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Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

All right, so because I live here in southern Quebec where it's a lot colder and the nights get real cool even in early September and late May, so for my giant pumpkins that's not very long. And also I've got crazy weed pressure here, so my idea was to just cover the entire thing with black landscaping fabric, and then just to cut holes in it when I bury the vines, because that warms the soil and keeps weeds under control. And then late season when the nights get cool, then the warm soil radiates, like the warmth from the soil radiates up and should keep the plants a lot warmer, keeping my giant pumpkins warm. And I'll put this on like end of April, like when I start my seeds, so the soil is nice and warm when I plant the pumpkins. And second of all, I single out, what's the biggest limiting factor for hitting a 3,000 pounder? And what kept me recurring more splits, and that like with some pumpkins like, I'm gonna give the example of the 2020 Payton pumpkin, it has crazy early growth, like the, it grew 25 towards a pumpkin that was over 1,500 pounds a day 40. But then the growth just crashed late season. So that's a downside with a lot of the seeds that grow really fast. Then what you want, and then also what I was looking at this year was there are two pumpkins, like there are a bunch of pumpkins, and there are a few that are like growing really fast, and there's some that started off slow but are currently finishing very strong. So we are going to see which is bigger, the ones that grew really fast in the beginning or the ones that grew slower in the beginning. When I say really fast, I mean like over 60 pounds a day. When I say slower, I mean around 50 or less pounds a day. So we'll see, because if it is true, my theory that if it grows slower earlier, it sustains weight longer, then maybe that's the new key for growing a 3,000 pound pumpkin. You'd want a genetic seed line that does that.

8/14/2026 4:08:52 PM

Grittyville, WA

You do have a lot of weed pressure. Check out Don Crews diary... I don't know about black weed fabric, it might keep the soil cold even... I have found for the purpose of solarizing that it actually blocks the infrared and really you want to let the infrared (heat) through. Clear plastic works better than black for solarizing, but I guess black is what would control the weeds. Maybe that is why growers use the clear green stuff.... it blocks the red and blue light but lets the heat through?

Seems to me the growers who use clear plastic soil covers (maybe colored, but clear as far as heat goes) do well.

8/15/2026 12:12:13 AM

Grittyville, WA

As for growth rates and hitting 3k, I don't think there is a immutable tradeoff between initial speed and final result. Someone will get the best of both worlds and knock it out of the park. 3500 is possible. The limiting factor in reaching 3k is how much we can learn, and how fast we can learn it. My opinion.

8/15/2026 12:17:12 AM

C N Y

I do think that as the season progresses, grower goals change as each of perhaps their several pumpkins splits, aborts or slows or stops in growth. You've heard of 'pumpkin slowdown' and I as of yet disagree that it has to be that *weigh, lol. I have over 21 plants growing, small-scale and they seem to wanna live forever this year. So cool. My fruits are not even 'that big' by MY standards, lol, butt I did blow up the first one on my 2003 Haist and 3 of 4 squash are now defunct via aborts upon basketball size - butt I am awaiting polls on each of all and the 2003 now has a second chance. SO exciting! The 4th Squash is a real 'babe', lol. If it didn't matter about getting ONE to a weighoff, growers would/might do as I wish I could do but don't due to cost, and that's ADD fertilizer and water rather than 'back off' on it in the effort to not risk perhaps the final one. eg

[Last edit: 08/15/26 1:32:35 AM]

8/15/2026 1:25:50 AM

Europe , slovenia

You really just need it to be fast and steady and prayers it holds

[Last edit: 08/16/26 4:24:23 AM]

8/15/2026 6:16:02 AM

Lloydminster/AB

My favourite is an IRT film. Infrared transmission. Lets ir through to warm the soil, won't let photosynthetic light through so weeds are stunted. 5-10 degree Celsius soil temp increase. You can buy it in Canada in small quantities from William Dam seeds and a few others. Works inside, outside a little tricky.

8/16/2026 2:36:51 AM

Ma

Have you tried infrared plastic to heat the soil in spring for giant pumpkins? I wonder if that would work in place of heating cables inside a greenhouse?

