Plants are Finally in their Hoop Houses

I got the plants into their hoop houses yesterday evening.  I would have to say they are the biggest plants, but worst looking plants I've ever planted in hoop houses.   The plants have been in their pots too long and it has set them back some.   If everything was ideal, I would put the plants into their hoop houses when the first true leaf appeared.   I'm way past that and have plants are vined out.  That means a fair amount of top growth but not the root system to support the plant.  I'm guessing the plants for the next week will really struggle before wiring up and getting into gear.

The other issue I've had is time.  April is a tough month with everything going on and rather than taking care of plants, I've been setting up hoop houses, doing prep in the patch setting up irrigation lines.   I don't expect any personal best pumpkins this year, but hopefully the pieces being put in place now will pay off next year.  It is hard when you are trying to play catch up this early in the season.

In each planting hole I put NPK Microbes, myco, Azos and Actinovate beneficial bacteria and fungi.  I then watered the plants with some liquid seaweed, B-vitamins, mono-ammonium phosphate, fulvic acid, silica, alfalfa and humic acid in the water.

Last night got colder than foretasted.  33 degrees at one point.  Plants seemed relatively fine in the morning however.

Kids Plants Are Finally in their Hoop Houses

282 Scherber (daughter's)

Bad weather have prevented us from getting the kids pumpkin plants in the ground for the last two weeks.  To some extent it has been an advantage to have the plants under 80 degree grow lights, but these plants should have been planted 10 days ago.  The seeds were started a little later than mine, but my daughter's 282 Scherber has a vine that is 2 1/2 feet long and there were a lot of roots in that pot.  I'm curious to see if this plant is going to be an aggressive grower, because it seems to be stretching already.

My son is growing a 1689 Daletas.  It is a nice cross of two different 1495 Stelts seeds.  I like the 1495 genetics.  They tend to grow really big pumpkins that go very heavy and often times they are very orange.     The leaves on this plant are very dark green.

1689 Daletas

They put mykos, Root Shield, Azos, humic acid, fulvic acid, liquid seaweed and some RAW B-vitamins (learn more) to help reduce transplant shock.  In my daughter's planting hole we also put a fertilizer pack that Ron Wallace gave to me.  We will hope for the best for both of their plants.

Pumpkin Plants are in the Ground

This evening I planted 3 of my 4 pumpkin plants in the patch.  This is the first time I've got the plants in the ground in April.  The forecast looks very good for the next week, so it was time.

The root structor on all the plants looked very good.  In each planting hole I added some Azos, mykos, Root Shield, Actinovate and humic acid.  After that I watered the plants with some liquid seaweed and RAW brand B-vitamins to help the plants with transplant shock.

My 1415 Scherber and the 1985 Miller are my two best looking plants so far.  The 282 Scherber that germinated much later is still under the lights.  I'm going to hold off on planting it for now.

Getting Close to Planting Time

Right now I have my plants under lights, but I'm thinking about putting them in the ground on Thursday. I don't want the plants to get root bound and they will soon be too big to fit under the lights.   From left to right, starting at the top, the first plant is my 1415 Scherber.  First to sprout and the fastest growing on my plants. 2nd is the 1985 Miller.  2nd to sprout (only an hour later) and also a fast grower.  3rd is the 282 Scherber.  This plant was very slow to germinate and about a week behind as a result.  So far it is looking to be an okay plant so far.  On the 2nd row left, is the other 1415 Scherber.  Slower to get going that than the first plant, but looking okay.  The last plant is my 2nd 282 Scherber.  Not sure what to make of this plant.  On the stem there is a small split that has healed and it hasn't grown very well to this point.  Overall, I think I have some plants that I can make something of.

Secret Giant Pumpkin Fertilizing Program

The following is my "secret"giant pumpkin fertilizing program.  This fertilizer program will be modified during the season, depending on what the plant is telling me.  In addition to what is listed below, I'll also be putting down a little Azos, myko, kelp and Rootshield to each leaf node.  What is listed below doesn't include what I amended the soil with in the Fall and Spring.  The Fish & Seaweed is Neptune's, foliar multimineral is Albions' Metosolate multimineral and most of the other products are NPK Industries' RAW fertilizers. 

If you would like to see a great video that not only explains how and when to use fertilizers, but why, watch this video:

The Giant Pumpkin Fertilizer Program

Please note that the quantities of different fertilizers being applied here are very small. You want to spoon feed the plant to push it along and don't want to pour on the fertilizers which can sometimes do more harm than good.  Fertilizers should be applied in the early morning or the evening.  Most of these fertilizers, bio-stimulants and nutrients are available at a discount at http://seeds.giantpumpkinman.com/fertilizers.

