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maine USA

I got the SNGPG newsletter the other day, and I was very interested in the diagram of the 1631.5, in particular your use of tertiary vines. What made you decide to let those particular tertiaries grow? Do you feel that this practice helped boost your final weight? thanks Kathy

12/2/2007 6:09:50 PM

Sharon, MA

Kathy:
Thats a great question for Dan and Jason. When you read into the detailed 1 page report written by Don "1662" Young in the newsletter you will see that he coincidently used the same vine vine growth pattern as Dan and Jason. They are onto something completely new, for Giant Pumpkins. We were really suprised that these guys, and Joe Jutras, decided to reveal so much about their 1600 pounders. I can't wait to try that vine pattern next year, in my garden. Now does the Christmas Tree pattern become old news?

12/2/2007 7:43:42 PM

maine USA

By the way that was an excellent newsletter, very informative.

12/2/2007 7:48:36 PM

Ohio

what kind of vine growth pattern did they use?,

12/2/2007 7:58:20 PM

ExtremeVegetables.com

Now you have me all excited about getting the newletter!

12/2/2007 8:54:57 PM

[email protected]

You'll find it very intriguing.....I'd have read it more thoroughly tonight but for the auction.

12/2/2007 11:11:50 PM

Indiana

I dont recall Don telling me anything of the sort. He used something similar to the spider pattern from the pictures if I recall.

12/2/2007 11:39:34 PM

Ohio

Is there a web site for the SNGPG?

12/3/2007 1:44:26 AM

this might be hard to describe without a drawing but mine and dan-jasons are differnt i didnt use any tertieres or 3rd vines like they did- basically mine was first side vines swept back next straight out 12 then 3rd row out 11 and ran back in direction of main and next vines out then back and so on the sngpg newsletter will tell you more it is a must read my hats of to ron- steve and all involved in putting it together

12/3/2007 11:26:40 AM

Long Island,New York

I think the idea of a club and club membership is the members get access to information that might not be readily available to non-clubmembers? Join the club?

12/3/2007 5:44:31 PM

western PA

That's a good point, but how many clubs should we join? I belong to one already (got to renew though, come to think of it), does that mean I gotta join another every time we get a new world record holder?

Not trying to be a pain, please don't take that the wrong way, just pointing out that not everyone can be a member in every club. :)

12/3/2007 6:10:04 PM

Niagara County, NY

kathy --the main reason was for better late season growth... im not sure if it helped our final weight or not... i would like to think it did, but maybe it was just the great late season weather...i certainly wouldn't recommend a grower to prune all their plants like this.. maybe try it on one or two. this style does carry more risk, in my opinion.

dan m

12/4/2007 1:09:04 AM

Rhode Island

Jang
most growers belong to several giant pumpkin clubs. some for local support and others for the amount of information and services they will receive.
there are a lot of clubs out there. not everyone has real information and opinions.
pap

12/4/2007 7:41:37 AM

western PA

I do realise that, pap, and thanks for the input. It just seems like the reason for this site is so that people don't have to join several clubs to get good information. It gets kind of expensive. I do read about the great seed packages, etc that some clubs give out, and find myself thinking I should join that club, but then I look at my geographic location and think, well that would be kinda silly.

12/4/2007 8:05:59 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

SNGPG Newsletter arrived last night...Wow, that spider pattern does have one thinking...hmmmm....Didnt get to throughly read it but just thumbing through it..WOW..WHAT A collectors edition, no surprise to me why weights went up this year ....with the quality of grower information within this read 2000 lbs is not far away....Great Job SNGPG ..Cant wait for my other newsletters also....
SUPPORT YOUR GROWER CLUBS's .....they are the FUTURE of our hobby.

12/4/2007 9:09:48 AM

Wi

I think the risk Dan speaks of is the fact that the plant relies on fewer secondaries. Since there is much growth off EACH secondary if you lose the secondary near the main you lose a real large portion of the plant. Same goes with Don's style of loooong secondaries. You lose one secondary, you lose a large portion of the plant. These guys go big because unlike many of us they are successful in keeping their plants healthy.

I guess to sum up here with Dan's style of pruning if he loses a secondary right at the main he loses up to what...50' or more of vine. A grower with a standard x-mas tree pattern can lose a few vines before losing 50'.

Lots of ways to skin a cat for sure.

12/4/2007 9:35:53 AM

at the same time if you loose the stump you have the additional roots to carry the fruit,,,
the standards are changing as they have over the last few years keep up the info guys,,thanks for sharing

12/4/2007 9:57:35 AM

Western NY

I think the inherent risk in that pattern assuming a healthy plant, is that you need to have a long growing season. This can be beneficial in a growing year like we had this time, but if we would have had a September cold snap or early frost, it would have been more beneficial to have those pounds packed on earlier in the year.

12/4/2007 10:46:21 AM

maine USA

Thanks for the reply Dan.
Andy can you please explain why this pattern would require a long growing season. thanks guys, Kathy

12/4/2007 11:06:45 AM

Western NY

I don't think it would "require" a long growing season for that particular pattern to work. However, consider the possibility that a plant has a certain potential for a final weight whether you prune traditional or this new style. A traditional pattern may top out at over 40 pounds a day, and taper off quickly in september as the majority of leaves are "old growth". With the McKie style, you might top out a little over 30 a day at the peak, but you'll still put on significant weight even into October because the tertiary vines haven't had as long to age.

This assumes the plant will hit a certain weight no matter what. There may be advantages with this new pattern, but only time will tell. I think the big advantage would be for those folks who are worried about splitting fast growing fruit. This way, you are effectively slowing the growth during it's speedy phase and adding it to the late september gains.

12/4/2007 12:19:32 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Where all the vines buried?

12/4/2007 3:51:58 PM

Sparta, NC

Wasn't Dans fruits getting good gains at the time he cut them from the vine? Getting good gains for a longer time is the key.

12/4/2007 9:44:09 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

It seems that this year shows that these pumpkins can grow for longer than we may have expected. I think there was a European grower(in the diary section), who was getting pumpkin growth way past 100 days. Maybe the "golden time zone" for pollinations needs to be adjusted to an earlier range of dates.

12/5/2007 12:15:08 AM

Netherlands

Doug, Borje Gustavsson of Sweden had a 1502 growing at day 125. Needed to cut it off for a weighoff but still adding a few pounds a week.

12/5/2007 12:24:16 PM