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winter time is good for looking over growing trends and alot more has me wondering if things are changing
and if enough of us look can we see trend or learn something take your total pumpkin age then find day you hit half that weight as best you can by ott checks

12/18/2009 8:17:55 PM

1658 day 43
1622 day 38

12/18/2009 8:19:00 PM

Vancouver Washington

Don how old were your pumpkins at harvest? Were they both still growing?

12/18/2009 8:28:28 PM

Anamosa, IA [email protected]

My personal best, 841, hit half the weight by OTT on day 36. It topped out growth on day 71, and it went another 9 days before weighoff without measureable growth. It was 2% heavy to the chart. So it got half the weight in half the growing time.

12/18/2009 8:39:36 PM

Riverton, WY

I get much smaller weights and have a shorter growing season. It's interesting that my half weight days are really close to Don's.

909 day 42
908 day 42
836 day 38
751 day 41

In the past, my better pumpkins have averaged their half weight day on day 39.

12/18/2009 8:44:16 PM

Colorado

980 day 36 (ended up +7% to chart)
1166 day 40 (ended up -1% to chart)

12/18/2009 8:46:37 PM

Joliet, IL

1173 day 33 (off to the races then slowed down and ended up 14% light) and reached half of its final estimated weight of 1360 on day 33

1125 day 35 also fast early grower hit half of its final estimated weight of 1050 by day 35 went 7% heavy

my trend shows i need to increase my foliar feeding and drenches all season and especially later on cuz i was worried about blowing them as i was in unchartered territories early with crazy rapid early growth.
next year i will be not so concerned as blowing them and will make sure to give them a nice solid push all year long.
powdery mildew didn't help the final second half weights either.

12/18/2009 8:55:32 PM

Long Island,New York

ok...lets look again....make sure you are comparing the estimated wt at the end compared to the half of the estimated wieght.....you cant go by the % heavy final weight>>>it throws all the real numbers off...........

12/18/2009 9:03:33 PM

Corbin, KY

1238 half weight was day 32
1094 half weight was day 35

12/18/2009 9:29:14 PM

Great idea Don.... we need more in this hobby like you... To bad I don't have any pumpkins yet...

Martin

12/18/2009 9:33:33 PM

Indiana

average for me over the years has been day 37. I call it inflection day

12/18/2009 10:39:59 PM

Bloomington, IN

Day 34 for my one fruit.

12/18/2009 11:06:00 PM

Joliet, IL

actually after looking back again, the 1173s half weight was on day 34

12/19/2009 12:08:09 AM

Anchorage, Alaska

You can cure calculus disease if you want to, Tom.

12/19/2009 1:03:05 AM

Netherlands

Day 41-42 here on all pumpkins and squash.

12/19/2009 3:28:44 AM

France

1611 day 49
734 day 39
1016 day 37

12/19/2009 8:02:26 AM

Joliet, IL

this could become a nice statistical tool to see if there is a trend for some seeds to produce more weight and for longer periods of time in the last half of its growth.
for the 1611, that means 806 lbs after day 49...wow.
many factors at play for long term growth, but if enough half day estimated weight data was avaiable, there would definately be some noticable differences from some seeds as compared to others. as of now, i think the general consensus is long term pumpkin growth is attributed to plant health, climate, and experience. wall thickness use to be considered more in that light in the past, but seems to be becoming more of an accepted genetic trait of certain seeds now. but with enough data, i would have to assume that there has to be a genetic predisposition for some plants to continually pack on pounds for a longer period of time just like some peoples genetics have them living longer. tomato farmers have been studying how certain plants have a senesence switch that kicks maturity faster or slower based on genetics. if it is found that cerain seeds will pack them on longer, then this trait could selectivly be crossed into big n heavy to make big n heavy n long. this could be the final trait that takes one of them to the one ton mark.

12/19/2009 10:23:25 AM

Anacortes, WA

Wondering how different climates effect this. We are much cooler both day and night than most.

1355 (est. 1002#) 50 days
1078.5 (est. 994#) 53 days
997.5 (est. 833#) 45 days

12/19/2009 10:42:37 AM

Ontario

931...day 43 here...

12/19/2009 10:45:50 AM

Minnesota([email protected])

Good point Glenn.

12/19/2009 1:00:42 PM

Lloydminster/AB

After correcting for percent heavy or light....fruit over 1000 lbs 41-43days. If I multiply my 50 day mark by 1.5 I'm always close to my end weight. Interesting thread!

12/19/2009 1:05:34 PM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

1169 Holub - half wt on day ~44 (harvested 10/10 on day 96 - still growing)
898.5 Holub - half wt on day ~37 (stopped growing day 51, harvested 10/3 on day 95)

12/19/2009 1:49:47 PM

milford, CT,

1248 (09)- 36 days
1246 (08) - 35 days
1157 (08) - 34 days

Based on estimated OTT weight...Mark

12/19/2009 2:52:30 PM

Brittnau , Switzerland

895 (09) 40 Days

12/19/2009 4:21:03 PM

Williamsburg,KY

813 ....day 30

12/19/2009 5:51:01 PM

Rudolph

834.5(09) Day 39
697.5(09) Day 27

12/19/2009 7:58:09 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Now should we take a look at this correlating it with germ dates, then another query would be peak daylight hours vs half weight date......otherwise looking at the intersections of the peaks of data....

12/20/2009 9:21:17 AM

Ohio

1159 est....day 41

12/20/2009 7:40:13 PM

Vernal, Utah

Here is the info on half weight on our pkns.
484=57 days 9% heavy
524=49 days 7.5% heavy
732=49 days 10% heavy
472est.=46 days
We had problems with sunburning plants early and then burned leaves with fertilizer. This might explain the long time to get to half weight.

12/20/2009 8:03:33 PM

Gold Hill, Oregon

lost me. lol.

12/21/2009 3:38:26 AM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

1678 was at day 46 (by estimated weight)
day 51 (by final weight)

12/21/2009 7:51:02 AM

1116 day 40 ended +5%
1105 day 40 ended +11%
976 day 45 ended -7%
907 day 40 ended +8%
858* day 38 ended +16%
half wt/day using the OTT est final weight, interesting idea Don, I'm going to check this against past years results.
A couple of ideas that might be worth adding to this, Was the fruit still growing when harvested? If not use the last growth day?
Would pre-weighing the fruit around your normal half way mark give an idea of the % heavy and when it occurs?

12/21/2009 10:20:18 AM

Eugene, OR

1356.5, day 39 based on EST weight. Final weight was +15.5% over EST weight of 1175 lbs.

12/21/2009 8:51:26 PM