A Touch of Fertilizer this Morning

I lied. Yesterday I said no fertilizer this week but I noticed that growth on both plants had slowed down and that the vine tip on the 1236 Harp looked a little stressed so I gave both plants a very small touch of blood meal and alfalfa pellets to help it along. I haven't given either plants much in the way of nitrogen this season and I was concerned that the plants were bonking so a figured a little wouldn't hurt in this case.

Tea Time & Pumpkin Vine Maintainance

I gave both plants some compost tea this evening. No fertilizer this week since there are new pollinations on both plants. The 1236 pollination at 11' seems to have taken. The pumpkin is shiny and still growing. Hoping that the new pollination on the 1161 will lay down tomorrow. The first 5 vines on each side of the 1161 will probably be terminated by the end of this week. The main on the 1236 will be at the end of the patch probably this week as well. I'm ready to be done with vines and start growing some big pumpkins.

Pollination #2 Today

Today I pollinated the 1161 at about 13' with Joe's 1544 Revier. The 1544 is 1385 Jutras x 1161 Rodonis so it has some fire power in it. The Pollinator of the 1544 grew to 1,579 pounds. Joe's plant has been a real beast of a grower. Most all of the traits I look for I've seen in this plant so I think it should be a good cross.

The pumpkin on the 1161 at 9' has been a slow grower so far. To early to worry about it, but hopefully this plant will be kicked into high gear in three weeks. The vines and root system of this plant are to good to not grow big.

The 1236 pumpkin that was pollinated a few days ago seems to be doing okay. Still shiney and growing and that is the two most important things at this point.

Hot in the Pumpkin Patch Today!

Its 11:00 in Denver and it is already 93 degrees today with a forecasted high of 99 degrees. Not good pumpkin growing weather. This year's plant seems fine up to about 92 degrees and then after that the heat starts burning up the new leaves. I saw a little of that yesterday on the new leaves on the side vines.

To combat the high temps I've got chairs over the main vine tips to shade them as well as over the pumpkins. At 11:00 and 12:00 I've got the sprinklers set to run for 1 minute and from 1:00-4:00 I've got the sprinkler timer set to mist mode which means it will run every 15 minutes for 20 seconds to cool off the leaves. And then at 5:00 I've got the timer to run the sprinkler again for one minute. That along with the 14% shade from the hail netting will hopefully keep the plants happy today.

I split 1/8 cup of fish & seaweed between both plants yesterday evening. Between that and the warm night last night caused a fair amount of growth before this morning. Seemed like there were new long tendrils everywhere today.

Pics from the Pumpkin Patch

The first picture below is of the 1236 Harp. This plant likes to grow long faster than it grows wide. I pollinated a pumpkin at about 11' where the green chair is located and another at around 9' where the white chair is located. Second picture is the 1161 Rodonis. I'm still really liking this plant. Great leaves, massive root system. Not as fast growing on the main as the 1236 but it grows some great side vines. One pollination at 9' and another coming in the next few days at about 13'. I have my weed cloth down with a few inches of sand on it now for the pumpkins to grow on. The sand allows the pumpkin to slide as it grows and helps moisture drain away quickly so the pumpkin doesn't rot on the bottom. Gave the plants some compost tea yesterday and CO2 with magnesium the day before.

Pollination, Compost Tea & Sprinkler Heads

This morning I pollinated on the main a pumpkin at about 9 feet (pictured right) on the 1236 Harp. Probably won't be my keeper. I've got a female at 11' coming on the main that will be ready for pollination in the next week. The 1161 has a female at 13' as well so I may have my two possible keepers coming on. Timing is just about right too as I anticipate pollinating them on around the 23rd to 27th which is just about the perfect time.

Last night I did some foliar compost tea with fish, seaweed and a touch of blood meal. Figure I would try to give a little push to the plants before the next pollinations take place to try to get as much vine as possible before pollinations. About 14 days after pollination the vines slow down a lot in growth.

Finally finished the patch setup for this season (the wife is very happy). Put in two additional sprinkler heads today to give better water coverage. I was finding in the past that the leaves were blocking the water so that there were big dry spots under the canopy. Now I'm hitting the leaves from three of more directions. Wish I had a dan micro setup but this will do for now.

Solar Powered Pumpkins

Around weigh-off time last year I thought a lot about how to deal with the cool Colorado nights which seem to slow down our pumpkin growth a lot. The best practical (i.e. not a ton of money) method I came up with was reflective tarps so the plants would warm up faster in the morning. The theory is if the air can be warmed up a little faster in the cool of morning by reflecting the suns rays until 10:00am we might gain 15 minutes more growth each day. That may not seem like much, but over 90 days that can add up to nearly 1 more growing day over the course of a season which should mean more pounds on the scale. It might be crazy but I thought I would give it a try.

