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Heber City Utah

First year of growing giant Pumpkins I thought I had educated myself somewhat good Had a good fertlizer program at least I though trimmed plants christmas tree style watered a lot but in the end # 250 took the giant to the utah weigh off and was dead last I was blown away at some of the giants 1000 + vines as big a round as a beer can I am going to dig in even deeper for 2014 and there is one area I can really use a education and thats seeds I ended up with some that grew 800+ but not much happened I am willing to pay the price for seeds but need to be pointed in the right direction

9/29/2013 8:21:16 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Seeds with proven genetics will be available soon..In mean time work on next years soil...aged manure and leaves are your friends

9/29/2013 9:21:10 PM

Colorado

You need good soil,good seed and a way to modify your hot dry summer conditions. Ask lots of questions with your areas better growers.

9/30/2013 12:35:23 AM

Minnesota

Seeds, Soil, Sun & Luck. Since you said point, I point you in the direction of M. Debacco, his 220.3 Debacco seed are the same genetics as what grew the 2009Wallace, I would search for his email and see if he has any left, I know he posted something not long ago. Growers will offer seeds free after weigh offs when they have dried them, you just pay for a SASBE, self addressed stamped bubble envelope. Have you been to this site, tools.pumpkinfanatic.com alot of info on pumpkins and genetics.

9/30/2013 4:27:15 AM

Eurasia

Hi trac. Not every grower should compete in this odd sport of heavy hitters. Some growers better would grow edible Cucurbita maxima pumpkins and crossbreed with Atlantic Giants like i do.

9/30/2013 5:03:44 AM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

Don't let anyone discourage you. I have been doing this for several years and still haven't given the top growers serious competition yet. But I keep competing against my previous results, improving, and having fun doing it. Maybe next year I will reach the top 3 at Anamosa and get a spot on the parade float. But if I don't I will have fun with the effort.

9/30/2013 8:43:19 AM

Minnesota

220.3Debacco "Snowball" Excellent seed genetics. I grow for fun! what else can you go out to your garden and see that has grown 10, 20, 30 pounds overnight! its pretty awesome!

9/30/2013 10:17:17 AM

Rhode Island

trac

dont feel to bad about coming in dead last.
back in 1989 i took my first ag to a weigh-off. drove over 500 miles (because the weigh-of was being held in an area of ny state where i had grow up) arrived very early,saw the pumpkins and thought i had a shot -( only to find later that morning i was looking at the petting patch pumpkins-lol)
needless to say when they weighed my whopper (125 pounds)
i made sure to loose myself in the crowd.
alls well that ends well though.so never give up and you will get better.
pap

10/1/2013 9:16:25 AM

Heber City Utah

Hi Richard
What would the process be to find 220.3debacco ? was they grown in mn I would think under colder condisions that heber utah ?

10/1/2013 3:45:02 PM

Heber City Utah

all
What would be my best source for top of the line proven seeds ?
Trac

10/1/2013 4:04:01 PM

Heber City Utah

any body have any idea where i could start to look for snowball 220.3 debacco or is it even possible ?

10/1/2013 4:09:07 PM

Nottingham, UK

follow this link for details to contact the grower

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=1&p=486237

good luck

10/1/2013 5:15:01 PM

Wi

Trac E-mail me at octoberfestpumpkins@gamil.com I would be happy to send you seed from a 1000, 1300, 1400, and 1500 lb pumpkins with some really good genetics in them.

10/1/2013 7:14:15 PM

Heber City Utah

Hi Leines
What kind of weather do you deal with in WI? I did not set until july -25 thing about enclosing the whole patch to get a better start

10/1/2013 7:27:08 PM

Muddy Waters

There are some really good seeds out there.Many great crosses that will never see dirt,or not enough dirt.You dont need top seed.You need growing experience we all started out at the bottom.Good Luck & keep em growing.

10/1/2013 7:54:05 PM

Heber City Utah

Hi
Handyhomegrown
I had this as a gut feeling excellent advise and thank you
trac

10/1/2013 8:01:02 PM

Fairfield, CT, 06825

Auctions

10/1/2013 8:01:43 PM

Heber City Utah

all
I am sure there are thousands of seeds out there and many different advises from growers overall whats the best seed to get ? or can this even be answered ?
Trac

10/1/2013 8:05:20 PM

Michigan,up North

yeah, like pap said dont feel bad , i grew a 1238 last year and ended up with a 100 ber this year , weather has alot to do with it .

10/1/2013 8:11:31 PM

Michigan,up North

This weather was so f up , i couldnt grow a a pumpkin and peppers did treable ,100 plants did worst then 20 plants last year ,then end up with 2 nice suger bebys water melons of 2 plants ,hmmm nice year youll grow a 1000lber if we get better weather ,

10/1/2013 8:26:55 PM

Heber City Utah

looks like a lot of seed auctions are near spring ? did not dig to deep into the auction thing

10/1/2013 8:29:21 PM

Heber City Utah

gave up on the patch after I pulled my best for weigh off . but there was one i wrote off after reviewing my growing diary it really did take off just to short of a season

10/1/2013 8:33:40 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Asking what the best seed on Big Pumpkins is like going to a beer festival and asking what the best beer is..

