What Not to Do

I had a DOH! morning this morning. Did the stupid thing. I saw a new curly vine growing near the tip of the 1350s main vine and I usually take those off because they just take energy from the plant in my opinion. I reached over to the curly vine and pinched it and then pulled and as the curely vine came off one part of it wasn't fully pinched and it tore a strip along the main vine all the way to the tip of the main. Put explitives here. I had to terminate the main vine about to where a secondary was growing about 5 inches away. Lost a days growth in the process.

The vines on both plants continue to grow on shedule but I'm praying for warmer weather. I'd like to pollinate at 12 feet and I'm not sure it is going to make that by the 4th right now. We are more in the 10-11 foot range at this time. Cutting a days growth off the main vine (AKA negative growth) doesn't help things either.

Insects and Giant Pumpkins

Last year I didn't use any insecticides on my pumpkin plant because I didn't have any issues. This week I found a bunch of eggs on the underside of some of the leaves on the 1566 plant. It appears that they are aphid eggs but I can't be 100% sure. To make sure I don't run into any problems I hit the plant with a broad spectrum insecticide. I'll continue to watch the plants to make sure nothing appears and I'll probably use some soap in a week just to be sure.

Joe Scherber pointed something out to me that I was aware of but didn't fully put together. He suggested that my plant may be stressed and that was the reasons the aphids were appering on the plant. He suggested too little light, cold temperatures or water issues may be the source of the stress. He didn't know it but for the first two items my plant has been ideally taken care of. For the last item however there is an issue. A low spot in the soil near the planting spot has been collecting water during our frequent and heavy rains lately. The soil in that spot hasn't been drying out and this is not good for the roots. Constantly wet soil can cause air to be forced out of the root zone and diseases can then start forming. I haven't given the plant any water for over a week and a half but the spot is still wet. Over the next few days I'm working to dry out the spot (although its tough when the forecast is for 70 degrees and possible rain) and then I will level out the soil to hopefully fix the problem.

Pumpkin Plant Growth Update

So far we are on track for the 1566 main vine growth (see previous post for more details). It grew about 4 inches yesterday. The 1350 grew about as much but since the main decided to go to the side rather than straight out (usually the main goes opposite of the first true leaf) we are about a foot short as I bend the vine around. Vine maintenance is done during the heat of the day so that the vine is more ply able and won't snap. I like to use bamboo shoots to guide the vine and also to stake it down so the vines don't get blown around in heavy winds. The 1350 is growing fast so no worries at this point on getting the main out to 10 feet by June 28th as long as the weather plays nice and warm.

Your Pumpkin Main Vine

This time of year you hear a lot from giant pumpkin growes about their pumpkin's main vines. Where you want to set (or pollinate) you pumpkin is on the main vine (or the origional vine that all of the side vines come out of). The minimum length that you want your pumpkin to set is at least 10 feet from the stump. This will give your pumpkin plant enough mass (i.e. leaves) behind the pumpkin to power the pumpkins growth.

The reason growers talk about the main vine growth this time of year is that it is important to get that main vine out to 10+ feet by about June 28th. At that time hopefully a little female flower will start forming and by 6 days later that flower will open up and be ready to be pollinated around the 4th of July. What is magic about the 4th for pollination? Pumpkin growing is all about timing. Growing a massive root system and getting enough leaves is important to power the pumpkin. The timing of when those events happen is equally as important. Growing salad to early in the season as a result of to much nitrogen can cause minimal root growth which will hurt you later in the season. Growing the plant too big too fast can also force you to remove hoop houses to early which opens the plants up to the elements and that can cause potential problems as well. However if you don't get your main out fast enough your pumpkin will start growing to late. Each day that your pumpkin isn't pollinated after the 4th of July will cause you 3-20 pounds of lost weight which can mean potentially a hundred pounds lost on the scale. Pumpkin growing is often about the little things. When you talk to heavy hitters you begin to realize there isn't a big secret or magic bullet to giant pumpkin growing. It is about doing the 30 small things right and those small things add up to big weights at the end of the season.

Right now I need to average about 5 inches a day in main vine growth in order to pollinate at 11-12 feet, which is my goal. I'll keep you updated on the growth. If I can do 3.5 inches per day right now and the weather gets warm I should be okay because the main vine should start growing a foot a day about 2 weeks from now.