I've got the mister sprinklers going these days on the timer. Every hour from 11:00 to 4:00 the sprinklers run for one minute which is just enough to cool the leaves off in the heat of the summer days and keeps leaf burn down a lot.

Pollination Time!

It has been almost 11 months since I've had a pumpkin. It is finally growing time again. The picture to the right is the first pumpkin on the main for me to pollinate. At about 9 feet out it is probably not going to be my keeper, but you never know which ones will take so I will be pollinating them all. For some reason I only pollinate on days that are really hot. Tomorrow will be near 90 degrees with high winds so it must be pollination time. I'm a little early in the season for pollination. About another week from now will be perfect. Last year I pollinated my first at about this same distance on June 27th so we are running about 11 days ahead of last year.

To the right is a picture of the first pumpkin. A little mud rains from splashed from the hail storm. I like the shape of the pumpkins this plant is throwing. Looks like I'm getting the 1450 side of the genetics which is great. A touch of long in the shape with a nice sized stem. I like that!

Gave the plant some CO2 yesterday and some compost tea today.

Note To Self

Don't move around vines, even in the heat of day, that are water logged from three days of heavy rain or else they may crack.

(cracked a side vine near the end of the vine when staking the vine down - darn)

Pumpkin Plant Hail Damage

So far it looks like the 1161 damage isn't to bad. One side vine was terminated but the rest of the vines look like they should still grow. Leaf damage for about the first foot of the side vines was realitively bad, but it was only about a foot or so of the side vine ends that got hit so it shouldn't be a big deal.

I've been thinking about terminating these side vines a little bit early and growing the next set of vines that are closer to the pumpkin really long filing in the space where the other vines would have grown. I like the idea of younger, longer vines closer to the pumpkin to feed the pumpkin later in the season.

Almost no growth since late Friday on the plants but they are water logged and primed to grow right now. All of the vine tips are pointed in the air from all of the rain. Once the heat comes back to Denver tomorrow and particularly Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we will probably be growing a foot a day or more.

Big Hail in Denver Again!

My plants survived today's storm but the 1161 took a bit of a beating. The hail netting held perfectly, but at times the hail was coming in at a sharp angle and got the right hand side of the 1161 plant. The 1236 maybe got 5-10 holes in it but no big deal. I was thinking just this morning how pristine the leaves looked on both plants. No leaf burn, green color, nearly perfect. Not any more.

The hail netting did just what it was designed to do. 90% of the hail bounced off to the sides and it didn't tear or break at all. Without the netting my season would have pretty much been done. The kids pumpkin plant isn't dead, but very beat up (see last photo). I feel bad for them but it will come back and grow a pumpkin.

Plants Are Growing Like Weeds & Hail Netting is In Finally!

I've killed myself for the last week putting in the hail netting but it is finally done. My wife has been a little cross while I've been digging post holes and pouring cement at 10:00 at night. I'm going to put in some more cross wires to better support the netting but we should be okay for now as long as there are only small hail storms. Of course I expect no hail now since I've gone to all of this work to put up this netting.

The pumpkin plants have been growing like crazy this last week during our warm Denver weather. Both plants are out of the hoop houses and growing about 6-12 inches per day. Right now I'm looking at keeper pollinations around June 18-20th. Way ahead of last year.

The 1161 Rodonis (second picture) is looking more and more like my 1566 plant from last year. I've got a female about 8 feet out on the main now. The pumpkins are looking long in shape but not quite as long as the females I had on the 1566. Lots of burying of vines and adding myco these days. Its fun to watch the vines grow but it is sure hard work keeping up with them.

The 1236 Harp (third picture) really kicked into gear the last 4 days. It is still a bit behind the 1161 but the main seems to be growing faster than the 1161 lately. This plant shows lots of signs of vigor.

I did a final till of the soil today. Didn't add any amendments as I think I have everying in the soil that I need. Just needed to uncompact some of the areas that my foot prints had packed down and till in the green manure (aka weeds). Just waiting for the pumpkins now.

Latest Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch

The 1161's main is about 5 feet long now and growing about 6 inches per day with the side vines coming along very nicely (first picture). The 1236 main is about 4 feet long now and growing about 5 inches per day. I started burying the vines today with myco to get the roots growing at the leaf nodes.

