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Deer Park, WI

It has been a decade since Landry and I last compiled data on giant pumpkin OTT measurement benchmarks. For those unfamiliar, a quick refresher. Season long OTT measurement data was aggregated and analyzed to establish OTT benchmarks at various day # intervals for various final pumpkin weights. The idea being that one could compare their fruit measurements throughout the season to historical averages for a rough determination of what pace their final weight was on track for. At the time, we peaked at benchmarks for 1400lbers. what a difference a decade makes.

I have a growing interest in breathing life back into this project with a couple goals in mind. #1 I'd like to establish benchmarks for the spectrum of fruit size relative to the present: 1000lbs, 1500lbs, 2000lbs, 2500lbs.

#2 i'd like to be able to capture and compare data through our mobile devices. There's an app for nearly everything these days, why not a fruit growth estimator with benchmarks built in that also permits data capture for continual building of the benchmark model?

So yea, I'm searching for someone who can build apps. The math behind it is easy. Just need a techie savvy enough to build it.

In the mean time, I am once again putting a call out for OTT data on fruit 1500lbs and up. we need to build a database of large pumpkin growth data to establish higher end benchmarks.

So I'm respectfully asking each of you with pumpkins over 1500lbs to email me your historical OTT measurements. Incomplete data is fine, will not be choosy here. Official fruit are preferable.

If this vision becomes reality, I hope to create a smartphone app that allows you to enter OTT data, get a fruit weight estimate, contribute to the long term creation of growth benchmarks, and archive your fruit measurements for future reference. Sounds neat, eh?

Be a part of pumpkin history and share your OTT data with me please............joeailts@gmail.com

4/25/2021 10:01:56 AM

Bloomfield, Iowa

That would be awesome Joe. I would love to able to send you data for a pumpkin over 1500 lbs this year. Hope it happens.

4/26/2021 10:45:07 PM

Tenino, WA.

Joe nice idea and a lot of work. The reality of the benchmarks is they will vary from location to location. The benchmarks for the mid west will not give an accurate figure for the Northwest. Every location has it's own climate which dictates the growth patterns for the AG's.

5/1/2021 12:53:59 AM

Deer Park, WI

Jack- data collected thus far proves your point true. With enough data, geographic regions could be broken out. The power of numbers can also smooth out anomolies that skew curves. Hence my desperation plea for folks to submit historical measurements.

5/6/2021 9:15:03 AM