8/16/2026 3:00:35 AM

Lloydminster/AB

It works very well in my greenhouse when I can install it in the fall before the soil is frozen. Soil cables are still required to get a plant in the ground early April. By the time the plant is vining, soil outside the vicinity is warm enough to support root growth.

8/16/2026 10:14:27 AM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

For the 3000 idea I just wanted t9 say that the patons’ would have made it 8n ‘22 if it hadn’t split at dap 88 a5 2907 so defenetly possible

8/16/2026 9:55:16 PM

Europe , slovenia

it would have made 3000 lbs but that fruit was not steady it grew fast and kept up the gains until it Split so it must be fast and steady not just steady.

As growth starts to slowly decline after dap 50 it needs very strong growing during dap 20-30 and to keep up the later gains to prevent dropping fast.

[Last edit: 08/17/26 9:13:17 AM]

8/17/2026 9:01:56 AM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Well look at IanP’s diary and see a pumpkin wit( a peak of 52 per day still growing 30 a day a5 dap 70 at 2251 pounds I’d say that one will end up at like 2850-2950lbs

[Last edit: 08/17/26 9:17:10 PM]

8/17/2026 5:51:58 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

You said that it needs fast growth 20-40 but I thin’ its 5he opposite for instance two pumpkins off the same seed (2641) are currently growing one was 1300+ a5 dap 40 the other 1150 and right now dap 70 the smaller one is 2251 doing 29 a day the bigger one 2322 doing 19 a day so I think that growth must be slow earlier to be fast later IF you can have 110+ growing days. For more reference look here at the day by day rates of pumpkin #1
Dap WGT PDG
20. 186. 9.3
30. 740. 55.4
40. 1361. 62.1
50. 1822. 46.1
60. 2134. 31.2
70. 2322. 18.8

And pumpkin #2
DAP. WGT. PDG
20. 151. 7.55
30. 634. 48.3
40. 1158. 52.4
50. 1599. 45.7
60. 1964. 36.5
70. 2251. 28.7

8/17/2026 9:22:38 PM

Europe , slovenia

Maurice,
you shoud to re-read Ian’s latest diary notes instead of just looking at the daily numbers.
He actually noted: "Bagheera's plant has virtually no fusarium which is probably why slowly but surely she's catching up to Baloo."

The reason Bagheera is catching up isnt the slow start strategy—it's just that Baloo's plant is struggling with Fusarium, which slows down its growth. Since Bagheera has no Fusarium, of course she's going to catch up! You're basically comparing a healthy plant to one that has Fusarium.
Also, if you look at the closest fruit to 3,000 lbs (the Patons' 2,907 lb DMG), it was never a slow grower and kept up its daily gains very well all the way until it split

If you are Reading this now check ians newest entry.

[Last edit: 08/20/26 2:53:46 PM]

8/18/2026 3:38:50 AM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

The 2907 may have been the closest to 3000 but it split. And also if you’re saying about bagheera having no fusarium as a reason for why it’s winning the fight it is very possible that that is why to a certain degree but baloo’s plant lost some vines it’s true that may put it from 1200 sqft to 1000 but 700 sqft plants that are left to grow wild can produce 3500 pounds of pumpkin. Lastly I want to say that last year’s 2819 was 2198 at day 70 and it had a faster peak growth than bagheera and bagheera is now 2251 doing 29 a day. Both plants had no fusarium

8/20/2026 6:32:42 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

One more thing is the 2907 had a 20 lb day faster peak than bagheera and at day 70 bagheera had a 10 lb day growth rate faster than the 2907

8/20/2026 6:34:13 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

This is the peak to day 70 daily gains of these pumpkins:
2907: 71 - 20.4
2819: 54 - 25
Bagheera: 52 - 29

[Last edit: 08/20/26 9:02:42 PM]

8/20/2026 9:02:11 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

One more thing I want t9 add to the 2907 is that that ki d of growth may lead to 3000-3100lbs but you’d need like 10 of them all growing that speed to get on3 to the scales. It is already insane that th3 2907 made it to day 88 unlike it’s slightly slower cousin at 1350 a5 day 40 which split shortly after