The 1161 plant reminds me a fair amount of my 1566 plant from last year. Maybe not quite as thick of foliage, but the leaves, yellowish vines and plant vigor are very similar in most every other way. I guess it shouldn't be surprising since it is a reverse cross of the 1566 plant. Right now the 1161 mail is about 8 inches from the end of the hoop house.

Pumpkin Roots

I worked on the hail netting structure today and boy am I sore tonight. I'm almost done and I will be happy when I am. I had to move one of the hoop houses a foot in order to get a pole in and on one side of the hoop house I had a bag of sand on the edge of the hoop house in order to keep it from flying away in our Denver spring wind storms. To my suprise, when I move the bag, I saw pumpkin roots under it about 2 1/2 feet from the edge of the closest leaves. Atlantic Giant pumpkin plants continue to amaze me. In particular this 1161 plant has been amazing. The root structure looks equally as good as the leaves. If I don't kill this plant and if I can get a pumpkin to set on it we will be growing big in a month. Those are awfully big IFs however.

Two of Three Happy Pumpkin Plants

Both of my plants seem super happy. Green leaves, good growth and nice vigor right now. Finally a week of sun and warmer weather have kicked the plants into high gear. Couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Both of the plants got their grow on about the same time that the better weather came in so things couldn't be much better. The kids plant however has been struggling for the past two weeks. It is growing but the leaves have been drooping a lot this week and the color is a touch yellow these days. The kids have been doing a good job of watering and misting it in the heat but something is a bit off with this plant. Two weeks ago it was the best plant of the three and now it has fallen behind.

I gave the plants some compost tea today with an extra boost of alfalfa pellets in the tea. Alfalfa has triacontanol in it which is a naturally occuring plant hormone that acts as a growth promoter. Triacontanol increases yield by improving photosyntheseis and cell division.

1161 Main Vine Finally Lays Down

The main for the 1161 Rodonis plant finally laid down today. The main is about 2.5 feet long but it had been hanging about an inch off the ground for days. Now things are going to really get fun. Lots of new side vine growth this week on both plants so the vines will start running like crazy over the next 6 weeks.

Vine burying is a lot of work but that is what I will be doing for the next 6 weeks. This isn't my favorite time of the season. It is fun watching the vines grow a foot a day but it can be time consuming hard work getting all of the vines buried so roots will come out of the leaf nodes but it is vitally important in growing a big pumpkin.

The 1161's main vine is a nice looking one. Might even turn out to be one of those big, beefy thick vines that I've seen on some plants. My 755 plant had relatively thin vines in 2008.

Gave the plants some compost tea today.

My hoop houses are looking pretty beat up these days. Small holes are starting to appear and the poles are all leaving opposite of the wind. Three 50+ mph wind storms and a snow storm can be brutal on a hoop house. Good thing I'll probably only need the hoop house two more weeks at the most.

Secret Formula for Record Breaking Pumpkins: Part 2

A little over a week ago I talked about a secret project I have going to grow bigger giant pumpkins. I promised a full disclosure of what I did in my tests along with results so this post is going to reveal all.

As everyone knows carbon dioxide (CO2) contributes to plant growth as part of the miracle of nature known as photosynthesis. This enables plants to combine carbon dioxide and water with the aid of light energy to form sugar. Some of these sugars are converted into complex compounds that increase dry solid plant substances for continued growth to final maturity. However, when the supply of carbon dioxide is cut off, or reduced, the complex plant cell structure cannot utilize the sun's energy fully and growth or development is slowed down.

A Colorado State University study with carnations and other flowers in controlled CO2 atmospheres ranging from 200 to 550 ppm found that the higher the CO2 concentrations the higher the rate of formation of dry plant matter and total flower yield.

In my tests what I did is take a regular pop bottle, drill a hole in the cap and glued a bendable straw into the whole to create my CO2 chamber. I then took warm water, dry yeast and sugar and put it into the pop bottle.

CO2 is produced by yeast fermenting sugar into alcohol. Slowly the pressure will rise within the pop bottle as more and more C02 is produced so the hole in the cap and the straw produces a conduit for the CO2 gas to escape. The straw is placed over the pumpkin leaves so as the CO2 gas comes out it falls down to the leaves (CO2 is heavier than air) so additional photosynthesis can take place. Please note: the bottle will explode if you don't put a hole in the cap and don't fill the bottle more than half way full of water.

I should note that my pumpkin plants are in enclosed hoop houses so there is no wind and the CO2 is somewhat trapped within the enclosure. Otherwise most of the CO2 would probably just be carried away.

