Latest Photos from the Pumpkin Patch

Below are pictures of the 282 Scherber and 1985 plants.  The 282 is looking from the stump end of the plant and the chair (about 25 feet out) in the distance is where the pumpkin is growing.  The 1985 plant is looking from the side with the stump on the left.  We've had 3 days of very cool weather with heavy rain here in Denver yesterday.  Nice pumpkin growing weather after today however.

282 Scherber

1985 Miller

New Photo of the 282 Scherber Pumpkin Plant

Below is the picture of my 282 plant.  Under that chair in the distance is the female I'll be pollinating either tomorrow or the next day.  This pumpkin is 20 feet out on the main vine.  Easily the farthest pollination from the stump I will have ever had.  By the end of this week almost all of the side vines on the left hand side of the plant will be terminated.  Still a fair amount of growing room on the right hand side of the plant however.  It has been a very good plant so far and it seems happy.  Hoping this pollination takes because it is only the 2nd female to show up on the main vine so far and I can't afford to wait any longer.  Temps are hot today in Denver but should be cooling a little for the next few days.

1791 Pumpkin's First Measurement

Typically I start taking measurements on the pumpkins starting around day number 10.  And then periodically, if not daily, take measurements after that.  Sometimes you can recognize problems early if you find that growth is slowed down.  A day 10 measurement doesn't mean much.  Typically I want to see a pumpkin around 20-24 inches on day 10 for a Colorado grown pumpkin.  However, I know growers in other states who consistently have day 10 measurements in the 15-19 inches range who have consistent 1,500 to 1,800 pound pumpkins at the end of the year.  Weather and genetics can be a factor for how your pumpkin grows and ten days is a pretty small window.

The measurement on the 1791 pumpkin was a bit of a disappointment.  17 1/2 inches.  The 1421 Stelts had a day 10 measurement of 23 1/2 inches last year.  One thing I re-learned last year however is that it doesn't matter how they start, it only matters how the finish.  The Wiz at mid-season last year had a very ordinary looking pumpkin.  At the weigh-off it was the 2nd heaviest pumpkin ever grown in Colorado.  His pumpkin was what is called a long grower.  It never got to super high daily gains.  It just kept growing consistently and never tapered off much.  Although not as exciting, that is really the pumpkin you want.  Less risks of the pumpkin splitting open when it is a long grower (although Wiz's pumpkin did unfortunately pop at the end of the year on a deep rib).

The Pumpkin Plants are in the Ground

Today I planted two 335 Scherbers into one hoop house and then a 1791 Holland and 1220 Johnson into the other hoop house.  I'm very pleased with where these plants are at right now.  Some nice growth and very good root systems on all four plants.

Into each planting hole I put some Azos, mykos and humic acid. After planting I watered the plants with some liquid seaweed, Actinovate and Microbe Mydroponics' Foliar Spay & Root Dip.  The Microbe Mydroponics product has a bunch of beneficial bacteria and fungi, including Bacillus, Rhodopsedomonas and a wide variety of mykos species.

335 Scherber and 335 Scherber

1220 Johnson left / 1791 Holland right

Elbert is Still Growing Along with the Clone Pollinations

Last Friday night we had a light frost at the house.  Interesting enough the leaves under the hail netting were partially spared but leaves that were just outside of the hail netting are all black now.  On Sunday I took a measurement of the 1775 Starr pumpkin (Elbert) and this morning I took another measurement and it is still growing.  I expected this pumpkin to go light even before I planted the seed and I still expect that.  I'm just hoping that it will exceed the weight of my rookie year pumpkin.  This pumpkin was never a fast grower but is still pushing 6lbs a day right now.