May planting outdoors in hoop houses:
Week 1	B-vitamin, liquid seaweed/kelp, compost tea. With mykos, myco grow, Rootshield and Azos in the planting hole.
Week 2	phosphorus, compost tea, fulvic acid, yucca, silica
Week 3	compost tea, foliar seaweed, foliar humic acid
Week 4	compost tea, fish & seaweed, Azos, Biotamax, Actinovate with iron, Rootshild, omina, silica
June vine running:
Week 5	blood meal (for nitrate nitrogen), compost tea, yucca
Week 6	TKO, foliar multi-mineral, foliar fish & seaweed, fulvic acid, Omina, cal/mag
Week 7	foliar humic acid, compost tea
Week 8	foliar multi-mineral, foliar seaweed, foliar humic acid, yucca
July fruit (assumed that pumpkin pollination will be around the last week of June):
Week 9	foliar potassium, Omina
Week 10	foliar fish & seaweed, foliar multimineral, B-vitamins
Week 11	potassium, foliar fish & seaweed, biotamax, actinovate
Week 12	cane molasses, foliar multi-mineral, fish & seaweed on the soil, foliar humic acid
August
Week 13	Omina, foliar fish & seaweed, foliar multi-mineral, compost tea, silica, foliar actinovate, B-vitamins
Week 14	potassium, Actinovate, Biotamax, azos, yucca, foliar fish & seaweed, foliar humic acid
Week 15	foliar multi-mineral, foliar fish & seaweed, foliar humic acid, silica
Week 16	TKO, cane molasses, fish & seaweed on the soil, foliar seaweed, fulvic acid
September
Week 17	foliar multi-mineral, foliar fish & seaweed, foliar humic acid, B-vitamins
Week 18	TKO, foliar fish & seaweed, foliar humic acid, cane molasses, silica
Week 19	potassium, foliar seaweed, foliar humic acid
Week 20	foliar potassium, foliar seaweed, foliar humic acid

Not Loving this Weather But Plants are Doing Well

My plants are at about the same stage of growth as last year's plants but I'm not loving our weather this early season.   Partially cloudy makes it hard to control the temperatures in the hoop house.  I'll watch the temperature monitor and the hoop house will go from 75 to 88 and back down to 75 in the course of an hour depending on if the sun is out or not and it changes a lot.  We haven't had many of what I would call sunny days this spring.  Sun in the morning and then cloudy most afternoons. 

Ideally I'd like to have the hoop houses at a constant 90 degrees.  The humidity stays higher in the hoop houses so 90-92 degrees is great.  You don't want much more than that.  Without the hoop houses I'd like about 88 degrees.  I think a perfect enviroment for pumpkin plants would be about 88 degree days with a bit of humidity and then about 80 degrees at night.  These plants don't like big transitions in temperatures so Colorado isn't an ideal growing enviroment with our 60 degree summer nights and 93 degree days with low humidity.

Today my son and daughter's planted their pumpkin plants.  We are about two weeks late but they are both beautiful plants.  Both plants already have their vines down on the ground.  If the plants can transition to their outdoor environments quickly they will both do fantastic.  My daughter's 335 Scherber plant in particular I think will do well.  Round 1161 Rodonis leaves like papa had tells me that it will lean a little more to that side.  My 335 Scherber plants have the pointy 1421 leaves so it will be interesting to see how those pumpkins turn out.

Today I gave all of my plants a divided portion of four gallons of aerated compost tea with one teaspoon of liquid seaweed, teaspoon of fulvic acid, half a tablet of Biotamax, 1/2 tablespoon of Azos and a touch of Actinovate added to the tea just before pouring.  I might have over done it but that biology added to the soil could do some good to promote growth and help protect the plants. 

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

Want to Grow a Giant Pumpkin? Get Giant Pumpkin Seeds from The Pumpkin Man!

Have you ever wanted to grow a giant pumpkin? Does the thought of having a 300 pound jack-o-lantern sound like fun to you? Looking for a great outdoor hobby for you and the kids/grandchildren? I can help! To grow a true giant pumpkin takes the right seeds and the right techniques. Grow the same competition giant pumpkin seeds I grow by getting seeds, special soil amendments and pumpkin growing training DVDs from my pumpkin seed store. Use the same stuff that world-record holder pumpkin growers use and have a lot of fun doing it!

