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Ohio

What is the biggest pumpkin that you/or have ever heard of, when a seed was planted later then the usual time that we start seeds.

Any monsters out there that you know of, and when was the seed started?

Also, when do you think its to late to start seeds for compition growing, what would your cut off day be?

5/7/2009 10:45:01 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

LongBeard is always telling me about the monster he iZ gonna grow....that would be the latest one I have heard of.....HeZ still thinking of planting it .......

5/7/2009 12:28:06 PM

Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia

July 30, Paul Millet grew a 996 lb'er in 2007 off the 967 Reid.

5/7/2009 1:31:33 PM

Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia

Sorry Brooks, I misread your post. The 996 grown by Paul Millett was pollinated July 30, I think the seed was started on time.

5/7/2009 2:33:23 PM

Ohio

I was thinking, if you start a seed now your going to be about 10 days behind,,,, but on the other hand if you have a plant that grows its tail off, then you might be ok.

I had a 805 Pukos(grew my 1289) I grew 2 years ago, that I planted on time along with my other plants,and that 805 plant left my other plants sitting in the dust. The 805 had 6 secondaries growing on it while all my other plants only had 2 to 3 secondaries.
So if you get a plant to grow like that 805 pukos did, then you might be safe to still start a seed now, but on the other hand, what if you dont have a seed grow like that one and its a slow starter?,,, you could be wasting a good seed possibly because you might not give that plant enough time to grow a pumpkin to its full potential. So maybe, if you have a back up plant it might just be smart to plant that one instead(Quinn's advice),,, decisions , decisions,,,,lol!

5/7/2009 4:40:08 PM

Columbus Ohio

I started a plant last year on May 26, Pollinated a pumpkin on it on July 28. It weighed 835 pounds at the Southern Ohio Weigh-off. The thing about it though was that on day 51 we were hit by hurricane Ike and it took about 70 % of the leaves out and we had not water source for 7 days. it was still doing 20 pounds a day and could have made 1000 by the weigh-off in my opinion.

5/7/2009 5:40:10 PM

Deer Park WA

We always start germinating on May 1st and it seems that our punkins pretty much stop growing by the 3rd week of September so if the weigh offs are the 1st Saturday of October then technically you could start seeds and be competitive up until about May 10th or so. Our springs are so cold the seedlings dont do a whole lot untill mid May anyway.

5/7/2009 7:49:34 PM

Western PA

I have no stories of monsters and late start dates. If the soil is still cold your not gonna get much out of that plant until it heats up, now if your using heating cables and a greenhouse you can throw it in the ground in April if you are not using heating cables you might be better off starting later and leaving the plant in a big pot inside and it will catch up with the one that is sitting in that cold soil outside then throw it in the ground in mid may.

5/7/2009 9:25:13 PM

Western PA

I am no hardening off expert, but I have been going through the diaries and it seems like there are a lot of people that just throw these plants in the ground as soon as they can see the first true leaf start to poke out. I don't think the plants are properly hardened off, the plants will still make it but i would imagine this sets them back a bit. almost like starting a few days to a week later.

5/7/2009 9:30:07 PM

Joliet, IL

brother brooks,
check out tyson naylor's growers diary whose handle on bp.com is "Meat57". last year he didn't even get his seeds from gene mcmullen until the middle of may last year and produced the 1027 Naylor 2008. the rookie had quite a nice year. he pollinated last year on 7-8. so like pumpkin picker said, with the soil getting warmer and warmer, a plant started later and put in later can be close to catching up to early plants that have had to sit through a colder soil spell. i would think at the worst case scenario, a seed started on june 1st could be pollinated about july 14th at 10' out and maybe about july 21at at 12-13' out. that is still plenty of time to get one over 800 and maybe 1000 if fall temps stay nice.

5/10/2009 8:29:45 PM