I also checked the late pollinations that I did on the 1421 plant where I pollinated each pumpkin with a cutting (clone) from the plant that grew the world-record 2,009 pound pumpkin last year.  Pumpkins that have those world record genetics in them that have gone to the scale so far this year have been big.  My first pollination is only 30 days old but both pumpkins are still growing. I need to get to about 45 days to assure viable seeds.  However, Friday night of this week has a forecast for a hard freeze.  If that is the case I'll take the pumpkins off the vine and put them in the garage for a week.  I've heard that the seeds can still mature some after the pumpkins are taken off the vine.

Dag Nabit: Lost Stanley Today!

Lost the big 1421 pumpkin this morning to a blossom end split. Estimates 1,107 this morning and was putting on 15-18 pounds a day. I'm guessing it would have ended up at about 1,420 pounds if it hadn't had split based on its current growth rate.  That would have broke the Colorado state record.  This pumpkin seems like it would have gone heavy as well.  I've decided to try to limp it along and get it to the weigh-off so I can get an official weight.  I've sprayed the hole with bleach, put sulfur powder in it and then caulked the hole.  I also have covered the pumpkin to keep it dry.  Usually pumpkin growth slows down a lot once air gets in the cavity so we will never know what it could have been.

Stanley 37 days before weigh-off

The Evil Split

Mistakes and A Little Help

If you've followed my posts you'll know that not that long ago I talked about making sure you cut the tap roots around the pumpkin so that the main vine can lift up as the pumpkin grows.  I was getting the vine bound up against the pumpkin over the last few days so I asked Joe to help me move the pumpkin back to get it out of the way of the vine.  Joe caught something that I didn't.  One tap root wasn't cut which was part of the problem with the vine.  A silly rookie error.  The root was cut and with some effort we moved the pumpkin carefully out of the way of the vine and things look good for another few weeks.

Even with the very cool and rainy weather in Denver the last couple of days both pumpkins have put on some nice growth all considering.  Warmer days to come so we will see what these pumpkins can do.

I sprayed some multi-mineral with a touch of metasolate calcium added on the plants.  I believe that times of low precipitation and high precipitation can cause calcium to not move properly through the plants so adding a little extra calcium I hope to reduce the risk of dill rings and blossom end splits (BES).  Because of the tall shape of the 1421 pumpkin I fear that I'm susceptible to BES.

Pumpkin Pictures

The following are my two pumpkins that I'm planning on growing.  The first is the 1421 Stelts pumpkin (aka Stanley).  The second is the 1775 Starr pumpkin (aka Elbert).  I have big hopes for these two pumpkins.  Stanley is 10 days old today and has a circumference of 23.5 inches which is 1/2 short of tying a personal best for a 10 day measurement.  The 10 day measurement means nothing but you always hope for bigger rather than smaller.  The 1421 is a bit of a bowling long with a touch of length to it.  The 1775 is long in shape with a big of ribbing already.

This evening I gave the plants a foliar application of Big Bloom, phosphate 0-1-1, calcium and CalCarb.  I won't be giving anything else to the plants for a week.

Naming Your Pumpkin

It's crazy I know, but every year I name my pumpkins.   I think it is kind of a fun thing to do and it gives a little personality to the pumpkins.  My past pumpkins:

• DillBoy - 755lbs
• HailBoy - RIP - tornado took this one at at about 35lbs
• RedemptionBoy and LarryBoy - 868lbs and 820lbs
• Ricky and Jerry - Jerry was about 550lbs went it went down due to rot.  Ricky was 924lbs and a beautiful pumpkin.  Should have gone over 1,000 pounds but slowed way down due to a split.
• Christine - 837lbs.  Too hot that year to grow much of anything.

This years pumpkin will be named, drum roll please:  Elbert and Stanley.

My grandpa was named Elbert and a world class gardner.  I've seen carrots that came out of his garden that were as big around as your wrist.  In honor of him I'm going to name one of the pumpkins after him.  Elbert is also the name of the highest mountain in Colorado.  A great 14er which I climbed a few years back.  So maybe this pumpkin can become Mt. Elbert.

