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Grittyville, WA

Tentatively, gonna call it the 188 leaf competition. Very self explanatory, what can you grow if you limit your plant to 188 leaves.

What do you all think?

8 lbs per leaf = 1504 lbs.

Should it be more or less leaves?

I think I can guarantee there will be at least ONE participant. (...Myself, lol.)

7/29/2023 9:46:26 AM

Grittyville, WA

188 leaves @

3 lbs per leaf = 564 lbs
4 lbs per leaf = 752 lbs
5 lbs per leaf = 940 lbs
6 lbs per leaf = 1128 lbs
7 lbs per leaf = 1316 lbs
8 lbs per leaf = 1504 lbs
9 lbs per leaf = 1692 lbs
10 lbs per leaf = 1880 lbs
11 lbs per leaf = 2068 lbs
12 lbs per leaf = 2256 lbs

Which benchmark do you think you could achieve? PS I can almost put a name to each of these weights, what is wrong with me!

7/29/2023 10:03:12 AM

Grittyville, WA

As leaves got old or damaged the grower would be allowed to replace them with new leaves as long as the total number of leaves at any one time did not exceed 188.

Final note: they have apps that will count objects in a photo. There would be no restraints on the layout, only on the number of leaves.

Leaf your input below, I'll get this competition up & running next year!

7/29/2023 10:08:35 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Could a grower remove every other leaf, still keeping 188 Leaves? I wonder if that would be beneficial? Maybe the remaining leaves would grow larger than normal.

7/30/2023 2:44:45 AM

Grittyville, WA

Interesting idea. Might require a lot of bamboo stakes, unless the extra space caused them to grow low and sturdy? Right now my leaves are squished in edge to edge, which might have some benefits as far as the wind during the day, and recapturing ground heat at night. But, thats a new idea and its time for me to try something new...

7/30/2023 3:08:17 AM

Grittyville, WA

Update: It's going to be 288 leaves. Loosely speaking, the purpose of the competition will be to try to do to leaves what the Patons have done to root nodes, which is to make each one count. There are tricks for getting bigger leaves, but bigger is not always better. I know I'll learn something!

7/30/2023 3:31:30 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

I'm thinking that maybe removing every other secondary vine may be the way to go in this competition. That would increase the plant's square footage, while limiting it to 288 leaves. Trying different plant variations could lead us to the most ideal one, and push this hobby and ultimately pumpkin weights even further.

8/1/2023 12:02:34 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

I'm wondering on average, how many square feet a plant with 288 leaves would be? Without removing every other vine, I'm estimating it at about 240 sq.ft. I could be significantly off though. A good grower should be able to produce a nice sized pumpkin when limited to 288 leaves. If this contest really takes off, maybe a dedicated seed auction could be conducted to award prize money to the top three pumpkin weights in this contest. I would think it would be done under the "honor system" at first. If it becomes a really big deal, maybe the regional GPC representatives, could go around verifying that the pumpkin was indeed grown on a 288 leafed plant. To save them the expense of traveling to each patch, maybe a drone with a camera could be sent for verification.

8/2/2023 1:37:55 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Also, maybe each GPC sanctioned weighoff could have a special category for a pumpkin grown on a 288 leafed plant. Then each weighoff could dedicate some prize money to the cause. Similar to the Howard Dill award. At the end of the season, the top 3 heaviest pumpkins in the world grown on a 288 leafed plant could be given the prize money from the seed auction dedicated to it. Just some thoughts.

8/2/2023 1:46:38 AM

Grittyville, WA

I'll back it with some cash (or a relevant prize) if I am able to. There might be some rules to comply with, we'll figure that out later. I know not everyone has a drone for an aerial shot, but a selfie stick or even an outstretched arm can maybe suffice. I've taken lots of patch pictures from ladders, or even more precarious vantages, but I'm certainly not going to require anyone to climb on a ladder...

The input/ideas are helpful, thanks!
Will probably return to this topic in late winter. I'll do my best to make it fun and interesting for any participants and any observers from-the-sidelines.

8/2/2023 3:22:22 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Another thing to consider: If several leaves dry up ore die near the crown, as may happen later in the season, can additional leaves be grown on younger plant vines to make up for those that were lost? Then the problem would be discerning if the newer leaves were grown before or after those other leaves died. There will many things to iron out in the rules. The rules will need to be quite clear, so we have an even playing field for the participants.

8/6/2023 2:17:01 AM

Grittyville, WA

I may not have all the answers.

If a leaf got old and the leaf surface was removed, would leaving or removing the leaf stalk be acceptable? Would that matter?

My 1133 Yohe plant has green vines and leaf stalks, and its a stretch but I think theres a chance it could do 15 lbs per day with ALL of the leaf surfaces removed. Just based on the photosynthesis that would occur within the green vines and green leaf stalks... It sure would be an interesting experiment. How many lbs per day could a plant with "0 leaves" produce? Thats the first question I'd like to answer.

Maybe there wouldn't be enough stomata for that to work, but I do think there would be sufficient chlorophyll. A quick internet search says that the leaf stalks may have stomata as well.

8/6/2023 6:12:48 AM

Grittyville, WA

Now that I think about it, I can do this experiment this year!
I'll set another kin here in August, track the growth carefully up to DAP 30 or so, then denude my plant of all leaves sometime in early to mid September (during a placid stretch of weather, hopefully) and see how the growth changes.

I buried the vines but then washed the dirt off of them so there would still be A LOT of green out there, but no leaves.

Having this info would give me a better understanding of constitutes
"an even playing field".

Thanks for the comments & concerns.
Brandon

8/6/2023 6:30:07 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Brandon,
I just meant would it be O.K. to grow extra leaves to make up for some that may die out during the season, as long as the final number is 288? Cutting off all leaves at day 30 seems quite drastic. But if you want to conduct that experiment, that's your choice.

8/8/2023 4:38:52 AM

Grittyville, WA

I understood you, I just got sidetracked thinking about whether my idea of removing a leaf is the same as everyone else's (to leave the stalk, or not). The idea is to see how many pounds 288 leaves can crank out. So keeping the plant at 288 would be the general expectation. If some get tired/old, new ones can be added.

Perhaps interesting, is that this might eventually show differences between the photosynthetic efficiency of new leaves vs old leaves. We could be in for quite a surprise, idk???

8/8/2023 5:00:19 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Brandon,
That could prove to be an interesting experiment. There will be much fodder to chew on regarding this competition, from now until next season. Thanks for your input and thoughts. Doug

8/8/2023 4:10:17 PM

Grittyville, WA

10 lbs per leaf is = 2880. Its plausible...? I grew one that ran up around 5 lbs per leaf once upon a time.

An average grower should be able to get .1 lbs per leaf per day. (I've gotten that much. That was a different 'once upon a time'.) .25 lbs per leaf per day would be WR level growing 288 x .25 = 72 lbs per day.

Its interesting to look at it broken down to such a basic level, as in "Can I get this leaf to crank out .25 lbs per day rather than .1 lbs per day? How?!" It just makes the whole problem of growing a world record seem more basic.

To increase the performance/output of just one leaf by .15 lbs (or about 150%) doesn't seem to me to be too daunting a task, whereas growing a WR seems like a huge task.

Well, thats my $1.02.

8/8/2023 6:30:39 PM