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Going Green

Has anyone made up a list of the top 50 seeds which grew the prizewinners in 2010. I would be interested in knowing what seeds grew the most prizewinners. It always surprises me that some growers were wiped out and others had the best year ever. I really don't know why it should as it has always been that way! Congradulations to all those who had a new personal best. If there is not one going already then lets start one...which seeds were planting in 2010 which grew the prizewinners in 2010. Thank You

11/27/2010 7:14:26 PM

Cincinnati,OH

Here are a few seeds that are probably as good as anything out there. All grew 1 over 1500 in 2010
1381 Swarts 08, 1462 Starr 09, 1325 Hopkins 09, 1303 Sweet 09, 1276 Marsh 09

11/27/2010 8:52:02 PM

Going Green

I had forgotten that the GPC has a lot of great info so I turned over there and found the top 100 pumpkins grown anywhere in 2010. There were a lot of familiar names like Rodonis, Stelts, Revier, Jutras, Wallace, Young, Werner, Wolf, Marsh, hunt amongst others but what I found out for myself is that 13 of the 1161 Rodonis grew 13 top 100 pumpkins. 6 1421 Stelts gre 6 of the top 100 pumpkins. 6 of the 1385 Jutras grew 6 of the top 100 pumpkins, 5 of the 991 Urena grew 5 of the top 100 and 4 of the 1544 Revier grew 4 of the top 100 pumpkins. These 6 growers seeds were actually responsible for almost 50% of the top 100 pumpkins grown in 2010. 18% of them were Rodonis, 8 % were Jutras,7% were Young, 6% were Stelts, 6% were Wallace, 5 % were Urena.

11/27/2010 9:13:36 PM

Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia

Top 50 is unnecessary, if you want to know which seeds performed the best then go to the GPC link and check the listings for 2010 pumpkins. I did it one year and it's a bit of a chore, but if you have a few hours and some refreshments, it's a great way to spend a Tuesday night.

11/27/2010 9:16:47 PM

Going Green

Thank you Ron for your recommendations.

11/27/2010 9:17:37 PM

Going Green

Did that Andy. It was well worth the time!

11/27/2010 9:19:32 PM

Rhode Island

just immagine how many world record seed producers never make it out of the coin envelopes ?????

11/28/2010 8:54:17 AM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

That number is staggering pap.

11/28/2010 9:10:21 AM

Las Cruces NM

Pap, thought that is what the club promo packs are for -- a couple of thoes packs and you have a lifetime of great seeds! But your point is clear, and as joe points out, the number is staggering! Actually "pumpkin farm" points it out if you read between the lines: 6 growers seeds were actually responsible for almost 50% of the top 100 pumpkins -- crazy! Other people made same or beter crosses then HH -- they need to see dirt, or at least have the chance!

11/28/2010 11:00:22 AM

Joliet, IL

people will always follow trends. if the trend shows a certain seed grows big, people will grow it to improve their chances. it worked for me with the 991 which gathered steam over years and i grew it 5 years later with fgreat success this year. and picking new unproven crosses based on what both parents of the plants produced improves the chances of those killer genetics being present in their seeds. i would be curious to the similarities in thoroughbred horses and giant pumpkin breeding. how many of the best new horses have the same genetics in their backgrounds and why certain breeders tend to choose certain traits in certain horses. from what little thoroughbred breeding info i have googled about, it does not surprise me that 6 of the growers seeds were responsible 50% of the top 100 pumpkins. the more big ones grown from a particular seed, the more it gets proven out one way or another, and the more it shows itself as a one hit wonder or a potential perenial producer. the best growers choose carefully what to grow, make the best crosses in their minds, and the snowball goes on from there. selective breeding is not the only reason why the weights keep going higher, but is is a HUGE factor...pun intended...in my eyes. there will always be some that never get planted that could have been the ones. but until they are proven, odds are they won't get planted because people follow trends and the limited number of plants one grows forces one to increase their odds any way they can.

11/28/2010 1:22:17 PM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

It is pretty difficult to determine which seeds are the best by looking at the top 100 GPC numbers alone. The "13 of the top 100", "6 of the top 100", etc. are extremely misleading because those counts highly depend on the number of fruit brought to weigh offs from those seeds. Most seed weren't even grown 13 times, so they don't even have a chance by that measure.

I compiled a few numbers from the GPC listings in the table below. The "est max by n" column is a statistical estimate of what would be predicted to be the largest pumpkin based solely on the number of fruit grown.

Seed-------------num grown--max--est max by n
1161 Rodonis-----------39--1810.5--1724
1385.5 Jutras----------30--1571----1656
985 Werner-------------25--1472.2--1608
1288 Wallace-----------23--1493.5--1587
1544.5 Revier----------22--1512.5--1575
1421.5 Stelts----------21--1663----1563
1236 Harp--------------20--1461----1550
901 Hunt---------------20--1414----1550
1330.5 Johston/Butler--19--1309.7--1537
1662.5 Stelts----------17--1445----1508
1180.5 Pukos-----------17--1536----1508
1725 Harp--------------16--1674.5--1492
991 Urena--------------15--1535----1475
1677.5 Hunt------------13--1540.7--1438
1207 Young-------------11--1476----1394
1658 Young-------------10--1391----1369
1505 Holland-----------10--1212----1369

The fit explained about 1/3 of the variation, so there's still a lot of wiggle room for other factors that we know play a part (e.g. grower ability, genetics, climate, and luck). I was surprise by how close the "est max by n" came to the actual max in most cases. I find it hard to pick any winners and losers.

