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Ostrander, OH

My pumpkin has been gaining aout 22 lbs per day for the past week, and the last two days it gained 25 lbs per day. Yesterday to this morning it only gained 12 lbs. Does anyone have any ideas of why this sudden drop happened? Today is day 28. My automatic watering system waters it every other day for 1h 15m. Thank you!

8/14/2010 9:36:02 AM

Ham Lake, Minnesota

You're still good to go. I think people who measure everyday see that all the time, at least I do. I blame the fact that since we are measuring in inches or half inches and not millimeters and since millimeters would be impossible, you can't perfectly track growth. Always your five or ten day average along the ride is what you should be concerned with.

8/14/2010 9:43:38 AM

Pataskala,OH

Still good. An inch or two off can mess up the measurement.

8/14/2010 12:46:08 PM

Ostrander, OH

Oh ok thanks. That takes some weight off my chest. Whew... :)

8/14/2010 4:21:11 PM

East Jordan, MI

I'll have to agree with Alex. Small errors in measuring and rounding up can make a large swing between 2 days. Also in my case, measuring everyday had to stop. I was worrying way too much.

What I think I discovered around the 25-35 day mark was that the bottom of the pumpkin started growing more than it was getting taller, wider and longer. The measurements mostly measure taller, wider and longer. Early on the bottom has a lot of air space that gets measured. When it starts filling in at the bottom the pumpkin is still growing, it's just not changing the measurements much. By measuring less often, those changes are more perceptable than if measured daily.

8/14/2010 6:09:03 PM