2 1/4 Inches of Rain in Denver Makes for Big Pumpkin Growth

The rain finally stopped after 1 1/2 days this morning. I hadn't seen the plants in nearly two days. The 1350 did some big growth and actually passed the 1566 in main vine length. The 1566 is still a bigger more hefty plant but it now has some competition. Below are the latest pics. I'll be giving the plants some compost tea and liquid fish fertililizer (5-1-1) tonight to keep the plants in high gear.

1566 Rodonis

1350 Starr

Pumpkin Patch Drainage

One thing you think about some but can't really test is the drainage of the pumpkin patch during a big rain storm. The ability of the patch to absorb water is one aspect but the other aspect is the ability of the patch to allow excess water to run off the patch once it can't absorb it. My patch has okay drainage. After 5-6 hours of rain you start to get puddles which can be a potential problem for the plant. We have had about 12 hours of none stop rain and I'm grateful for it. The plant is still relatively small and nice and dry in the hoop house but outside of the hoop house a number of puddles formed that I'm going to need to take care of. If it wasn't for some long and heavy rains I wouldn't have recognized these issues and might have had problems later in the year. The picture is from the back window of my house. If you click the image you will see small channels cut in the soil beyond the fence where the hoop houses are to temporarily help with the drainage.

Nitrogen Feeding the Pumpkin

My patch was low in nitrogen at the beginning on the season so I gave the plants a little boost with about two teaspoons of cotton seed meal around the stump area. Cotton seed meal is an organic slow release fertilizer that is a good source of nitrogen. It is also good for lowering ph and my patch could use some help in that respect.

The rest of the patch got 3 pounds of blood meal. Blood meal is a fast release organic fertilizer and that fertilizer will feed the plant as the roots and vines go out.

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.

The Great Thing About Hoop Houses

The last few days have been relatively cool in Denver. 60s and 70s for the most part and more of the same for the next few days. The great thing about growing a pumpkin in a hoop house is lower temperatures really don't matter. It is 11:00 right now and it is a perfect 84 degrees in my hoop house with an outside temperature of 66 degrees. Windy days are also not a problem for plants growing in hoop houses. The wind goes sailing by with just a gentle breeze coming through the hoop house. Colorado growers have talked about the challenges of growing in our enviroment for years. I believe the three main things that cause us trouble is lack of humidity, big and quick temperature changes, hail storms and high UV light. The hoop house kind of evens things out in many ways. In my hoop house, with a 75 watt bulb in it at nigth (with the light shielded from the plant), the temperature usually doesn't get lower than 53 degrees at night, the humidity is higher because the plastic holds the moisture in, the plastic cover protects the plants from smaller hail and I would believe at least some UV rays would be filtered out by the plastic. The biggest challenge with hoop houses is not letting it get to hot. On a cloudy day where the sun breaks through the clouds the temperature can easily rise 10 degrees in 15 minutes. In an hour or so the temperature in the hoop house can easily get over 100 degrees. I have a wireless thermometer in my hoop house and I work from home so I can easily watch the temperature all day and modify how much I open the hoop house to control the temperature.

Update (2:00pm): Pea sized hail just hit and the hoop houses held strong so no damage to the plants at all. At least one item on my least has held true to this point. Almost a year ago my plant got hit by hail and I lost about a foot of the main vine. Mitigating risk is a big part of growing big pumpkins.

Photos from the Patch

The following are the latest pics from the pumpkin patch. Gave them some nitrogen today so hopefully the next group of pictures will show a burst of growth.



1566 Rodonis



793 Van Hook



1350 Starr



1154 Doucet

Main Vines are Getting Ready To Run

This time of year can be kind of boring in regards to pumpkin growing. Thad Starr said it well in an email last week when he said, "I hate this time of the year. You wait and anticipate it all winter, finally get to start your seeds, then schreeeech! Wait and wait for the little bastards to grow. They are so slow to start!" The 1566 contines to do fairly well. The 1350 had very little growth for about a week so I planted a back plant next to it and it got the message. In the last two days it grew two new leaves and there are signs of life in the plant again.

The warm weather is really starting to help the growth too. I've been giving the plants a little extra water as well to help them along.

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.

Photos of Pumpkin Plants in Hoop Houses

The following are pictures of the pumpkin plants in their hoop houses. The 1566 Rodonis was planted 4 days before the 1350 Starr and 793 Van Hook (which the kids are growing) but both of them have been a little slower getting going.