11/28/2010 1:33:55 PM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

I forgot to say that I only looked at seeds with more than 10 fruit in 2010. Seeds with too few fruit allow chance/luck to make this type of analysis too unreliable and potentially misleading.

I second paps comment, though. It hard enough to tell which are the best seeds even when they are grown a lot.

11/28/2010 1:44:13 PM

Joliet, IL

this would be interesting. randomly choose one selection from the list of every pumpkin entered on the GPC 2010 results page. damaged, exhibition, size, weight, heavy or light...it doesn't matter. the only thing needed for sure is at least 200 seeds. put a $10,000 prize down for the heaviest pumpkin grown from this randomly selected seed. then see what it does. this would be a fun thing to try. to pay for the prize, everyone who wants in would have to pay a $50 entry fee and that would cover the $10,000. the key would be making sure the honor system is kept in check somehow and that everyone who enters is growing the same randomly seed selected. its just a thought and i would certainly be in for this kind of fun. odds are a heavy hitter will win, and then everyone will grow that seed from the randomly chosen pumpkin winner and the heavy hitter growers' last name will perpetuate the point above. lol. yep..it's a vicious cycle...but understandable to some extent.

11/28/2010 1:45:06 PM

Going Green

bathabitat Willamette Valley, Oregon
It is pretty difficult to determine which seeds are the best by looking at the top 100 GPC numbers alone. The "13 of the top 100", "6 of the top 100", etc. are extremely misleading because those counts highly depend on the number of fruit brought to weigh offs from those seeds. Most seed weren't even grown 13 times, so they don't even have a chance by that measure.

I compiled a few numbers from the GPC listings in the table below. The "est max by n" column is a statistical estimate of what would be predicted to be the largest pumpkin based solely on the number of fruit grown.

Seed-------------num grown--max--est max by n
1161 Rodonis-----------39--1810.5--1724
1385.5 Jutras----------30--1571----1656
985 Werner-------------25--1472.2--1608
1288 Wallace-----------23--1493.5--1587
1544.5 Revier----------22--1512.5--1575
1421.5 Stelts----------21--1663----1563
1236 Harp--------------20--1461----1550
901 Hunt---------------20--1414----1550
1330.5 Johston/Butler--19--1309.7--1537
1662.5 Stelts----------17--1445----1508
1180.5 Pukos-----------17--1536----1508
1725 Harp--------------16--1674.5--1492
991 Urena--------------15--1535----1475
1677.5 Hunt------------13--1540.7--1438
1207 Young-------------11--1476----1394
1658 Young-------------10--1391----1369
1505 Holland-----------10--1212----1369

12/2/2010 2:43:40 PM

Going Green

bathabitat did an excellent job at researching this which goes to support my original statement about a handful of seeds producing the top pumpkins at weigh-ins in 2010. Since I myself am not a heavy hitter the big guns do not retain a seed to send me should I ask for one (and I have asked) so I look for these genetics raised by other growers in the hope that they will enable me to grow the world record in a year in which I have my soil right and the weather cooperates! It takes most of us years to get the soil right and to find the genetics which will grow best in our part of the country. As far as Pumpkin goes the Bobier seeds seem to be the best producer in my part of the country and the Vincent Mckee for Squash. This is such a great sport and the people envolved are fantastic. Howard Dill was a wonderful man and Pap is tremendous. Jutras is so gracious, Hunt is wonderful, Revier has been generous and unfortunately I do not know so many others of the great! When it takes 700-1200 sq. feet to grow an AG and we are limited by the space of our garden and the size of our wallets it is amazing that even a 3 year novice like me can obtain quality seeds so readily and unfortunate that some of the seeds which should be kept until one has made the soil of the quality and texture neccesary to promote Giant growth are used up when has so many improvements to be made to ones patch! Not wanting to get crucified for an opinion I will venture forth with one anyway. That is that the soil is vital and that the genetics will never amount to much if not given the proper soil. Therefore since it takes time, sometimes years to get ones soil conditioned, it is my opinion that one should get AG seeds from local growers for your first year planting, extend that to special intrests like genetics which produce bold orange if that be your preference the second year and so on.

12/2/2010 2:44:14 PM

Going Green

Heaven forbid if I had managed to get ahold of a 1068 Wallace or a 998 Pukos in my first year! The soil sample said I had great soil but experience has taught me that there was more to be done. So my advice for what little it is worth is that one should learn all one can and expect that it will take time to develope the soil, harness nature and learn the ways of the AG gardener. Take time to enjoy the sport, to fellowship with the growers and to be worthy of the finest genetics.

12/2/2010 2:44:27 PM