After starting your seeds get great advice on growing giant pumpkins from the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers.

And Then There Was One

Every year I put two plants in each hoop house. This is to help insure that I have a good plant to grow and if one dies (or three as the early part of this season went) I will still have another plant to grow. Today I made the final cuts (literally) of the plants. In hoop house one is the 868 Johnson (1161 Rodonis x 1544 Revier). In hoop house #2 is the 1204 Scherber (1421 Stelts x 1725 Harp). A big thanks to those who gave me seeds/plants that didn't make it.

The following are the latest pics from the pumpkin patch. First is the 868 and the second is the 1204 plant. Both have been growing very well lately. Gave both plants some compost tea with a touch of blood meal in it and humic acid.


My wife saw a post saying that a certain pumpkin grower's TV show may be on June 26th on national TV. If you see a promo with an ugly guy that would be me.

A Shout Out to the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers

As mentioned previously, I lost 3/4 of my plants this last week. On Friday I sent out an email asking for plants and within 24 hours I had heard back from every grower I contacted offering very nice replacement.

Giant pumpkin growing is an interesting hobby because, although it is competitive, growers really help each other. You can pretty much ask any grower in Colorado how they grow and they would pretty much tell you everything that they know. Growers realized early on in this sport that you can't learn everything these is to know about pumpkin growing in three lifetimes on your own. Only by sharing and helping each other can you learn the techniques to grow a giant.

Late last fall I and my wife were invited to be on NBC's The Marriage Ref (show to air this Summer). I needed a giant pumpkin for the show and the growers really stepped it up for me, particularly Gary the club president. No questions asked, people wanted to help.

I think it has been three years in a row now that one of the Colorado giant pumpkin weigh-offs has taken 2nd place for most improve site in the world. That is a real testament to quality of the growers here.

I am grateful for the great Colorado pumpkin growers.

Hoop Houses are Built and Pumpkin Plants are in the Ground

Now the real pumpkin season begins. Germinating time is a bit tedious to me. At time it seems that it takes forever for the seedlings to start growing. This last week my plants really started to take off. Burned the edge on one of the 1204 plant's leaves because it grow into the bulb overnight. I should have had my plants in the ground four days ago but because of cold overnight temperatures and being so busy with my website design business I haven't had a chance to get my hoop houses together. Finally got that mostly done last night.

This evening I put the plants in the ground. I've had clear plastic over the planting area so to help warm up the soil and it seemed to work fairly well. The soil was relatively warm a foot down which will help the roots want to grow and help minimize shock to the newly transplanted plants.

In each planting hole I put a touch of Azos, some myco, humic acid and a touch of earthworm castings. I loved the smell of the soil. Sweet and healthy.

After planting the plants with the first true leaf in the opposite direction of where I wanted the main vine to run I gave each plant a deep drink with a small touch of liquid seaweed in the lightly warmed water.

I pot two plants in each hoop house and when the plants have grown to the point that the leaves are touching I'll take out the weaker plant and then we hope and pray that we chose the right plant.

At this time of year the plants can be deceptive. A vigorous growing plant doesn't necessarily indicate that it will grow the biggest plants. Some plants genetically just want to grow salad which doesn't do a competitive giant pumpkin grower much good.

I usually look at the leaf color, leaf health, stump area and then throw some dice to decide which plant to go with. There is some science but it is mostly just a got feeling with a touch of experience.

In one hoop house I have a heat lamp and in the other hoop house I have thermostatically controlled space heather. These will keep the plants warm on cold nights. The next few days the evening lows look pretty kind for this time of year.

Tomorrow morning we will see which plants look happy.

Order Giant Pumpkin Seeds from The Pumpkin Man!

Welcome to the redesigned denverpumpkins.com. Tell me what you think of the new design!

Would you like to take a shot at having the biggest jack-o-lantern on your street or maybe a world record pumpkin? I've got some of the best genetic seeds in the world for you. Order now to grow a giant! It is a great activity to do with your children or to show the neighbors who is the best gardener in the neighborhood. Each seed are the same type of seeds that competitive giant pumpkin growers use and have world record genetics. Shop giant pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin Season is Springing Upon Us

Yesterday was the annual Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers Spring Meeting. It had a great turnout and equally as good weather for the event. Seed exchange, lessons on growing techniques and the latest information on soil probiotics biologicals were shared. Giant pumpkin growers have been using natural fungus and bacteria to help grow bigger pumpkins for years. I've been using things like like endo mycorrhizal fungi for years and this last year I tried new bacteria and fungi like Azos, trichoderma and bacillus. This year I plan on using the same produts (except for maybe Azos that I'm not fully convinced yet that the benefits out way the risks with yet) but on a slightly larger scale covering more of the patch than just the stump area and main vine.