[Last edit: 08/20/26 9:07:24 PM]

8/20/2026 9:05:17 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Oh yeah… the 2641 seems to be split resistant because of its low peak high late gain thing. Since I’m only noticing this slow earlier-fast later thing on the 2641 i5 is possible it’s just a 2641 thing

8/20/2026 9:07:04 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Here is my day 80-130 protection for bagheera
70–80: ~21/day
* 80–90: ~17/day
* 90–100: ~12/day
* 100–110: ~9.8/day
* 110–120: ~6/day
* 120–130: ~4.15/day

And BALOO
70–80: ~12/day
* 80–90: ~10/day
* 90–100: ~6.5/day
* 100–110: ~4/day
* 110–120: ~2.5/day
* 120–130: ~1.5/day

[Last edit: 08/20/26 9:21:07 PM]

8/20/2026 9:15:16 PM

Grittyville, WA

The Patons take 10 day measurements then average them to get the daily gain?

Can this data be visualized in graph?

I think a graph might show there is an inherited component to the weight gain distribution. But there are so many other factors... the shape of the pumpkin, the weather, disease pressure in the patch.

So its a lot more than just numbers. But if you can look at enough numbers and really see a pattern then maybe the numbers are indeed saying something.

Maybe you are good with numbers so you can see something I cant. I would have to look at the data visually and there would have to be a lot of data to get past all the noise. In math or statistics there would be a "best fit" graph and there would be an attempt to get rid of outliers and establish a standard deviation?

If you're inclined towards statistics or math this would be a good project to keep working on.

There is of course very capable AI software that can sort through a huge amount of amorphous data (it probably could lift all the data out of bigpumpkins.com) and given the right prompt it might be able to tell you if there are any noteworthy patterns in that data.

8/20/2026 9:59:19 PM

Europe , slovenia

I think the 2907 vs 2819 comparison actually shows why fast early growth is important.
The 2907 was already 2607 lbs at DAP 70,
while the 2819 was only 2193.
That 414 lb advantage came from the 2907's much faster growth earlier in the season.

Yes, the 2819 was gaining 25 lb/day at DAP 70 compared to 20.4 for the 2907, but that wasn't enough to catch up. The 2907 had already built such a huge lead that even with the 2819 having better late gains, it still finished 88 lbs lighter.

The biggest thing to me is that the 2907 split at DAP 88 and still finished at 2907 lbs when lifted (september 10), while the 2819 had 130 days to grow and still only reached 2819. So the 2907 reached a heavier weight in 30 fewer growing days so the 2907 would have crushed every other pumpkin if she had 130 days even with way lower gains plus her gains slowed due to her starting to rot after splitting 12 days before being lifted (2907 was dap 100 when lifted)

The Bagheera comparison doesn't really prove the theory either. Bagheera peaked at 52 lb/day and is doing around 29/day at DAP 70, while the 2907 peaked at 71/day and was doing 20.4/day at DAP 70. But the 2907 was already 2607 lbs at DAP 70. Bagheera is only 2251. So Bagheera's better DAP 70 gain doesn't mean she's on track to beat the 2907. She has to make up that 356 lbs first then another 300 lbs to Match the 2907 weight

And Baloo vs Bagheera has an obvious confounding factor. Baloo has been hit hard by Fusarium and has lost vines, so his plant is smaller now. Fusarium can also interfere with the plant's vascular system and water transport, which can slow fruit growth. So I don't think you can use Baloo's slower gains as evidence

And pumpkins with slower gains are not split resistant that just depends on shape and watering.

On the other hand bagheera being in front of the 2819 seems promising but you never know maybe since her gains are higher right now they will plummet after dap 90 maybe she will split..

[Last edit: 08/21/26 9:45:33 AM]

8/21/2026 4:28:50 AM

Grittyville, WA

The 2907 is probably the obvious choice for hitting 3k because it was one of the few that has ever hit the 70 lbs per day needed to be on track for 3k... I'm guessing the 10 day average needs to be around 60+ lbs to hit 3k. And a single day of hitting 70 would be helpful to the tragectory.

