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Colorado Hail, CO. Elev. 5,900 FT

Wow... after all those huge fruits bombarded the scales last season, I think just about all of us expected even more larger ones this year. I was surprised to see so many good growers end up with some of the weights posted. I'm sure they would have liked to see them go higher than what they ended up weighing in at.
So, where did we all go wrong this year? Is the blame on mainly weather? Here in the state of Colorado, I would say 99.9% yes, that was definatly a set back for all of us. We have our weigh off on the 9th, and it's doubtful anyone will even top 600 here, sad to say.
Is most of the blame on splitter genetics? So many nice size fruits went down, a lot of them just days before weigh offs! Several had a splits or holes so small the grower must be in therapy still over such a nightmare!
Was the blame on disease more so than the weather that probably caused it? I have heard stories about powdery mildew that infested so bad that growers had to turn on their windshield wipers each morning to get it off their car window if they parked too close to their diseased patch.
Maybe insects were an issue as well. Perhaps they were, but maybe nobody even noticed them due to all the other problems they were trying to overcome.
Or is the answer just all of the above???

So what was the main culprit this year across North America? Why did so many of us suffer while very few prospered? What ever went wrong, just keep in mind we
only have 7 more months to have our plants in the ground, so it's time to get busy again already!

Marc

10/3/2004 2:20:06 PM

Wroclaw, Poland (51 N, 17 E)

Maybe the bad weather in some parts of the word this year made pumpkins grow slower ?

10/3/2004 2:21:42 PM

Key West, FL

I think this just shows how much luck is involved with this hobby. Of course, when you plant 23 Plants like Jack LaRue, you're bound to get a good one I guess. lol

10/3/2004 2:23:08 PM

San Diego

I also think growers are getting spoiled, the weights have gone up so fast over a short period of time, you can't keep expecting fruit sizes to just pop your eyes out year after year can we? Did you notice that there were a ton of fruit in the 1000 lb range, and very few above it. Makes you wonder when the fruits will plateau out in the future. I'm sure we'll still see higher and higer weights over time, but it might slow down for awhile too. Jimmy

10/3/2004 3:11:22 PM

Wichita, KS

I expect it was irratic weather changes... not so much bad weather, just occasional dramatic drops in temp, then just as quickly back to the usual. That's my theory for now, anyway.

10/3/2004 4:08:59 PM

[email protected]

Looks like some sleeper seeds are coming out of the woodwork. That or it's time to consider regionally produced winners.

707 Toftness = 1141 Sundstrom for a new NY State record (CT-NY)

1068 Wallace = 1253 Sperry for first place at Topsfield (RI-RI)

1068 Wallace = 919.6 Wallace first place at Durham (RI-RI)

500 Wallace = 1173 Macari second place at Topsfield (RI-RI)

894 Hampton = two fruit at Topsfield including the 853 Simpson that was 100 lbs over it's OTT. (MA-MA?)

I'd say we might be better off considering locally produced seed for our achievements.

The 842 Eaton split all yesr here. PM too. Yet Al tells me it is an easy grower for him. Granted my skills cannot compare to his. But no one else grew it north of 1300 lbs twice.

Match the seed to the environment.

10/3/2004 4:16:53 PM

berkshire M.A.

Steve,
I would like to say that there are tons of sleeper seeds out there .They just need to get in the soil .look at my pumpkin last year ,my pumpkin this year . They need to have a chance.weather plays a big part of it as well/i think..
BH

10/3/2004 4:35:10 PM

Cologne / Germany

Steve - to speak with Mark match the plant to the environment. Everyone who had a good plant in 2004 should try to do a clone now which might do the same good stuff in 2005. My 1260 Weir went more than 20 % heavy this year which should be a good argument to keep the plant alive.

10/3/2004 5:21:16 PM

derry n.h u.s.a.

