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Location

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Date Posted

nanaimo,B.C,Canada

Prioritize these 5 seeds from 1 through 5 in the order in which you would grow them. I am curious to see what you all think to grow next year out of these seeds. 1016 Daletas,695 handy,582 hester,735 pukos and 842 eaton.

thanks Dave

11/4/2003 11:58:23 PM

Key West, FL

695, 582, 842, 735, 1016

11/5/2003 12:01:25 AM

Key West, FL

opps, no 582, 695, 842, 735, 1016

11/5/2003 12:03:08 AM

Sask, Canada

842,735,582,1016,695

11/5/2003 12:29:36 AM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

I would love to have any one of those seeds, but they are hard to come by for unknown growers or newbies. Planting any one of these proven seeds would be a treat instead of growing unproven seeds year after year.

Phil

11/5/2003 6:34:34 AM

Morris, Connecticut

735, 582, 1016, 695, 842

11/5/2003 6:57:33 AM

582, 1016, 842, 735, 695
But I not only considered weight but also color...
Martin

11/5/2003 7:44:24 AM

[email protected]

Okay, I have assembled a semi neat way of grading fruit, based soley on its progeny. Just my own playing around, and no numbers were fudged up. Basng it on ranges of 100 pound intervals, I started at the biggest of the bunch, the 1400 pound range, and went down to 700 pounds, which is the cut off to reach the all time top 1000 pumpkins. I started it at 1 point for 7-8 hundred pounds, and went up to the 1400 pound range which is worth 8 pts. Here is the break down...

1400/1500 - 8 pts
1300/1399 - 7 pts
1200/1299 - 6 pts
1100/1199 - 5 pts
1000/1099 - 4 pts
900/999 - 3 pts
800/899 - 2 pts
700/799 - 1 pts

Based soley on that formula, Here are the rankings of the 5 seeds you mentioned..

1. Eaton 842 - 31 pts
2. Pukos 735 and Handy 695 - 23 pts
4. Daletas 1016 - 20 pts
5. Hester 582 - 19 pts

To me, the most amazing part of this factoring is simply that the Eaton 842 is a 2002 fruit, and is tops of the list, while the next three are 2001 fruit, and had 2 years to get this total up. The 582 is also a 2002 fruit like the Eaton 842.

Next year, I am sure these numbers will get much larger, based on the number of people out there who are seemingly growing these 5 seeds... I will make a second post and do the math on a few of the top seeds, using this formula..You will be amazed at some of the numbers..

11/5/2003 8:15:42 AM

[email protected]

Based on the formula above.. Here is some of the top fruit..

Bobier 723 - 173 pts
Calai 846 - 166 pts
Bobier 845 - 122 pts
Mombert567.5- 97 pts
Lloyd 935 - 70 pts
Kuhn 712 - 50 pts
Stelts 705 - 40 pts


These are a sampling of some of the top I have sifted through, amazing part of the Momber 567.5 is that it was in an era that no one grew 1000 pounders, it is based and pumped up bythe fact of its 7-9 hundred pounders. This system is also just one if you are basing fruit on progeny alone, nothing else. There are a few others that make 30 and 40 numbers, and I may have missed a few..I did notice that the hottest mother seeds to its progeny come from he 1999- 2001 era. If you use this formula, try it out on some of the top seeds out there, you will be amazed at how low some of these totals can be.

A decent seed will have (if you base your efforts on progeny alone)a score of 10 or more, super seeds will go in the 15 - 20 range, and anything above that has been proven many times over..

11/5/2003 8:50:49 AM

Indiana

Thanks Rocky for a beautiful analysis. Oddly enough, thats exactly the order in which I would choose the seeds. 842,695,735,1016,582

I personally think you should also calculate the # with only sound fruit. Maybe also give a average score per fruit?

Tom Beachy

11/5/2003 9:19:20 AM

[email protected]

I guess you could do that, (calculate with only sound fruit), but I am trying to portrait the possibilities of the offspring. Taking them out would omit an attempt with a seed, and the approximate results that came about. I will leave it up to the individual to sift through the numbers to delete the DMG,s EST's and what nots.. Also remember, I took these from AGGC, there are alot of fruits out there that never get posted, and are still to be posted, such as the Hester 1107 with the Knauss 898 seed. That is just one of the many that are still trickling in to Mike daily.