10/1/2013 9:00:29 PM

Michigan,up North

I vote natural ice for best beer 5.9 . for pumpkin u have to know what your goin for, orange ,big i tall ,low and long ,if you want 1238 seeds email me its off thae 1723 mashall.round in tall.sweet lookin

10/1/2013 9:58:32 PM

Minnesota

Just put snowball in the site search. There are alot of seeds with great genetics, good luck!

10/2/2013 12:24:06 AM

Wi

this year the weather was very cold in WI. 12'' of snow may 2nd and 40 deg lows in july. look at leines, linus and chris s. diaries and you will see bad weather.

10/2/2013 7:08:21 AM

Heber City Utah

I would like to get a hold of 1723 mashall.round
Trac

10/2/2013 11:23:29 AM

NE Kansas

Just email Dale and ask him. He's very generous.

10/2/2013 12:59:14 PM

Heber City Utah

Dale ?

10/2/2013 2:52:26 PM

Heber City Utah

I am knew on the message board not sure who Dale Is
Thanx
Trac 10/2/13

10/2/2013 2:54:55 PM

NE Kansas

Dale Marshall. Look in the diaries under Dale M

You can find his email address through the mail link. Looks like a small envelope.

10/2/2013 3:53:44 PM

Heber City Utah

Thanx

10/2/2013 4:09:24 PM

Stanwood, Washington

Read the whole thread and nobody is being very helpful.

The first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with what other people are growing and what seeds the biggest pumpkins are being grown off of. If you go through the diaries and the message board you will start to see several seeds come up alot. Some Seeds such as the 1725 Harp, 1421 Stelts, 1161 Rodonis, and several others are considered proven seeds because they have been grown a lot and have consistantly produced good results. Unless you have some connections, You will have a hard time getting any of these seeds without paying a lot of money at the Auctions.

The next best thing to do is to find crosses which were made off of proven seeds. Since lots of growers grow the proven seeds there are literally thousands of crosses out there that have serious potential most of which you could probably get simply by contacting the grower and sending them a self addressed stamped envelope. A good site for researching Genetics is....

http://tools.pumpkinfanatic.com/

You can search pretty much every pumpkin officially weighed and you can sort them by grower name, size, state etc. you can even view the progeny taht have been grown off of a particular seed and how big they all were.

It will take some time but once you poke around on the message boards, diaries and on pumpkin fanatic for a while, you will start to get a good understanding of what makes a good seed and be able to identify some that you would like to grow. Once you find a seed that you would like to grow just post a message on the seed exchange board and you can usually get in contact with someone who has the seed or the grower them self to see about getting some.

10/2/2013 5:43:39 PM

Heber City Utah

Thanx Captain best info yet I know I have to go the school of hard knocks and do lots of foot work just like all the other growers that started off
Trac 10/2/13

10/2/2013 8:41:27 PM

Heber City Utah

utah pumpkin growers are very tight could not get much info at the weigh off
trac

10/2/2013 8:43:30 PM

Wi

trac e-mail me. I have some info for you.

10/2/2013 10:10:49 PM

Heber City Utah

Leines where on this sight do I pull up your email ? Im just a redneck from a small town and not real techey
Trac

10/3/2013 10:03:13 AM

Heber City Utah

what time of the year do seed auction usely start ?

10/3/2013 10:11:15 AM

Quincy, CA

Auctions usually start the beginning of December. Go to "Odds and Ends" on the BigPumpkins.com home page.

10/3/2013 10:19:11 AM

Wi

octoberfestpumpkins@gmail.com

10/3/2013 7:41:15 PM

Midway, UT

Hey Trac,

I have some seeds for you. Drop me an email at jamie@pixoinc.com.

10/3/2013 7:43:35 PM

Heber City Utah

Hi Jamie
What was the weight of your stelt thats crossed with the

wallace
Trac

10/7/2013 1:20:45 PM

Heber City Utah

Michigan Masher
I would like to take you up on 1238 seeds But not sure how to gets your E- mail
Trac 10/7/13

10/7/2013 3:30:07 PM

Germany

Hi trac,
everyone who has a diary on Big Pumpkins can be accessed (via email) quite easily, as long as the email addy is still working. Just try to open a diary (e.g., my "Pumpking" diary), and then click on a diary entry (e.g., on the first diary entry) which will then open the picture of this entry and, on top of the page, a little orange envelope icon...you need to click on that envelope, and then you can access the email details of that particular grower.