Stanley is the name of my father-in-law and also the name of my oldest and one of my best of friends.  Also seems like a good name for a pumpkin.  So hopefully Elbert and Stanley can get me over that 1,000 pound mark this year.  I'm feeling good about where I'm at right now.  The weather has been fairly good, the plants seem happy and my soil and setup I think is the best I've had since I started growing in this patch.  Time will tell.  Pray for a big pumpkin for me.

Hail Netting Over the Patch & the Pumpkin Observation Deck

This evening I put up the hail netting over the pumpkin patch.  I learned the hard way what a hail storm could do to a pumpkin 4 years ago.  The hail netting also helps cut down on the UV rays and also makes it a little cooler with the 15% shade that it creates.  The plants are running out the door of the hoop houses now and I'll have to take them off in the next couple of days.  My plants have actually caught up to where my plants were at on this date last year.  I was behind, but even with the cooler weather they are growing okay.

After putting up the netting I sat down on our new Pumpkin Observation deck (you can see the pumpkin patch and hail netting just over the back fence).  Life is sometimes very, very good.

Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch

Pictured below are my four pumpkin plants.  The 1421, 1789 and 1775 were all planted on the same day.  The 335 Scherber was planted about 5 days later.  The 1775 has really started to come on over the last few days.  A little sun today should really kick the growing into gear.

335 Scherber (left) / 1421 Stelts (right)

1775 Starr (left) / 1789 Wallace (right)

Latest Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch

Pictured below are my 4 pumpkin plants.  The first plant is the 1451 Scherber.  The vine on this plants should be lying down by the end of the week.  I'm planning on keeping this plant and taking the other plant out.  The next picture is the 1789 Wallace.  I also plan on keeping this plant.  Other than the light green leaf color I also like this plant.  On the bottom row are my backup plants.  The first is the 335 Scherber andnext is the other 1451.  The other 1451 is actually my fastest grower of all of the plants but it is a bit of wuss in the sun and it is going to be a pain to get it's vine to lay down so I'll be going with the other plant.  The plants are maybe 4 or 5 days ahead of last years plants in growth so I'm happy about that.

Planted a Cover Crop in the Pumpkin Patch Today

I saw that the forecast called for 60s and 70s here in Denver for the next five days so I put in a cover crop today. The seed mixture included winter rye, winter oats and vetch. I planned on putting those seeds down during the fall but a busy schedule and a very cool late fall didn't allow me to do that. I suspect with these warm temperatures that the seeds should germinate just fine and make for some nice green manure the end of April. They should also help get the myco going in the soil a little earlier.

It's That Time of Year Again; Soil Samples

Time to start thinking about pumpkins. We'll actually thinking about pumpkins for most giant pumpkin growers is a year around thing, but now it is almost time to get back to work again. I took advantage of some very nice Denver weather to get into the pumpkin patch and take some soil samples. To know what to add to your patch during your spring patch prep you need to know what to add to your soil. Each spring and often times in the fall I'll send in soil sample to A & L Western Agricultural Laboratories to get my soil tested.

To test your soil get a clean spoon that is free of rust and dig down to about 8 inches in about 12 different places and put the soil in a zip lock bag until you have about 1 1/2 cups. Don't touch the soil at all with your fingers. A drop of sweat or a flake of rust can throw off the soil testing because of salt that can come from your hand or rust from a shovel. Usually within a week or so you'll get your soil test results and for a few bucks more the results will come with instructions on what to add to the soil.

I usually send my test results to a few local growers and a couple of heavy hitter pumpkin growers asking what I should add to my soil in the spring. The answers I usually get back are somewhat varied (there is a lot of science that goes into soil and plant studies but the science isn't very clear and growers experiences and opinions vary). Based on the feedback I get I'll add additional amendments in April and till that into the ground.

