Fall Patch Prep is Done

I tilled in the sudan grass today along with about 3 yards of compost and a little gypsum. Didn't need anything else as my NPK is a touch high for everything right now. The middle section of the patch still shows a fair amount of grass popping up because I lost two bolts in the handle of the tiller while I was tilling so I had to go quickly over the remaining area for fear I would break something.

I'm really happy with where the soil is at right now. Much better than where it was at in the spring. The tilth is greatly improved and the organic matter should be much higher. In the Spring I'll add a little more compost from a pile I started this summer.

Friday morning I'm going to sow some winter rye and put clear plastic sheets over it to heat it up and get it growing. Tomorrow night it is supposed to get down to 30 degrees. I'm going to cover the kids pumpkin plant tonight and put a couple of light bulbs under it in the hopes of keeping it alive. It has been making some nice gains the last couple of days and I'd like to keep it going 1.5 more weeks. Right now it is estimating at about 72 pounds which is close to my daughter's personal best of 85 pounds last year. If it can survive tomorrow I'm guessing she and her brother can get it up to 100 pounds.

Check Out the October Issue Of National Geographic

This pumpkin grower is in the October issue of National Geographic. There is a small article that I'm quoted in. I don't remember saying the quote, but hey I got into one of the most recognized and respected magazines in the world. Had to smooth things over with the wife a little. Lol

Congrats to Jim "The Biz" Grande on a New Colorado State Record Pumpkin!

Jim Grande smashed the previous Colorado state record set by the Master Joe Scherber by nearly 150 pounds yesterday with a giant pumpkin weighing 1,283 pounds. The pumpkin was grown from his own 1019 Grande seed. The weigh-off at Jared's nursery yesterday was a great event. To see video highlights from the weigh-off go to www.pumpkinlink.com/rmgvg2009.html.

4th Annual RMGVG Pumpkin Weigh-off, Denver, Colorado

The Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers are pleased to present the 4th annual giant pumpkin weigh-off. The biggest weigh-off in Colorado. It is fun for kids of all ages:

Saturday, September 26th 11:00AM
Jared’s Nursery & Garden CenterLocation: Jared's Nursery and Garden Center 10500 W. Bowles Ave, Littleton, CO

10:00 Junior Division Weigh-Off.
11:00 AM Adult Division Weigh-Off

Galleria of Ghouls -- Free Large straw maze -- Free Straw obstacle course -- Free Music --
Pumpkin Pie Baking Contest -- Face-painting $3-$5 --
Junior Division Pumpkin Weigh Off

Food will be available from:
Magill's Ice Cream , Papa Johns, Tommy's Subs, Woody's Hot Dogs

Directions from C-470 and Bowles: Go east on Bowles to Oak St, go south to the 2nd entrance turn left into our bulk yard, there will be parking attendants. West on Bowles from Kipling: OR Go 1/2 mile west on Bowles to Oak street, go south on Oak to the 2nd entrance.
PLEASE DO NOT PARK AT THE CHURCH LOT

Grow Lights Gone Wild

A friend recently bought a home as an investment. The home was previously used for the illegal growing of a controlled substance. My friend called me and said, "there is lots of hydroponic and grow light stuff, take anything you want."

I belive last year my seed starting lighting didn't have enough wattage so I was excited by the opportunity to get some additional lighting. Apparently the operation at this house was very large. Some of what I got wouldn't work very well for my needs. For example, the 1000 watt HPS light bulb is very cool but would be a little bit of overkill for six pumpkin seedlings. My wife would certainly kill me when she saw the electric bill.

Compost for the Pumpkin Patch

I got about 3 1/2 yards of really nice composted cow manure today. It is three-years-old and just perfect for what I need. My nutrients were on the high side in my last soil test. Since then I turned the soil three feet deep so I suspect I am now more in the normal range. This mature compost should add the organic matter I need without adding a lot of extra NPK to the patch.

Putting on the Pounds in the Late Season

Today's high was about 54 degrees and the over night lows for the next two nights will be in the low 30s. This is pumpkin killing weather. Pumpkin plants don't like frost in the least and when there is frost your season is done. More than likely your pumpkin will survive the frost okay but there is a risk of splits. The leaves however are another story.

In an attempt to keep the kids' pumpkin plant growing I've covered the small plant with clear plastic and then put two light bulbs in with the plant to add a little heat to the space. I don't know if it will work or not but I figured it was worth the 15 minutes to set it up and give it a try.

The best way to protect the plant late in the season is the way Pete did it with remay wrapped around a wood structure (see picture in previous post). It costs a little but it adds warmth and frost protection late in the season to keep the pumpkin growing a couple of extra weeks.

The Kids' Pumpkin is on Target

With 23 growing days remaining the kids right now are 23 inches away from beating their personal best last year of 85 pounds. This year they are growing a 793 Van Hook (1450 Wallace x 1041 Mckie) which should go heavy. It has been a very good plant so far. To bad the hail wiped it out in July but to it's credit it rebounded. This pumpkin has only been growing for 18 days on a small 100 square foot plant but the pumpkin already has a 40" circumference.