Biota Max's has developed a new tablet form of the biologicals I used last year. In 2010 I used the liquid form and it appears that the tablet will be easier to use and it has more varieties of beneficial bacteria which will be great. The idea behind using beneficial bacteria and fungi are three fold:

• Overwhelm the soil with the good stuff so the there is no room in the soil for the bad bacteria and fungus
• Build synergistic relationships between the plant and the soil where the bacteria are fixing nitrogen in the soil and bringing nutrients beyond the reach of the pumpkin plant's roots back to the plant
• Add beneficial bacteria and fungus to the soil that will break down nutrients to a form that the pumpkin plant can use.
• These three things together are often referred to as the soil food web. A healthy soil is balanced, full of beneficial organisms and feeding the pumpkin to help it grow

This week I will be starting my pumpkin seeds for the season. In keeping with the normal pumpkin growers mentality of "more is better" I've added an additional 80watts of grow lights to my seed starting area.

Today I brought my seed starting mixture (Promix BX), earthworm castings from my worm bins and a little humic acid into the house to begin warming them up so they will be ready for planting time. I'll start my seeds in paper towels and once the tap root comes out I'll put the seed into the soil mixture which will probably be on Saturday. A few days later I should have sprouts coming up and we are off to the races again with great hopes for September and October of this year.

The Pumpkins are in the Ground, Finally!

About a week late, but the pumpkins are finally in the ground. The roots didn't seem to be bound up from being in the pots so we should be okay. Now we just have to survive nights that are still hovering around freezing and making sure that the hoop houses get opened up early enough that the plants don't cook. This time of the pumpkin season isn't my favorite. For the next two weeks the plants tend do just sit there and plants are very tender so I tend to worry (but as Joe Schreber once said it, "that is what we do.").

I'm relatively happy with where the plants are at. Wish they were a touch bigger, but the color is really good (exept the 1528 is a little light in color) and they seem relatively happy.

In one hoop house I've put a space heater with a thermostat to keep the plants warm at night and in the other hoop house I've got two light bulbs and a 5 gallon jug of hot water to keep the plants warm.

The picture inside the hoop house is the 1528 Starr and the 1161 Rodonis. In the other hoop house is the 1316 Harp and the 1236 Harp. So far the 1316 Harp is the best looking plant of all of the plants. On Saturday the plan is to plant the 1129 Orleck and the 1048 Scherber.

I've put barb wire around the hoop houses to keep Biz from poking around and stealing all my secrets. lol

Hoop Houses in Place & Ready to Grow

I finally completed the construction of my hoop houses yesterday and put them into place just in time to beat the storm. 80 degrees yesterday and snowing this moring. Welcome to the Mile High City!

My last hoop houses were destroyed so I made new ones that were slightly larger. I'm getting very anxious to get my pumpkin plants into the ground but the weather here in Denver is going to be around freezing at night for the next few days so I'm holding off for now. I'm concerned about the plants roots getting bound so I will probably put them in the hoop houses on Saturday with some heat sources to get them going.

Pumpkin Plant Update

I'm getting very anxious to get my pumpkin plants in the ground. The plants have gotten large enough now that it is getting difficult to get them under the grow lights. This morning we woke up to snow on the ground in Denver and the large range forecast is for temperatures around freezing this coming weekend. I'm debating putting them in the ground on Wednesday. I can keep the plants warm enough that they should survive but I'm struggling with whether it would be better to keep them in their puts a few more days or get them going in the ground. I re potted the plants on Saturday but I don't think I can go much beyond this coming Saturday before I run the risk of getting the roots bound up.

Below are pictures of all of the plants except for the 1528 Starr. Click on the picture for a larger view. The first one is of all of the plants. It is interesting to see how similar the last two plants and the first two plants are. The first plant is the 1236 Harp. The second plant is the 1161 Rodonis. Although they are separated by three generations, genetically they are pretty much the same with 1068 and 998/1231 in them. Other than the 1236 has the crinkled leaves those two plants are almost identical in size and shape. The next two plants are the 1129 Orleck and the 1316 Harp. Both of these plants have 985 in them so I would guess that is where the larger leaves are coming from. The 1528 is equally doing well but the wind started to come up when I was taking these pictures so it didn't make it outside. All of my plants are ahead of my plants from last year at the same number of days but they are a touch behind where I think they should be. I'm not sure my grow lights have enough wattage and the weather outside has been cold, overcast and windy so they haven't gotten much direct sunlight yet. The color on all of the plants look good however so they aren't doing to bad. Leave a comment below to tell me which one's you think I should grow...

