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Ohio

I was at work today and started to think about the first time the 1161 Rodonis seed was proven. And then a light came on in my head and thinking how the 1161 has changed the way most growers grow no adays, especially me.
I always said Quinn was the master when it came to picking out non proven seeds, he usually always grows a monster off one EVERY single year.

Quinn was the grower who put the 1161 Rodonis on the PROVEN map to Stardom in 2008 by growing a massive pumpkin with one of the greatest shapes I have ever seen for a pumpkin that size, the 1521 Werner 08' (1161 x 1308).

Only 2 people grew that 1161 Rodonis '07 seed the following year and that was Quinn and another grower named Thistle, Mr Thistle grew the 1161 seed to 1208 Lbs in 08'

When I found out what seed Quinn grew his 1521 Werner off of that year, it really had me and alot of other growers scratching their heads on what the heck made him grow that 1161 seed for, and what made Quinn think that seed would grow big??.......... because there was absolutely no talk at all the year prior of that unproven 1161 seed ,especially on the boards here on bp.com


This is just my opinion here, but I absolutely think this is what started growers into that next level of growing these pumpkins bigger. Is when Quinn made growers start thinking and start looking at growing seeds that the pollinator plant that had grown BIG.

2/6/2011 5:16:06 PM

Ohio

Quinn grew that 1161 Rodonis (1231 Pukos x 1450) ,the 1450 grew the short lived world record 1566 Rodonis 07'.

the 1161 started a lot of growers thinking about seed selection by going by how the male pollinator plant had grown and how it does make a big difference in how big a pumpkin will grow.

I dont know about anyone else out there, but I think the 1161 Quinn grew changed the way most growers, including me, started looking at how well the pollinator plant (pumpkin) had grown.
A lot of growers pick their seeds now by just the male side alone now, just by going by what the pollinators (male side of cross) grew, and not really how the female had grown .


I know back in 2004 , 2005 when I started growing, the pollinator plant wasn’t really mentioned at all or even talked about much when picking a seed to grow, I mean it was as far as color goes, but for growing for size we mostly went by how big the female pumpkin grew when picking seeds to grow.

I could be completely wrong on this and maybe was blind to a lot of growers who did go by how the male cross did when picking their seeds to grow, , but to be honest, from what I can remember up until 2008 after Quinn grew that 1521 off the 1161 Rodonis then that is when things changed in how growers started really looking into it hard about the male side of the cross when picking what seeds to grow.( Pollinator plant.)

So what do you guys think?,, did the 1161 Rodonis seed and the way Quinn picked that seed ,did it take us to that next level?

2/6/2011 5:16:29 PM

Minnesota

I go by female only when looking for seeds to plant. I dont plant anything based on the pollinator. If the seed performs, i would like to grow it. I dont see remakes working so in my opinion, the cross is a crap shoot and you wont know until the seed is planted. I think Quinn has alot of success cause he steps out of the box, grows proven with unproven, and uses good old fashioned hard work and labor with no short cuts. I havent heard of any secrets in the patch, but have heard much more about this hobby will give you back what you put into it. Some good years, some bad years. Nobody that i know have has ever predicted a top seed...........they just show up in someones patch. I have seen people predicting their crosses for a few years now, and they have been complete flops or failures in the end so one of the things im going to start doing is plant 1/2 patch with proven and 1/2 patch with unproven. Whatever pollinator is available at the time i set a female is what i will use. If there are two plants available, i will use the larger PLANT regardless of the number on the seed. im a nobody, but it is how i see it.

2/6/2011 5:59:03 PM

nOVA sCOTIA

You got it Brooks!This is why i grew Chads 1475.We all know what the 1207 is capaple of and Chad's 1385 grew his 1544.Brooks,i can gaurantee you that a 1468Stevens in the hands of the wright grower and climate could quite possibly produce the next World Record. World Record 1161 pollon on the male side.Too bad they were in short supply also.

2/6/2011 6:34:20 PM

Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia

I think a 1605 Sweet would be another good choice based on what the pollinator grew.

2/6/2011 6:50:31 PM

nOVA sCOTIA

I don't know how Ken Sweet ammends his patch but a 1725 that was -1.57% and a 1605 that was +14.85% I guess genetics does play a big role in seed selection Andy.The 1605 could very well be another great cross!

2/6/2011 7:29:59 PM

Minnesota

Donkin, I wonder how many great pumpkins didnt make it because the plant lost the stump or vine. I keep that in mind because it is becoming normal to loose a plant early, and that shouldnt be normal. I think breeding the best plant into the proven females has some merit. That is what they do in the normal plant world. I dont know if that pertains to what we are doing but it makes sense to me. If you luck out and get a great cross one day, wouldnt you want a plant that last the whole year to be the one to grow it?