I was pleased to run into a few worms in the patch while digging around. I didn't expect to see any thing time of year. I see lots of organic material in the soil and it has a nice, dark earthy smell to it. If I can get some time away from my website business I hope to grow big this year. I've got to get over 1,000 pounds.

Worm Casting for Giant Pumpkins

Just before Christmas I ordered some worms for my worm bins. I lost all of my worms last year after a deep freeze in January (the new worms are being kept in the basement). There is nothing better for growing then worm castings and making compost tea. My bins are very basic. A large plastic tote with a fair amount of organic material. It doesn't take much to make the worms happy. I'll throw in table scraps (mostly just vegetables, coffee grounds and occasionally a little flour and the worms seem perfectly happy. I also spray down the bin once or twice a week to keep it lightly moist. In the spring I put the worm castings in my soil mixture that I start my seeds in and I'll also put some castings in the hole that I plant the plants in the pumpkin patch. Worm castings are more rich in nutrients then most composts and rich in soil microbial biomass.

The Giant Pumpkin Off Season

My wife would tell you that there isn't an off season when it comes to giant pumpkin growing and that is somewhat true. When you aren't growing then you are thinking about growing. The best thing you can do when snow is on the ground is get ready for the upcoming season by doing a lot of research.

There is always something new to learn when it comes to giant pumpkin growing. Everything that it takes to grow a big pumpkin is wonderfully complex. The best thing to do from November to March is to research different growing techniques, amendments, genetics and ask questions of world class growers on sites like bigpumpkins.com and coloradopumpkins.com. There is a lot of misinformation out there and only by a lot of reading can you sort through it all.

One thing, when I can find some time, I'll be researching this off season is hormonal responses within pumpkin plants. As the season progresses you notice after years of growing that the plants want to do certain things at certain times. There are ways you can enhance or slow down this responses by the amendments that you give to the plants and how/when you water them. By making little adjustments you can add a lot of pounds to a pumpkin if you do things just right.

Another thing I'm thinking about this off-season is changing my watering system in the patch. I want to go to an under the canopy watering system so I can get more even watering later in the season. My plan is to add Dan Micro sprinkler heads under the leaves so I don't get so many dry spots under the canopy and keep one misting sprinkler to spray above the leaves during the heat of the day to keep the plants cool.

I just got a shipment or Red Wriggler worms this last week to get my worm bins going again. Nothing better than earthworm casting to grow big and strong pumpkin plants. It is also the best thing in my opinion for compost tea. I killed my worms last winter during a cold snap so I've moved the worms from the garage to the basement to help keep them happy.

Have a merry Christmas and grow em big in 2012!

Pumpkin Patch Prep is Done

I did my fall patch prep yesterday. I added old leaves, humic acid, sulfur, blood meal, gypsum and alfalfa pellets and then tilled it all in. What you do in the fall and in the spring to the soil probably means more in regards to how big your pumpkin is going to grow then anything you do after planting the seed. Making sure your soil is balanced and with the right amount of nutrients in place is what is going to power that pumpkin in July and August.

After a cold spell moves through mid-week I'm going to put in a cover crop on Thursday. I'll be adding a mixture of 50% winter rye, 40% winter oats and 10% hardy vetch. The rye and oats produce tremendous organic matter and the vetch is a legume that fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil for free! Winter oats help suppress harmful nematodes in the soil.

In the Spring I'll get a soil test done and then probably add some compost and other amendments to the soil, depending on what my soil test says, a few weeks before I plant the pumpkin plant.

A New Personal Best Pumpkin at 924.5 Pounds

Last night we cut the pumpkin from the vine and much to my surprise and relief the bottom of the pumpkin hadn't rotted out. This morning I hauled my pumpkin and the kids pumpkin to the weigh-off at Jared's Nursery. Hauling a giant pumpkin is a real hoot. People wave, honk their horns and take pictures the entire way to the weigh-off. 364 days a year you can get teased some for being a giant pumpkin grower. Let's face it, the cool crowd on South Beach don't spend a lot of time growing giant pumpkins. But on the 365th day Heidi Klum could be standing next to a nice, orange giant pumpkin and people might not even notice her.