That being said a pumpkin doing 50 lbs per day could hit 3,000 but the math is less favorable it would need a long growth period and then to go heavy to chart.

8/21/2026 10:31:02 AM

Grittyville, WA

A lot of growers want to hit 3k, but also a lot of growers just want to win their local event with a pumpkin that is solid and slightly bigger than the competition.

8/21/2026 10:33:50 AM

Grittyville, WA

I think there is a lot of appeal to growers to plant the seeds that might not hit 3k but that do seem likely to grow heavy enough to beat the competition. The 2907 genetics might be the ones to use to hit 3k but for winning competitions other seeds may be more stellar? And for hitting 3k growers could get lucky using other genetics also? Does that sum it up correctly?

We might see 3k this year! Then you'll have a definitive answer.

[Last edit: 08/21/26 10:44:24 AM]

8/21/2026 10:40:37 AM

Europe , slovenia

Good info

[Last edit: 08/21/26 11:33:12 AM]

8/21/2026 10:50:15 AM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Sure if you compare the 2907 to the 2819 it looks way better but that way but see it split at day 88 the 2641s do slower early and hold late thereby less splits as most happen when the pumpkin does 60+ lbs/day. If you want 3000 the safer bet would be get a seed line likebagheera that could finish just over 3000 rated than be like thrr ed 2907 that could hit 3100 but splits are way more likely

8/22/2026 12:51:03 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Also getting one lik the 2907 is so unlikely as that was the extreme outlier

8/22/2026 12:52:10 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

I bet that somewhere in the batch of 2641 there’s a seed that could peak at like 65 a day and still do 30 a day at 70 and finish larger than the 2907 because it peaked just slightly lower

8/22/2026 12:53:42 PM

Lloydminster/AB

To hit 3000 you need to maximize growth the whole fruit cycle. This starts when the fruit is forming on the vine. It doesn't take much reading to figure out that big fruit start off that way. We as a collective group have a long way to go to do that. One day 1000 lbs at day 30 will be the benchmark.

8/22/2026 1:13:55 PM

Grittyville, WA

Unless its on a scale we don't know what they are really gaining per day. Could be more or less than what the measurements are saying. But we do know within a margin of about plus or minus 20%. The bullfertilizer stops when the tailgate drops... or better yet when its on the scale.

8/22/2026 1:44:16 PM

Europe , slovenia

Slower growth usually doesent prevent it splitting its mostly shape and watering.the 2907 did split but it did not split during its biggest expansion and its split was due to it being so thin it just cracked

8/22/2026 4:14:24 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Then if it starts split because it was so thin the thinness could have been because of fast growth and if it was so thin maybe it wasn’t doing the 70 per day the measurements showed

8/23/2026 12:15:39 PM

Europe , slovenia

Its because the 1885 werner did not produce thick pumpkins plus feeding and every pumpkins weak point is the blossom end. Plus the 2641 is not split resistant theres no such thing as split resistant lines there may be no danaged fruits as only around 9 have been grown but it all comes down to shape, watering

[Last edit: 08/23/26 4:13:19 PM]

8/23/2026 3:55:58 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Then maybe the 2641 has good shape. And I think it is the fast growth that causes splits. Why else do they always split dap 30-50

8/23/2026 9:32:30 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

But next year I’ll try growing both the 2641 and the 2020 because th3 2020 is a classic fast early one. last thing is that giving the example of last years 2819 vs 2462 the 2462 (2020 seed) was always faster but late season the 2819 (2641) grew faster than the 2462 abd finished almost 400 lbs heavier

8/23/2026 9:35:17 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Lastly I want to say that the likely ideal growth curve for 3000 wouldn’t be 45-50 peak or it’ll never get there nor 70 peak or it’ll either split or crash late season, but one that has a peak of 55-65 a day and holds on to be ~2350 at day 70 and 3000 at day 130 like maybe BALOO (2641) if there was no fusarium

8/23/2026 9:43:25 PM