Pumpkin Plants at 4-6 Days Old

I started soaking my seeds last Monday and Wednesday and now the pumpkin plants are 4-6 days old since the germinating process began. To the right is a picture of all of the plants except for the 1019. 1316 and 1129 are the biggest so far, but the 1528 is on par with those two even though it is two days younger. 1161 is a bit small and the 1236 has those funny crinkled leaves. The weather here in Denver is beautiful so I decided to let them all do a little sunbathing today. Click the picture for a larger view.

The Pumpkin Season has Officially Begun!

My wife would tell you that the giant pumpkin season is a year around hobby for me (and that would be true) but we are now offically off and running. At the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers Spring Meeting on Saturday Joe Scherber announced he had already started his seeds and I know that got more than one grower thinking about their start date.

Last year I planned on starting on the 15th but illness made me wait until the 18th. With the weigh-off last year on September 26th I decided that anything after the 15th was to late to get started. I'd rather let my vines run a little longer with an early start date. This year the weigh-off is on the 25th so I decided to sand and soak my seeds tonight. Right now my seeds are wrapped in a lightly damp paper towel in a 87 degree closet. Hopefully a little root will be popping out of the seeds in the next 24 hours.

This year I'm doing one thing different in my seed starting pots. I've added a little Azos (Azospirillum brasilense) to the pots. Azos is a nitrogen fixing bacteria that will literally take nitrogen from the air and give it to the plants in a usable form. This bacteria comes from the jungles of Brazil. In Niagara they talked about seed starting using Azos where they lightly dusted the seeds with Azos before they were put in the pot and they showed pictures of the trial and and the control plants. The Azos plants in the pictures were literally twice as big as the other plants. I planned on doing some seed starting the same way they did in the trials until I heard the results of the Wiz's trial plantings. What he found was that the Azos plants were much more vigourous growers but he also found that they grew to fast in most of the plants riped off a cot leaf when it was coming out of the seed. Now the Wiz admits that he might have put on to much Azos on the seed and the seeds weren't sanded, but that scared we away a little so I put my Azos in the potting soil rather than on the seed to avoid those kinds of problems.

The next seven days is always a little anxious for a giant pumpkin grower. You spend a fair amount of time deciding which seeds to grow and thinking about the possible crosses you could do with those seeds, but you never know if the seeds will germinate. Last year I tried starting a 1450 Wallace but didn't have any luck with it (a common problem with the 1450). This year I started a couple of backup plants just in case something doesn't work out with the pumpkin plants that I plan on growing. I'll actually put my backup plants in the ground a couple of feet away from my "main" plants and if they are outperforming the main plants I'll rip the main plants out of the ground.

Here is to hoping in 2010! Hope is why we do this crazy pumpkin thing we do.

Big Pumpkin Plant Growth & A Bit of Sadness

The plants have been growing like weeds the last two days. Sunday evening when I was closing up the hoop houses The 1154 Doucet leaves where about an inch away from the 1350 Starr leaves. In the morning at 10:00am the leaves were overlapping. It is fun watching these things get going. They were a bit behind but if they keep this pace then we should be back in the game by the end of the week.

The sad part is that I had to make a decision again. With the plants growing together it was time to decide which plant to grow. I decided to pull the 1154. Good looking plant with some very interesting genetics (world record 1689 crossed with the fourth biggest pumpkin ever grown 1566) but it is an unproven seed at this point so the 1350 got the nod. I potted the 1154 and will be giving it to a friend from church who will hopfully get a big pumpkin from it.

Welcome First Time Giant Pumpkin Growers

So you've decided to go after it this year. To grow a really big pumpkin. Congratulations! Growing pumpkins can be a lot of fun and a great family activity. Below are some links to previous posts I have made about pumpkin growing. Feel free to browse through them and maybe you can find something that will help you in your quest of the Great Pumpkin. If you are looking for really good seeds please visit http://www.coloradopumpkins.com/.

Seeds
Soil Preparation
Fertilization
Watering

My article in the Arvada YourHub made it to print today. If you would like to read the article you can find it here.