Pumpkin weights this year were way down in Colorado because many growers lost pumpkins due to rot and splits this year but there was still a good number of pumpkins at the weigh-off. My children took first place with a 146.5 pound pumpkin in the children's division. They did a very good job of taking care of their pumpkin this year. Later my pumpkin was weighed and came in at 924.5 pounds. A new personal best! Not as big as I thought it would be this year (after the pumpkin split the pounds went from 20 down to about 7 per day) but it is still the biggest and best looking pumpkin I've ever grown (let Jerry Seinfeld know that giants don't have to be ugly). Overall my pumpkin would have been in 2nd place for weight and won the Howard Dill award for the prettiest pumpkin but it was disqualified because of the splits. It looks like my pumpkin may end up being the heaviest Colorado grown pumpkin this year (Joe Scherber lost his 1,475 pound pumpkin last week due to rot) that goes to the scale.

Top honors for the day went to Ron Hoffman of Wyoming with a nice 1,012 pound pumpkin. I was very happy for Ron. He is a great grower and deserves the win. A well deserved second prize went to Gary Grande who beat out his brother by nine pounds.

Got the seeds out of my pumpkin tonight. Not a ton of them because of some rot that had started inside but I was happy to see some at all. These seeds are now officially the 924.5 Johnson (1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens).

Come to the Biggest Pumpkin Weigh-off in Colorado

The much anticipated 6th Annual Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers Pumpkin Weigh-off will be held on Saturday, September 24th. Last year, more than 3,000 people attended this event that featured 1,500+ pound pumpkins measuring more than 14 feet in circumference.

“We saw some amazing pumpkins last year and look to see some giants again this year.” said Gary 'The Wiz' Grande, President and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers (RMGVG). “It is always fun to see the children’s faces the first time they see the pumpkins. They are something straight out of a fairy tale and we might see a new state record this year." The current Colorado record was set by Barry Todd of Littleton last year at a whopping 1,308 pounds.

“The weigh-off is a celebration of our growers’ hard work and is a fun way to kick-off the fall season,” said Jamie Johnson, Vice President of the RMGVG who was featured on NBC’s The Marriage Ref this summer with his pumpkin. “It is a great event with food, straw mazes for the kids, music, face painting, haunted house, audience voting and of course, some really amazing giant pumpkins.”

The record for the world’s largest pumpkin was 460 pounds until 1981, when Howard Dill, a grower in Nova Scotia, came up with one that was close to 500 pounds. He patented the seed, and growers around the world jumped to buy Dill’s Atlantic Giant. As they crossed and re-crossed varieties, the pumpkins grew ever larger; by 1994, the symbol of Halloween had passed the 1,000-pound mark. The world record pumpkin was grown last year by Chris Stevens of Wisconsin and weighed an amazing 1,810 pounds.

The event will take place at Jared’s Nursery in Littleton, 10500 W. Bowles Avenue, starting at 10 a.m. with the junior division, followed by the giant pumpkins at 11 a.m. Admission is free to the public.

For more information about the RMGVG weigh-off or to get more information on how to grow giant pumpkins or vegetables post a comment below

To watch a short video of last year’s RMGVG pumpkin weigh-off event visit http://www.pumpkinlink.com/pumpkin-video.html

One Last Round of Calcium

There are studies that show that calcium can preserve the shelf life of some fruits and vegetables. I gave my 1204 plant one last round of calcium in the hope it might give me one more day on the vine. The pumpkin these days is looking ripe on the outside. Probably won't last more than a week or two now. I haven't measured it since Monday and it was still growing then but I don't expect it to still be growing now. A local garden center, Timberline Gardens, has offered to weigh the pumpkin and put it on display. I'm hoping it will last long enough to do that.