Steve,After doing my homework in the spring and last winter,my pumpkin(961 Daletas) weighed 200lb light taped in at 383" and weighed in at 929.4,none of the 5 seeds planted in the past went light,well 1 did it was o.2% light or like 10lb light,i couldent blame it on genetics, i would have to say it was weather related rapaid drops in temp,not too much heat durning the N.H summer,Wait till next year!!

10/3/2004 7:04:11 PM

Rhode Island

steve and john

something sure seemed odd at topsfield

i saw at least seven fruit weighed before mine that i thought looked huge only to see them weigh high nines and low one thousands
although i hoped to break the eleven hundred circle i was more than pleased to place ahead of some much larger fruit

im no expert but if its in the soil ,and you have a huge fruit with thin walls does that not mean somethings off balance in your soil?
if the weather was bad then that would result in smaller fruit more than large thin walled fruit i would thing

dick

10/3/2004 7:32:03 PM

derry n.h u.s.a.

Well thats a good posibilty,i think im over due for a soil test,its been 2 years,think i will go with two seprate tests just so i can compare.john

10/3/2004 8:15:29 PM

New Hampshire

The 1148 Riemiller(taping1082) 6.5% heavy and the 1010 Webb(taping 1174) 14% light were planted 25 feet from each other and was treated exactly the same. How do you slice those apples?

10/3/2004 10:49:21 PM

Md/ Usa

I think cool weather has a lot to do with thin walls
from what i saw in altoona lots big fruit but light big fruit just the same. dick your theory does not hold water
if compare fruit size with weight.
I saw several in altoona this year that would have been 700-800 fruit last year in size but only hit scales at 500-700 this year.

10/3/2004 11:40:55 PM

[email protected]

Environment & soil nutrition has to play a roll. But to see the genetic variation of seeds, look at the Durham weighoff result for the 281 we grew this year from an 845 Bobier cutting. See the long stem the the green coloration here?

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/displayphoto.asp?pid=3168&gid=36

Now look at this:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/displayphoto.asp?pid=2247&gid=-21025

The second image is a goof since that fruit had aborted but then healed. It's an 845 Bobier too. And most of the fruit had short stems & all were orange. The two plants were grown 11 miles from each other in almost identical soil.

The rub?

It's the same plant. I kept it alive all winter in my greenhouse.

Why would the fruit be so different if they grew on the same plant?

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

10/3/2004 11:43:46 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

Genetics...and variation within those genetics present from seed to seed.

10/3/2004 11:57:36 PM

derry n.h u.s.a.

man i always thought i did a good job with soil prep,1000 sq/ft 800lb of dried or maybe 1200lb of wet cow manure well composted,1 40 lb bag of 10-10-10 2 80lb bags of gypsum,1 or 2 bags Dolmite lime powder(the white stuff)couple bales of canadan straw and 100lbs of mapleleafs,never over did it with chemicle ferts (excessive salts!)I'd have to think thiers plenty of good growing matierails in my garden the P.H is ballpark at 6.5 to 7.0,but still with all this maybe thiers some elaments WAY out of balance,just a thought!! John......or maybe !!! thats just the way the cookie crumbles...Hmmmm

10/4/2004 1:29:57 PM

In the shade - PDX, OR

I guess I am looking at this from a different point of view.

Seems to me that there were quite a few large fruit this year.
Guess we'll have to wait for all the contests to finish out to tally up all of the results and compare them to '03.

Two 1400+ pounders this year thats pretty good. It's hard to tabulate all of the 1000+ fruit that have already been weighed unless you got the time to scan and add up all the info on pumpkinnook.
I still think we will see an increase in the # of fruit that broke the 1000 pound barrier.
Time will tell

10/4/2004 8:10:01 PM

Colorado Hail, CO. Elev. 5,900 FT

Maybe there were some big-uns this year, I am just surprised to not see the usual names up there.

It's almost like I expect everyone to keep popping them out left and right every year. I guess Ben is right, there is a lot of luck to growing them big. John's patch sounds like the pumpkin garden of eden, so yeah.... it's gotta be a luck thing...lol

10/5/2004 12:52:55 AM