The Iceman Cometh

Eddy "the Iceman" was in Denver yesterday. Always appreciate his fun personality and great knowledge. Did a short patch tour and talked pumpkins and politics all night. One of the big discussions was around what Pete Mohr is doing in his small 250 sq foot patch again this year. 1,004 pounds last year and around 1,100 pounds so far this year. You know whatever he is doing he is doing it right. I'm going to spend time building my organic matter in the patch and trying to get more heat into the patch. Those were the two things I learned from his setup.

Sorghum-Sudan Grass As a Green Manure Cover Crop

The Sorghum-Sudan grass that I planted is a real grower. Warm temperatures have helped push it along. I decided to go with it this year rather than annual rye grass or some of the other commonly used cover crops because I had a little more time to let it grow since my patch prep was started early and I had read some great things about it.

Sudan grass is a warm-season annual grass that is an excellent green manure. It has a high biomass, grows fast (up to 6 feet in Colorado), adds a little nitrogen, blocks out weeds, helps build mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, loosens subbsoil with deep roots and has nematode and disease suppression qualities.

I planted it about two weeks ago and it is already about 3 inches tall.

The Kids Pumpkin Plant is in Business

I've been a bit remiss on updates for the kids pumpkin plant. After the storm the plant was devastated. Vines were crushed. Leaves almost gone. I didn't think it had a hope. The damage on their plant wasn't as sever as mine because the plant grows along a south facing fence and the storm came from the north mostly. I don't think the plant was watered for at least a week after the storm but on its own it started to come back. Very slowly new leaves would appear each day. There was even a female flower a few weeks after the storm that we pollinated but the pumpkin aborted.

Eleven days ago we pollinated another pumpkin and this one has taken and it is growing like a champ. The plant is only about 100 square feet in size but the pumpkin is putting on gains that are comparable to a full size plant. I think if the weather can stay good until halloween than they should have a descent sized pumpkin (that is a pretty big if however).

This plant is the 793 Van Hook (1450 Wallace x 1041 Mckie). Lots of heavy in those genes so maybe there is a chance that Haddie can beat her personal best of 85 pounds from last year grown on a Prizewinner plant.

How-to-Grow Giant Pumpkins the Organic Way

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Pumpkin Patch Prep in August

No pumpkins means there is more time to get ready for next year. Yesterday I took patch prep to a new level. Thanks to Chris, owner of CBS Trucking & Excavating and the property that I grow pumpkins on behind my house, we brought out the big guns for the patch prep. Using a backhoe Bob dug down 3 feet deep in the entire patch so we could loosen up the soil deep. There were lots of big rocks that we tossed out of the patch in the process as well. My roto tiller only goes about 8 inches deep and the soil was pretty compacted so the roots were somewhat limited in how deep they could go so loosening up this soil should make a difference.

At about two feet deep we put in a two inch layer of squeegee to help with drainage and to create a hydroponic area for the roots. As I understand it Quinn Werner has something like this and he doesn't grow small pumpkins. Helpfully it will help add an extra 100 pounds on my pumpkins next year. After putting the dug out soil on top of the squeegee and leveling it out I put down 6 pounds of soil sulfur, 2 pounds of humic acid, 1 pounds of 7-5-5 organic fertilizer and 5 pounds of 12-0-0 blood meal that Ross at Soil Menders gave to the growers at the patch tour (thanks Ross!). That was then roto tilled in lightly accross the entire patch. I was also going to put in some compost that CBS trucking had but it had disappeared so I'll get some compost and add it in November. In all I think the hard work will pay off. The soil had fluffed up enough to be 6-8 inches higher than it origionally was before the dig.

After roto tilling I put down some sudan grass seed and then racked the whole area patch area. Sundan grass is a fast growing grass that is a great green manure. I first heard about it from Joe Jutras and Ron Wallace on the SNGPG video. The grass will grow to 4 feet of more and has roots that will go down as far as 3 feet. They roots help with myco innoculations and will add good organic matter to the patch. I am a little late in the season for this grass but I should be able to get it growing for 6 weeks which will be enough time to get it at least a couple of feet high before the frost hits.

Soil test was sent in last week so that will help me determine what else I need to add to the patch in November. What I have added so far was just spoon feeding and mostly consisted with what I had leftover from this season.


I Started a new compost pile this week as well. The horse manure came from the great grandson of Man of War so hopefully there will be some good growth hormones in it to grow big next year (Lol). I also added a bunch of leaves that were leftover from the big storm as well as some grass clippings. It is already heating up nicely and should be ready for final patch prep in April.

Fertilizing the Pumpkin Plant

A local grower asked me today about the fertilizer program that I use to grow giant pumpkins. It is a good question that is frequently asked by growers of pumpkins and any other garden vegetable. The following is my standard response to that question:

The right amount of fertilizer greatly depends on what your soil and pumpkin plant needs. I know it sounds like a cop out answer but that is the facts. Putting on fertilizer without knowing what is in your soil is like randomly taking penicillin. It might just be what you need and it might just cause you problems. My soil last year was low on everything but phosphorus so I gave it a little more fertilizer at some points in the season. The last two weeks of the season I was concerned that my 755 pound baby might split so I gave it almost no fertilizers prior to the weigh-off.

