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Connecticut

This topic has been popular in the past so I am going to post it again as this is typically the time of year most growers are starting to look at what they may want to plant in the future.

There have been many great pumpkins grown and I am always interested to see which seed the grower has the most confidence in.

This is your chance to tell other growers about your seeds. Let everyone know which seed of yours you like, the cross, and why. It can be proven or unproven the key part is that you have confidence in it.

As we know, the growers themselves know their plants the best so who better to hear about the best in the patch from the grower themselves.

11/5/2013 4:50:40 PM

Torrance, Ca.

But first we want to hear about the 1676 :)

11/5/2013 4:54:07 PM

Colorado

971est scherber. 1623 wallace mother x state record producing 1655 ford. The 971est shut down around day 42 from yellow vine disease.Two best plants in the patch.

11/5/2013 7:25:34 PM

President - GPC

1386 Grande DMG....Second biggest to hit scaleZ in CO..... Crossed with the 1725 ORANGE Harp...Grew 700 lbs after Aug 10th..got hit with major hail storm and 11" of rain. Had the best root system I have ever grown..and iZ purty orange.

11/6/2013 9:09:21 AM

New Richmond Wi

1546 Midthun. 1674 Marsh x 1476 Hopkins.

11/6/2013 12:56:31 PM

Central Minnesota

I like my 1734.5 Steil for obvious reasons but I also really like my sons 1224 C. Steil 13 personal best off my 1450 Steil 12. The pollinator of Coles 1450 was the 220.3 DeBacco that grew the 1734.5 His plant was very strong and disease resistant and grew until the end. While he gives his plants very good care they don't get the care mine get so this pumpkin could have been much bigger I have a feeling. I guess what I am saying is we didn't see the potential from the Mother. Plus it was a very nice orange.

11/6/2013 1:05:12 PM

Joliet, IL

I am going to grow one of my 1546 Shenoha 2013 next year. Its the 1421.5 Stelts x 1381 Checkon. The 1546 was the most carefree plant with easily trainable vines that I have ever grown. Vines run long and slender to start then beef up all season. Had very good powdery mildew resistance and even held up nicely all season with a heavy aphid infestation that showed on day 30 of pumpkin. Pumpkin still slowly growing after 100 DAP when picked. Plant was still throwing new terts and main vine and stump in tact when picked. 1381 produced my 1085 that was 10% heavy. And the 1546 was a pretty pumpkin that still went 4% heavy. Pics off entire season of plant and my pumpkin in my diary. How's that for a plugging? Lol.

11/6/2013 1:10:58 PM

JACKSON, WISCONSIN. ; )

How about my 1625.5...... 1495 stelts x self ... How could anybody go wrong with this seed.. And 14% heavy to boot.. Plant never stopped growing all season was still doing 5# a day when cut @ 106 days old... Plus she grew 2 kins on one plant.... The other is really far down on the GPC list...

11/6/2013 8:54:29 PM

Deerfield, Michigan

My 982 Laginess grown off 1756 Lancaster x 2009 Wallace. The plant never had any problems and was still gaining when I cut it off. No mildew problems and ended up 7% heavy. It was not a pretty color but I see potential for the seed.

11/7/2013 7:13:49 AM

Cameron

1545 Hunt. Plant was killed in early Sept from a hard freeze & would have easily went over 1600#. It was still growing @ 11# per day at the time. The male pollinator (1789 Wallace) went down @ aug 1st with an est weight @ 1000#. It was a super fast grower that would have likely gone heavy by the thickness of the fruit (10" on the side walls) at the time of it splitting. We also think that it also had a decent chance of hitting the 1-ton mark.

Like they say, "There's always next year". LOL.

The 1545 will be in our patch for 2014.

Jane & Phil
Jane & Phil Hunt
GVGO

11/7/2013 11:11:24 AM

Eganville, Ontario

1463 Hoelke. (2009 Wallace x 1778 Daletas). Loved growing the 2009. Big, healthy plant fuelled all season growth. Late pollination on July 11, it put on over 450 pounds after September 1st. Fun to grow.

11/7/2013 8:47:42 PM

Minnesota

1779 j werner (1623 Wallace f x 1756 Lancaster m) I like for a few reasons.

1. It was 15% heavy
2. I had 6 pumpkins make it to day 50 this year. All estimated within 70 lbs of each other except the 1623, it was estimating 250lbs bigger.
3. Some of the genetics behind the pollinator... 1756 17% heavy, 1810 17% heavy, and 1789 "the freak"
4. The pollinator grew my second biggest pumpkin. ( it kept going when the others shut down. Still at 8lbs/ day when cut.
5. The 1779 was grown on a 500 sq ft plant. (My smallest)
6. Very cool summer. During peak growth there were many days in the 60s for highs and 40s for low.

I'm pretty confident the 1779 will grow some nice ones next year. The seeds will be available on the st croix growers website and also in the seed auctions this winter.

11/7/2013 10:41:36 PM

Lodi, California

220 Debacco,,, also like the 1734 and 2009, but sticking to the 220 in this post;

grew the 1734, 9% heavy, late polination, and i have to say that the skin on the 1734 is just marvelous for withstanding gains in the 40 lb. a day range.

