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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Saturday, September 21, 2019
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Matt D.
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Connecticut
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Entry 187 of 210 |
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1412 DeBacco 19 (F: Indoor 1989.5 dmg Daletas 17 x self) 25% heavy
Official weigh-off OTT = 374.5
Team-Pumpkin estimated weight = 1128.5 pounds
Team-Pumpkin Enhanced Estimated weight range = 1030-1226 pounds
Wow, what a surprise on the scale! This pumpkin was actually one inch smaller than my outdoor grown pumpkin (same seed) but ended up 59 pounds greater, even though my other pumpkin was also very heavy to chart. Also, looking at the Team-Pumpkin enhanced chart and how much this pumpkin is over the upper expected range (15%) of the estimated chart.
I took this pumpkin on a four hour drive (and two left turns) to the Vermont weigh-off because of the supportive group they are. Their winter meetings are always a great time and they get a lot of entries which is great to see. New to veteran growers are all in attendance so it also provides time to get to talk with other growers.
The question I get asked is
Did the CO2 make the high percentage heavy to chart? I am not sure, but I can say that it did not hurt the pumpkins density. Even though both pumpkins full potential was cut short by various diseases, the fact that they both ended up with-in one inch OTT of each other is very interesting. So, while the seed was the same and the relative size/estimated volume was almost identical it is an interesting note that the CO2 enriched pumpkin was so noticeably heavier to chart.
Now, this is only a sample size of one, but if nothing else it is interesting that the estimated growth rates of the indoor and outdoor pumpkins were similar (and not that impressive), but there is the possibility of increased density with the indoor grown pumpkin. Enriching with CO2 should create more biomass (in theory) and it certainly made the plant grow like I have not seen before, but this rapid plant growth did not translate into rapid pumpkin growth. However, it is possible that the overall mass was influenced by the elevated CO2 levels.
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