Ideally what you want to do in the spring is have a soil test done and then amend appropriately based on the results and recommendations from that test. Joe Jutras, the world record holder, last year grew a 1507 pound pumpkin and he didn't fertilize at all after early spring because his soil test showed he was a little high in everything. Personally I like to give the plant a little foliar feeding every week, even if it is just compost tea, because the leaves can absorb a little nutrients and sometime the roots for various reasons can't pull and distribute everything the plant needs very well.

If you aren't planning a soil test (and even if you are) then watch closely what the plant is telling you. If the leaves are yellowing, if the pumpkin isn't growing very well, if the leaves are dull looking, in the early season if the vines aren't growing very fast then the plant is telling you it might need something (or possibly it has to much of something). A good general rule for plant maintenance is about 1/8 cup of fish & seaweed (2-3-1) fertilizer or just seaweed (0-0-5) fertilizer per week or about the same amount of a good organic granular fertilizer (3-3-3). These doses are assuming that you plant's main vine is at least 7 feet long. If your plant is smaller than adjust accordingly. If you just planted your pumpkin plant give it almost no fertilizer for at least the first 10 days after it is planted outdoors. The numbers on the bag or bottle don't have to exactly match the numbers I have listed but should be close. Early season you want a little more nitrogen (first number). Late season you possibly want more potash (last number). These lower numbers will help maintain the nutrients needed to keep the pumpkin growing at a good steady pace.

Grow em big!

2009 RMGVG Patch Tour

The Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers had their annual patch tour yesterday. It is always a lot of fun. Thanks Wiz for taking the time to put it all together. The following are some of the pictures from the tour.

Jim Grande's 1019 Grande (this is a seed to watch)

Joe Scherber's 1343 Lyons (The leaves must be 3-4' tall)

Greg Hopson's 985 Werner (great to see Greg's hard work paying off for him this year)

RIP HailBoy

HailBoy, the pumpkin who initially survived a horrific hail storm and tornado died today due to trauma caused by the storm. It grew for 17 days. It put up a good fight, but in the end the hail was just to much. It was an estimated 35 lbs and is now the 35 est. Johnson (1350 Starr x 1566 Rodonis). That weight is almost too embarrassing to print. Not the 1200 Johnson that I was hoping for. There were actually seeds inside and many seemed mature enough to possibly be viable. In a couple of weeks I'll plant 5 seeds and see if anything comes up.

If they are good and you would like some seeds just let me know. Thad Starr was once told not to grow the 227 Leland because the seed came from a very small pumpkin. He then went off and grew a 1,524 pounder off of it. I'm going to go under him by 192 pounds and make the hottest new seed from a 35 pounder. Lol

Thanks to Chris Strickler at CBS Excavating for letting me grow on his property this year!

This One Hurts to Look At

The first photo was taken one week before the storm. The second photo was taken one week after the storm. The 1566 Rodonis is in the foreground and 1350 Starr at the back of picture. I haven't touched anything around the 1566 plant. What you see is exactly what the storm did. The 1350 plant was slightly protected by the shed that is in the top left of the picture. The 1566 was completely in the open and got mowed.

Renewal of the Patch

If one thing is sure, life wants to go on. That is double the case for the 1350 Starr. New leaves popping up all over the battered pumpkin plant. Still no growth on the pumpkin but it is holding together so far so we will take that as a victory.

Started a new compost pile on Saturday using leaves collected from the neighborhood that were knocked off the trees during the storm.

Pumpkin is Oranging Up

The pumpkin is definitely turning oranger the last few days. The orange color must be coming through the 1370 Rose side of it's genetics. The pumpkin hasn't grown the last two days however. At this point it seems solid and the oozing has stopped but no new circumference growth. The pumpkin stopped at the same time that a number of new leaves started popping up all over the previously bare plant. I'm hoping that the plant switched gears into vegetative mode and will start putting on pounds again once the leaves are grown. Or, and I've seen this before, the pumpkin may just stay together and not put on any more size. That would be okay with me because at least I should be able to get some seeds out of it if that is the case. There are about 30 more days until the seeds might be mature. Some pumpkin seeds are mature at about 45 days. Some take longer.

Some Additional Pictures of the Pumpkin Patch After the Big Storm

The following pictures were taken about 14 hours after the hail storm. Additional details in the post below. The miracle is that the pumpkin is still growing. Don't know how much longer however. I'm hoping to get it far enough along to get seeds out of it but there are a few spots that clear, gel like liquid are oozing out of which is probably a sign that the battered spots are beginning to rot. I've been spraying diluted bleach on the pumpkin and trying to keep it dry in the hopes of saving it. None the less it has put on about 5 1/4 inches since the storm without any leaves on the plant and I would say that isn't half bad.