11/9/2013 11:17:56 AM

Lodi, California

oh wait didnt see the part about your own seed lol

11/9/2013 11:19:13 AM

west central IN/East central IL

1233 Barenie12 (962Barenie x 1789Wallace) x 220.3

Although, I didn't get the main vine kin to harvest it was by far the best growing kin and hardiest plant with 13days of 30+lb est. gains and went down at 800est around day 43. So, I found a side vine that eluded me and pollinated it with the 220.3 which I lost early and was fastest early growing kin. The 1233 was only about 450sqft, leaves had all been blown over and after checking soil nutrient levels were 1/2 of what is recommended. also, the 1233 had over a dozen SVB picked out of it and healing was noticed within 2 days. Eager to see what it produces next yr. (plenty of seeds 520)

11/9/2013 12:47:09 PM

Napa, Ca.

1266 marden (965 marden x 2009 wallace) 8% heavy
the 965 is 1495x1409. no complaints at all from the plant or fruit. the 2009 was the best of my 4 plants but got a disease 2 weeks after pollination. at least 1 1266 will be planted in my patch next year

11/9/2013 1:19:18 PM

Torrance, Ca.

I'm noticing many personal bests being grown from ones own seed, very cool.

11/9/2013 5:04:24 PM

New Brunswick

866 Ebbett 13---I grew a 220 Debacco in very bad weather conditions this year. Endless rain and cold weather. Pollinated with a 1674 Marsh late in the 3rd week of July and I still got 866 from it. Lots of seeds . It's going in my patch for sure next year.

11/11/2013 12:47:10 AM

Johnston, R.I.

I am more a color and shape person than a numbers person, I think my 1000.5 and 960 have some potential.. Your turn Mr. Matt..

11/24/2013 2:25:24 AM

Connecticut

I am going to show some numbers I generated from my 220.3 DeBacco ’13 (F: 2009 Wallace ‘12 x M: 1725 Harp ’09 [2009 Wallace] clone)

Top seeds that have produced more than one official pumpkin over 1700 pounds…

2009 Wallace has grown 3 (*all were its first year out)
1789est Wallace has grown 2 (*has been out for 2 years, first year out it grew both of its 1700 pound+ offspring)
1725 Harp has grown 2 (*has been out for 4 years, first year out did not grow any over 1700 pounds)
1495 Stelts has grown 4 (*has been out for 3 years, first year out grew only one over 1700 pounds)
220.3 DeBacco has grown 2 (*all were first year out)

While the 2009 Wallace looks like the clear winner and I would agree myself this is a very impressive producing seed I would add the factor of how many were brought to the scale to act as a way to put the odds of producing big into a context. In 2013 there were 22 pumpkins brought to the scale grown off the 2009 Wallace and only 8 offspring from the 220.3 DeBacco “Snowball” brought to the scale. Looking at the percent that produced over 1700 based on total planted that means that the 2009 Wallace had a result of 13.6% (if you count the 2328 the percent goes up to 17.4%) and little Snowball had a 25% rate.

Also, an interesting note is that the 220.3 DeBacco seeds were harvested on April 14th, 2013 so most growers did not get them until late April and then they had to germinate them, so odds are the 220’s were late (or second) plantings for most growers in 2013.

Now, there was the 2328 monster grown by Beni Meier from the 2009 Wallace, but when I looked at the numbers, for the 220.3 DeBacco they were quite impressive. This also provides strong evidence that it is not the weight of the pumpkin the seeds come from, but the resulting genetics that are contained in the seed.

Hopefully this will encourage other growers to give seeds from a “small” pumpkin a chance in their

11/27/2013 5:38:32 PM

England, essex

ohh go on then,,, send me one out to test for ya,,, ;-)

11/27/2013 6:09:49 PM

New England

My surprise of the year was my 334Arnold13 which was the HD Winner at Durham. It is a Second generation HD Winner (Its mother is the 960.5 Gansert 12 which won the HD Award at Topsfield). This plant was started a month late due to corn maggot issues. It grew extremely well and took off long before the other 2 plants in the patch. The summer in CT was very hot, humid, with temps reaching 110 in July. It never wilted or showed any signs of heat stress. It grew very well and the pumpkin it produced was grown on a side vine. It is crossed with an 1131 Gansert so it has a lot of potential for Big and Orange.

1/9/2014 9:14:53 AM

Cameron

1545 Hunt (1495 Stelts x 1789 Wallace)

The 1545 plant was lost 3 weeks before the weigh off due to a hard freeze (-3 C). It was still growing 12# per day. I figured it lost @ 100 - 125# due to it.

Another thing is the pollinator was the 1789 Wallace. We lost it to a soft spot on a rib @ ground level. Not sure what happened. The pumpkin was toast (starting to rot) on Aug 1st & was chopped up for the compost pile the next day. On Aug 1st it was taping @ 986#. We are confident that it had a chance at reaching 1900# or more if we hadn't lost it.

Great genetics. I have a very limited # of seeds (10 left) available for those that will promise to grow it in 2014.

Good luck this season,
Jane & Phil

1/9/2014 9:48:46 AM