2/6/2011 7:49:12 PM

Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia

Dean, while I agree with Carl and Brooks, you make a good point. 1596 Wallace, according to Ron Wallace, the 1068 pollinator to the 1161 Rodonis that grew Ron's 1596 was the best growing plant in the patch until it went down to blossem end split in August. Only my opinion, but this is one to look out for.

2/6/2011 9:44:54 PM

Pemberton, BC

Dean you are saying if a seed "performs" you want to grow it. To me that seed is then already a proven seed. I think what Brooks is getting at is how Quinn picks "unproven seeds" every year by using the pollinator as the deciding factor. Case in point, you are picking seeds to plant this spring that were grown in 2010 and you had 2 1400 pound seeds to choose from both grown off the 998 Pukos crossed with the 1142 vanKooten. Now one of those 1142 pollinator's grew a 1356 and 12% heavy and one grew a 788 right on chart, which seed would you choose? No brainer for me.

Chad

2/6/2011 10:34:42 PM

Minnesota

Andy, that is exactly what i am hitting on. If we dont know where the cross is going to come from, at least we can look at the plant we have on hand and make a decision from there because i dont think any top fruit come shitty or mediocre plants. I think the top fruit are grown on very stellar plants that have the ability to keep growing much further into the year or at least get ahead of the rest before september hits. I dont know this for sure cause i have never had one of those plants grow that large a fruit but i hear from others i have talked to that it was usually the best plant in the patch.

2/6/2011 10:44:57 PM

Minnesota

well put Chad, i hear exactly what your saying. I think that way also.

2/6/2011 11:01:28 PM

Ohio

what I was also try to get at is this, it seemed to me after Quinn proved that 1161 seed out, growing it to 1521 lbs and by being one of the only people that really proved it out that year, is that he did it for this reason below.

Is that Quinn looked at the 1566 Rodonis plant that was grown by the 1450 Wallace and said hmmmmmm,,, wonder if I grow the exact pollintor 1450 plant seed that was crossed into the 1231 Pukos and just see if that 1450 will have any effect on growing a Huge pumpkin.

so Quinn went with the 1161 Rodonis (1231 Pukos x 1450 Wallace). which the 1450 was the same exact plant that pollen came off of that grew the 1566 Rodonis.

So Heres my point, the 1231 Pukos only grew a 1161 lber, so how many grower out there would grow that seed just because the female went 1161 lbs?,,, Id say not very many back then , if any at all.

So what Quinn did was since he knew that 1450 pollintor plant had some great genes of growing the 1566 and that went heavy 10%. so Im thinking his thinking was dead on about that 1161 when he grew it, it did end up growing very very big for him. He knew that the female of that cross only grew a 1161 lber, but what he was after was what the pollintor 1450 grew.

So this is why I say Quinn pretty much changed pumpkin growers way of thinking by going by the pollintor now a days instead of how big a female pumpkin went(for the most part) which 1161 lbs isnt really Big by todays standards for a pumpkin.

I hope I explained this right, you guys dont know how hard it is for me to type something I really want to make a good point on , and then after typing it and reading it , it ends up all messed up not making much sense in what I really want to say,,lol Gotta go for now, time to take a 16 hr ship,,,,lol

2/7/2011 2:22:01 AM

Muddy Waters

WE got the same thing proven in melons with a 157 bright as the male you will see a 400 pd watermelon.

2/7/2011 7:19:40 AM

Colorado

1468 stevens and 1605 sweet-last year as 1421 stelts which did well

2/7/2011 11:16:12 AM

Minnesota([email protected])

Good thing Brooks hit the "p" this time instead of the "t".

2/7/2011 11:33:24 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Would love to hear Quinns take on all of this....the real teller....

2/7/2011 3:11:05 PM

Ohio

He talked about it at the ovgpg siminar in 2008 (I think that was the year) You need to take your road trips later after the season is over instead of packing up the car in October/Feb so you can catch some club siminars,,lol

2/7/2011 3:26:40 PM

Eastern Washington State

For all practical purposes the genetic contribution from Male and Female should be equal for most traits. People like Quinn were able to see past the female side of the equation. Sires are important too! I think the next thing could be 'stud service' from the cloners, just like they do with horses. It seems to be a reasonable way to get top genes into your lines.

2/7/2011 4:36:20 PM