10/7/2013 3:42:30 PM

Heber City Utah

Thank You pumpking now I get it
Trac

10/7/2013 5:20:12 PM

Germany

No worries ;-)
I thought I explain it that way, because it makes it easier to find the orange envelope icon. Well, one could also already find the orange envelope as soon as the diary is open (without accessing a particular diary entry), but then the envelope appears in the top left corner, right under the BigPumpkins logo, nicely hidden in this already orange colored corner.

Now you have the second tool to access growers and seeds (the first tool, of course, is the seed exchange section of this message board, where growers offer seeds, and sometimes they already post their contact details together with the seed offer...so don´t forget to check the seed exchange section)

The third and fourth option would then be:
- You know someone who might know someone who probably knows the grower you wanna get in touch with.
- You find helpful info in other message board sections (sometimes growers had asked for contact details of other growers, but in a totally different context, and sometimes you can find the answer, i.e., the email address, in one of the message board entries). For that purpose, make a site search of the grower name and see if you can find a helpful email addy in the related message board entries.

10/8/2013 1:14:51 AM

Hanson Ma

Trac.This is my first year. I read all the books looked at all the websites. but the best thing I did was go to events and make sure I got to meet as many growers as I could. I took Stamped self addressed bubble wrapped envelopes with me. I voulentered to get on the rigging crew for the scales.I got to put wooody lancasters 1746.5 on the scale at topsfield along with many others. I now have many people who are going to send me seeds with ggod lines. If you meet enough people the good seeds will come your way. Best of luck and hope to see your name at the top of the charts.

10/13/2013 9:23:55 PM

Hanson Ma

Oh ya. Captain 97's post is right on track with how I got tons of information

10/13/2013 9:25:53 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Remember to always pay it forward...

10/14/2013 7:41:18 AM

Heber City Utah

Thanx for the info Nitro I will continue to dig in
Trac

10/17/2013 9:04:18 PM

Millville, UT

If you are in the Utah Giant Pumpkin club you get free seeds in the spring. Most of the seeds come from all the Utah growers. I will be donating plenty of my 1109 and 1066 seeds from the pumpkins I grew up here in the cold of Cache Valley this year. I have had the best luck with seeds grown from pumpkins that have survived a Utah summer. We routinly get mid to upper 90's in the day and lows in the upper 40's and low 50's at night here in Cache Valley. I can send you some direct if you want.

10/18/2013 5:05:50 PM

Heber City Utah

Cache valley Grower
Its sounds like your Temps are simlar to heber city utah seeds would be great what gentics are they ?
Thank You
Tracy

10/20/2013 1:46:50 PM

Millville, UT

Both my 1109 and 1066.5 are on http://tools.pumpkinfanatic.com/index.php
just type in Gebert and pick either one to see the pedigree
If you are a member of Utah Giant Pumpkin Growers and don't get these in your seed packet and you want them let me know and I will send you some.

10/21/2013 5:37:11 PM

Heber City Utah

Hi michigan Masher
I would like to get a hold of the 1723 marshall I think your post said you may have something close ? not sure how to get your e mail on this site
Thank You
Have a great day
trac 10/26/13

10/25/2013 11:35:38 AM

Heber City Utah

Hi Everyone
I am trying to get a recomdation on a watering system that just goes to my home outdoor faucet to the patch I am sure there are as many systems as seeds but is there a common one used ? all the hundereds of pictures I have seen of patches a black line drip system seems common a web site info would be great
Thax
Trac 11/11/13

11/11/2013 10:03:34 AM

Heber City Utah

Jamie Got the Seeds Thanx a bunch
Trac 11/14/13

11/14/2013 8:30:49 PM

Going Green

Trac.... This will be my eighth year growing and year 7 was my biggest success although not my largest Pumpkin, Squash or Cantaloupe. You don't need the seed from the biggest pumpkin. What you and everyone else needed our first year was experience which takes time. You have to learn how to identify your soil and to improve it. Your soil is a huge part of the equation and you can blow a lot of great seeds on soil which isn't good enough. Learn growing techniques from others and from Growers Diaries but let me give you the best piece of advice that I know of. Join a club or two and study the newsletters you will get. Many clubs also send out a package of seeds to their members. Many of these seeds have the best genetics available. The third part of the equation is weather and bugs. You need to learn and protect your plants from weather and bugs. Read and re-read those newsletters and they will teach you how. The RMGPG (Rocky Mountain Giant Pumpkin Growers) has been great to me. The GVGO (Giant pumpkin growers of Ontario, Canada) is another great club. The SPGP is a brand new club I just joined. Send me an email and I will email you with addresses to join these clubs and I will help you all I can. The best seed for you is seed which has done well for other growers in your area! Soil, Seed and Variables like weather and bugs! It takes years to learn everything but Big Pumpkins has lots of great people who will help. Email me at wellingtonphil@yahoo.com

1/8/2014 11:50:54 PM