt were cross pollinated from the variet y being grown near other squash/ For pure seed one has to hand pollinate the female squash blossoms.

    Carolyn

  • mistercross
    19 years ago

    Hopefully someone else will know more. I wonder if it was a true pumpkin or if it was a squash? Both are Cucurbita. For instance, Food History mentions "Amish Pie Squash, a rare heirloom pumpkin" and shows a picture of a vegetable that is pumpkin-colored.

    Heirloom Seeds sells Amish Pie Pumpkin seeds, but there is no good description.

    Millennium Farms sells Amish Pie Winter Squash seeds, but again the description is lacking.

    Good luck.

  • carolyn137
    19 years ago

    Hopefully someone else will know more. I wonder if it was a true pumpkin or if it was a squash? Both are Cucurbita. For instance, Food History mentions "Amish Pie Squash, a rare heirloom pumpkin" and shows a picture of a vegetable that is pumpkin-colored.

    Pumpkins are squash.

    I was trying to find some history for the pumpkin Big Max in a thread on this page and found website after site that explained all of the various squash species and to w hich species pumpkins were included, whih has always been my understanding and can be confirmed by a quick look at any SSE Yearbook by going thru the various squash species to see which pumpkin varieties are where, as to species.

    Carolyn

  • wvcruffler
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    If it helps, this was a very big pumpkin - about the size of a medium to large watermelon and weighed 20# or so.

    Looks like a TN sweet potato pumpkin without the small end. Pehaps it was a large one of those.

    Phil

  • carolyn137
    19 years ago

    If it helps, this was a very big pumpkin - about the size of a medium to large watermelon and weighed 20# or so.
    Looks like a TN sweet potato pumpkin without the small end. Pehaps it was a large one of those.

    Amish Pie Pumpkin can go 60-80 pounds when happy, so a big one is OK and yes, it does look a bit like TN Sweet Potato Pumpkin but without the narrow neck.

    Go to seedsavers.org to the veggie varieties and you can s ee pictures of both the Amish Pie ( C.pepo) amd TN Sweet Potato ( C mixta)

    Carolyn

  • galina
    19 years ago

    Carolyn

    I have grown Amish Pie Squash with seeds from SSE. I know it said c pepo on the packet, but my plants, squash and seeds look like c maxima. However I am not a botanist.

    Please, could you confirm for certain that Amish Pie is a pepo? Unfortunately this cultivar isn't featured in Amy Goldman's squash book.

    With thanks.

  • carolyn137
    19 years ago

    I have grown Amish Pie Squash with seeds from SSE. I know it said c pepo on the packet, but my plants, squash and seeds look like c maxima. However I am not a botanist.

    Please, could you confirm for certain that Amish Pie is a pepo? Unfortunately this cultivar isn't featured in Amy Goldman's squash book.

    No, I can't personally confirm that Amish Pie is maxima b/c I've never grown it and I'm not a Botanist either. ( smile)

    I see it listed as a maxima in some SSE Yearbooks. There can ce rtainly be errors in the blurbs in the SSE catalog/website, as well I know since most years I proofread the tomato section for Aaron. I don't know who, if anyone, is proofing the squash section these days.

    If you want confirmation on species I suggest you e-mail Glenn Drowns at Sand Hill Preservation who is t he Curator of Cucurbits for SSE, and he is THE authority as far as I'm concerned, re squash. Amy got seeds from him, via SSE stock, for many of the varieties in her book.

    But....don't e-mail him this time of year b/c they are swamped with orders with just he and his wife packing seeds and he with a full time job as a science teacher. Far better to contact him off season.

    Hope that helps.

    Carolyn

  • galina
    19 years ago

    That is a great idea Carolyn, thank you very much. And for pointing out the pressures on Sandhill at this time of year.

    I will let you know when I get an answer

  • kumberlylyn
    10 years ago

    What i planted this yr regarding the pumpkin amish pie

  • kumberlylyn
    10 years ago

    Back side

  • kumberlylyn
    10 years ago

    Result thus far. July 24

  • kumberlylyn
    10 years ago

    Result of fruit thus far

  • skeip
    10 years ago

    I have grown for years, and am currently growing Amish Pie in my garden. Once you see the true squash, you will never mistake it for anything else. They start out yellow and eventually turn tanish pink. The fruits tend to be very large, sometimes sort of a strawberry shape, but not always. They are an excellent keeper once properly cured.

    This is one of the finest textured and finest flavored squashes that I have ever grown. It is on the Ark of Slow Food and I have been advocating for it for years, I have grown it for at least 20 years. The seed that I planted this year was from 1995, as it's seed has excellent longevity, I try to grow it out every ten years or so.

    If anyone is interested in seed you may contact me through my page.

    Steve