Giant Pumpkins anyone?

[harleysilo]

My wife wanted us to have a giant pumpkin for our daughters first Halloween.... so I'm giving it a shot....



after I pruned the hill back to 2 vines only...



and from above...



and the other hill



after pruning...back to two vines...





So any advice? I've been reading this other website devoted to this sorta thing. Waiting till the vines get a little bigger before allowing a bloom to blossom and have fruit set.

[veratrine]

It's my second year growing Big Max. Last year, I had 2 pumpkins on the vine; the larger one grew to 35 pounds, so it was a bit of a disappointment. The main thing to know is that the plants are HUGE, even when the pumpkins aren't. The main vines on mine this year are maybe 15 feet long (and growing), and the leaves are a foot and a half across. Also, I've had to artificially pollinate my flowers. Not a single one that I did not pollinate has started a pumpkin, this year or last.

[harleysilo]

Originally Posted by veratrine

It's my second year growing Big Max. Last year, I had 2 pumpkins on the vine; the larger one grew to 35 pounds, so it was a bit of a disappointment. The main thing to know is that the plants are HUGE, even when the pumpkins aren't. The main vines on mine this year are maybe 15 feet long (and growing), and the leaves are a foot and a half across. Also, I've had to artificially pollinate my flowers. Not a single one that I did not pollinate has started a pumpkin, this year or last.

Glad I found someone here who had tried it too! Yeah these are Big Max as well. 35 lbs. would be a disappointment, any clue as to why it didn't do so well? Do you have any pictures of last year or this year?

Do you know if these are female flowers, they look different than the other previous flowers I removed.....

[veratrine]

Yes, the female flowers are the ones with the little yellow pumpkin at the base like the ones in the picture above. I don't know quite what the problem was last year, but I met a giant pumpkin grower last summer who said that pumpkins like a bit of shade. I've grown mine with the rest of the garden in full sun, so that might be the reason.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by harleysilo

hey how did my feet get in your picture!!!

[harleysilo]

Originally Posted by veratrine

Yes, the female flowers are the ones with the little yellow pumpkin at the base like the ones in the picture above. I don't know quite what the problem was last year, but I met a giant pumpkin grower last summer who said that pumpkins like a bit of shade. I've grown mine with the rest of the garden in full sun, so that might be the reason.

Wow, that's a huge vine!

Do you think the grower meant the pumpkin itself needs a bit of shade? The big pumpkin forum I've been reading suggest just this and most of their vines are grown in giant fields in full sun, however they do build little tents over the pumpkins. From what I've read so far it's to prevent the pumpkin from spilting in the sun....

[jhp]

I've read a lot about pumpkins and giant pumpkins. I've only grown smaller pumpkins and jack-o-lantern size because of the lack of growing space in the sun and these vines get truly huge. Tried growing them in a semi shaded area only because that's the space I had, and it was just not enough sun. The vines need the sun to produce a big pumpkin. Big Max typically produces 35-50 lb. pumpkins. If you want a truly giant pumpkin try Dill's Atlantic Giant. Those easily get up to 100 lbs. and hold the worlds record for the largest pumpkin at some 1500 lbs. Although to get a 1500 pounder, I'm sure some special growing was done. Top secret no doubt. To get a big pumpkin, you need to let a few fruit set and then only let the best one grow, only one pumpkin per vine. After that, you trim off any additional fruits and let the vine concentrate on the one. It needs ample room from the base of the vine where it comes out of the ground so that it doesn't pull it's own roots out of the ground as it grows. For me, I've always gotten the best pollination by pollinating myself and not counting on bees. I take a male flower, strip off the petals and stick it into the female flower and gently rub it around. I then leave the male flower stuck in there. This will produce a pumpkin almost every time. You want a male flower that still has pollen on it. Lots of times, the bees have already visited and taken the pollen with them. Sometimes I will use a male flower that is about to open, but not quite open yet. I've actually seen bees wiggle their bodies into a not quite open blossom so as to be the early bee. Pollination is best done in the morning, as flowers open in the morning. It's a small window of opportunity. The other thing I do, which I do not know if it's an issue where you live, but for me, I MUST spray fungicide. If not, powdery mildew is certain to come. I spray the leaves with daconil once week while bees are not around, usually in the evening.

Hope this info helps.

Jen

[harleysilo]

Your post made me go back and check my seed packet, they are Dill's Atlantic Giant, don't know why I thought they were Big Max......

Thanks for all the advice!

Now should I keep it to one vine per hill, would 2 be 1 too many?

[veratrine]

It's a whopper, all right! For reference, the corn back there is about 5 feet tall (although you can only see the upper half because of the pumpkin). My pumpkins are now about 10 inches across. I lost one last year at this stage--reason unknown. For now, the leaves are giving the pumpkins enough shade, but I may shelter them later if need be. I think the lady I met was suggesting the plant itself could use some shade. She was Canadian--possibly those long, long summer days were just taking too much out of her pumpkin otherwise.

[jwr6404]

Harleysilo
I've again planted the Adapazari Squash from seeds I got from Bob Beer Sazji@yahoo.com, in Turkey. Last year most of my squash were in the 20 lb range with one reaching 32-34 lbs. I expect better sizewise this year. Even though our weather,here in the PNW, is bad my Squash leaves already exceed 2 ft in diameter. If you look up Adapazari Squash or go to Garden Web and search Sazji you can see a picture of the Squash. It's Blue/Grey in color. If Interested I still have some seeds and would be glad to sen some to you. If you would want some next I can send many this winter.

[harleysilo]

Wow! What a squash! What the heck do you do with them?

I planted the Giant Pumkins cause my wife wants to take a picture of our daughter standing (hopefully) buy a pumkin much, much bigger than her for her 1st thanksgiving......

I'll show my wife the pic and see if she would be interested in trying them next year.

[jwr6404]

harley
Ifyour talking about my Adapazari Squash mine were bigger than what was shown on the GW site. Sazji did say that my big one was Medium size. I did plant them earlier this year hoping for a larger size.They are a winter squash similar to a Hubbard with sweet delicious orange colored flesh inside. The wife makes soup with them Koreans love Pumpkin or Squash soups. Interesting thing about this Squash is the toughness of the skin. Smaller Wildlife just leave them alone as soon as they realize that they can't break it open. The Mrs opens them with a saw.

[harleysilo]

Well the deer have done a number on 2 of my 4 vines. They ate the end of the main stems off, just like the last 5"'s! So I don't guess those will grow any more, just stay like they are.

Time for Deer netting or something I guess!

[jhp]

Oh maaan. Those deer! I have a lot of deer too. I have to take lots of measures to keep them at bay. My veggie garden is a downright fortress. My first year, before installing the permanent fence, I used the lightweight mesh that's sold as deer fencing. It works. Just don't let the vine press up against it or the leaves will push their way through and the vine escapes from the mesh and then the deer munch it again.

[harleysilo]

so I strung up 7' by 60' of deer netting between two post to block access to the pumpkins, we'll see if it works. On another note I saw these eggs? on the leaves. What are they?