11/5/2003 2:07:04 PM

New Hampshire

I think it needs to be mentioned that the above test is also a test of how popular a seed is. The more it is grown the more point it gets. Maybe you need to divide the number by how many times it has been grown.

11/5/2003 2:59:38 PM

[email protected]

Not necessarily true. The more it is grown, sure, ithas "possibility of points", but it needs to come up with a 700 pounder or greater to score. The higher the poundage, by hundreds, the higher the point value. I do agree, these seeds have been grown by popularity, but they also have produced huge fruit, compared to the many seeds that are available.

The reflection to people's minds as to what seeds have grown the biggest is usually based on a few fruit, this is based on all fruits..

Im sure people could do all the changing and formulating they want, I just tossed this out for a topic to kick around. Glad to see some responses!

11/5/2003 3:55:06 PM

Pumpkinpley---as you may have realized by now, everybody rates seeds differently!

The way someone rates a seed is based purely on their opinion. Some people value weight, while others would like to see color and shape as well. Still others look at cantalouping, light/heavy, splittage, climate it prefers, etc... While this rating system is a fun way to kill winter dead time and have fun deciding what's "the best", it doesn't reflect how individuals might rate a seed. I'm not ripping on this post in any way! I just thought I'd mention the various ways people choose seeds. Furthermore, a consistent seed that has been grown a lot could possibly score higher in this system than a high weight producer that hasn't been grown a lot (although this situation is highy unlikely, it's worth mentioning).

This is definitely a topic worth kicking around though!

11/5/2003 4:13:13 PM

Knopp, Germany

805 Pukos is 51 points, if i understand the rating schema correctly

11/5/2003 4:42:52 PM

Knopp, Germany

cool way of checking seeds, thanks

11/5/2003 4:44:11 PM

Morris, Connecticut

Rocky:

Wonder if you should figure out some way of subtracting points for the smallest pumpkins those popular seeds have grown. Thats got to be important as well. Maybe a given seed has 50 superior seeds and 50 runts in it. I know I ended up with a runt out of the 845 Bobier this year.

Not complaining, just interested in the discussion. Got to have some way to spend my time this winter and calculating things is always one way. Possibly a simple average of all the weights grown by a given seed might be the best method.

11/5/2003 4:51:02 PM

[email protected]

If a pumpkin get's ruled a squash does the score still count?

11/5/2003 5:33:21 PM

Leicester, NY

Rocky, neat way of rating seeds! I would put them in this order, but honestly, it's hard to say that one seed might be better than another. 842,1016,735,695,582. As of right now, I plan on having the 842,1016 and 735 in my 2004 patch..Joe P.

11/5/2003 6:13:22 PM

Indiana

Its interesting to say the least Joe. I'll be the first to admit that I didnt ever expect anything out of the 735. Dang was I wrong on that one! If I remember right, it was light for size or right on, what I would call poor shape, poor color. Wow! couple well into the 1100's, and some other 1000+. That goes to tell ya how much I know!

Tom Beachy

11/5/2003 6:19:55 PM

Choctaw, OK

735, 842, 695, 1016, 582.....thats the order i would personally put them in.
casey

ps...yes, very interesting scoring system...still like the 846 the best. May not quite have the size potential of the 723 or 845, but i believe it tends to hold fruit the best...or the least likely to split out of the group of top seeds. Thats part of the reason for putting the 735 pukos first.

11/5/2003 8:16:25 PM

New Hampshire

Some of the best growers I know (we have a few here in NH)will tell you that there is alot of guess work in this thing we call pumpkin growing.

11/5/2003 8:18:26 PM

ditto bears. no matter how much thinking and planning you do, it's tons of guess work and decisions throughout the entire season.

11/5/2003 8:51:08 PM

nanaimo,B.C,Canada

thanks to everyone for all the replies on my post.

Dave

11/7/2003 2:50:47 AM