Will added CO2 by itself create a state record pumpkin? No. But what I can report is that it appeared to have an effect on plant growth. I have two pumpkin plants in each of my hoop houses. Over one plant I put the CO2 generator straw so when the CO2 came out it would fall down across the leaves. Over the 2nd plant I put nothing. Each plant that got the CO2 outgrew the plant that didn't get the CO2. It might have just been a coincidence, but in the case of one hoop house the CO2 plant was behind the none CO2 plant at the begininning of the week and in the course of one week it passed it. Again there are a lot of factors when it comes to plant growth but based on my trials there doesn't seem to be a reason to not give your plants CO2 this way.

Nitrogen Time and Hail Netting Poles

Yesterday I gave the pumpkin plants nitrogen for the first time this season along with a little compost tea. Thad Starr taught me to hold off on the nitrogen so the young plants will focus on rooting early on rather than vining. Fast growing vines and big leaves are fun to see early in the season but this is a pumpkin contest and not a salad contest. A large root system will power the pumpkins as the season goes on.

The first picture to the right is the 1161. Second picture is the 1236. Both plants have good color and seem to be happy. The 1161 is growing a bit faster. The 1236 likes to grow towards the sky. It's been that way ever since it came out of the ground. It has a lot of double leaves coming out of each node. I'm hoping that is a sign of vigor rather than a sign that it is going to double vine. We will have to wait and see. Both plants I estimate are about 12 days ahead of where my plants were at with the same number of growing days last year so I am right on target for pollinating at 10-14' out on the main vine the last week of June which is my goal.

I spent a good part of my Saturday digging holes and cementing in poles for my hail netting. I wanted to have all of the poles in by now but busy schedules and the time that it takes hasn't allowed me to do that yet. I need to have it all done by June however so I'll have to pick it up a notch. Right now 7 of the 15 poles are in. Back and fingers are sore however from the work.

Sometimes people ask me why I do a pumpkin blog. One reason is to share ideas about pumpkin growing that I come up with, but the main reason is that it is a kind of a grower diary for me. It gives me a place where I can compare the growth of my plants from previous years and a place to look up when I last added amendments to the plants. My wife says other things about the blog. You can read them here on her popular mommy blog.

Monday is P-day

Probably on Monday I will be going down to one plant in each hoop house. That is always a sad thing because you always hate to see a good plant go down. If anyone is interested in a 1528 Starr or 1316 Harp pumpkin plant please let me know. Without question my two best plants are the 1161 Rodonis and 1236 Harp right now.

The plan is to put up the posts for the hail netting this Saturday and after I know the poles haven't fallen on any of the plants then I will probably dig up the plants that didn't make the cut and go with the finalists.

This evening I put a product called CO2 (nanoized calcium) on my kids pumpkin plant. Tomorrow I'll put some on my plants. Some giant pumpkins were grown last year using CO2 and although I'm not 100% sure it has a big impact on pumpkin size I thought I would give it a try.

I also gave all of the pumpkin plants a healthy amount of compost tea today. I believe this is the third time I have watered the plants with compost tea. Until the plants get too large I will water the plants with compost tea every other watering. Compost tea is an excellent way to build soil biology with healthy bacteria and fungus.

The 1161 Rodonis is about three inches from having the main vine line down on the ground. So far it is looking to be a very nice plant. The 1236 is still mostly pointing right up in the air. The kids plant is needing a little help from daddy because the main was planted pointing the wrong way because daddy planted it the wrong direction so we are slowing moving the main over the top using bamboo sticks to get it pointed the right way.

The 1236 Harp Pumpkin Seed

The picture to the right is the 1236 Harp. It has an interesting cross being 998 Pukos x 1385 Jutrus. The pollinator for this plant was the 1385 Jutrus that grew the world record 1,725 pound pumpkin. The pollinator for the 1385 Jutrus was the 998 Pukos that grew the 1,689 pound world record. The pollinator for the 998 Pukos was the 1446 Eaton that grew the 1,446 pound world record. Are you beginning to see a pattern? I'm just hoping for a nice, big giant. This plant so far has been completely resilient to sun, clouds, hot or cold. It almost always looks the same. It hasn't been a super fast grower but it hasn't been slow. Christy said that the first month her world record pumpkin grew it was a relatively slow grower. She hoped it would get to 1,100 pounds by the end of the season. Apparently it found another gear to get to 1,725 pounds. I'm hoping this plant carries those genes.