1566 Rodonis

1350 Starr

793 Van Hook

Pumpkin Plant Status Update

Of the nine seeds I planted only one didn't germinate and that was the 1450 Wallace. Two other plants germinated but don't look like they are going to make it and they are the 1269 Hunt and 1363 Werner. Of all the plants the 1566 Rodonis is doing the best right now. Really rapid growth. It is followed by the 1350 Starr which had a bit of a slow start and is now the second biggest plant and the 793 Van Hook. The 1154 Doucet, 1004 Mohr and 1187 Hunt are also growing and look to do well. I only have two full-size spots and one small spot to grow on. My two children will grow on the smaller spot. My wife will belittle all of us during the process (we call her the pumpkin widow). The plants will be planted outdoors in the hoop houses late tomorrow afternoon. It looks like the 1566 Rodonis, 1350 Starr will go into my patch and the 793 Van Hook will be grown by the kids. If you are interested in the three extra plants please let me know. They all have fantastic genetics and I would hate for them not to be grown. I have had a couple of people already ask me for plants but right now expect to have one extra.

From what I have been able to find only two 793s have been grown so far and only one was a real attempt. The 793 Van Hook is 1041 McKie x 1450 Wallace. The 1041 grew the second biggest pumpkin of all-time and is well known for going really heavy. The 1450 Wallace grew the 5th biggest pumpkin of all time and tends to go heavy as well. The 793's progeny have had a nice orange color which I think the kids will really like.

The 1566 Rodonis had an amazing first year with 11 pumpkins over 1,000 pounds. In my opinion it is one of the top 5 seeds right now. The 1566 grew the largest damage pumpkin last year and is one of the 5 biggest pumpkins ever grown. It sometimes throws a great orange color. From growers I have spoken to that grew the 1566 last year they all said it was a great trouble free plant that tends to have lots of female blossoms and great late season pumpkin growth.

The 1350 Starr grew the 2nd biggest pumpkin last year and the 10th biggest pumpkin of all-time. The 1350 grows a nice smooth pumpkin and tends to have an amazing root system. It generally throws a lighter orange color.

Hoop Houses for Pumpkin Plants

I put out my hoop houses today to continue to warm the soil before transplanting. My hoop houses are green house like structures that the plants will stay in until late May to keep them warm and protected from the elements. Ideally I would put the plants into their hoop houses on Saturday but the weather is looking to be bad so I am going hold off until Monday evening. My hoop houses have 2x4 wood bases with a 7.75' x 6.5' dimension. I drilled holes into the 2x4s that are big enough to put 10' long pieces of 3/4 inch white irrigation pipe which is bent from hole to hole to create the hoops. I then put plastic (6 mil or thicker plastic is preferable) over the structure to create the green house for the plants. On warm, windless days I will take the hoop house off the plants. On warm days with some wind I will open up the hoop houses to try to keep the temperature between 80-85 degrees and at the same time keep the plants safe. At night I will have a 60 watt bulb in the hoop house to warm it with a brooder over the bulb so that the light doesn't point towards the plants. You want the plants to rest at night so as little light as possible the better.

Here we go....

On Your Mark...

Get set...

GROW...

The season is off and running. It is amazing how in just 36 hours these things grow. Unfortunatley the 1450 Wallace didn't germinate but we have some other great seeds that are doing very well.

Finally, Pumpkin Patch Prep is Complete

The soil finally got dry enough the I could do the final patch prep. Today I put down some nitrogen to make up for what was loss during the soil flush along with some PAM. PAM is my secret ingredient this year from Wallace Laboratories. To make a long story short, it turns out the manufacturer for PAM is just a mile from my house and I found it by accident. After talking to the owner of the plant and reading the scientific literature I believe PAM can give my soil the structure that it needs which will hopefully translate into big and better root structor. It is fun to watch pumpkin plant vines run and see big leaves, but at the end of the day big pumpkins come as a result of great root systems.

Next steps for the pumpkin patch will be putting down some large sheets of clear plastic to warm the soil and help keep it dry from the coming rain storms and putting the hoop houses into place. Hopefully we will be putting plants into the ground about two weeks from tomorrow.

The picture to the right shows the finished patch. The two stakes are where the plants will be planted.

Pumpkin Seed Planting

Giant pumpkin growers are always searching for great genetics to grow from. Winter time is filled with seed trades and research for which seeds to grow the next season. The most coveted seeds like the 1068 Wallace can go for $750 or more in auction per seed. When you have a good seed you want to make sure it germinates and grows into a nice pumpkin plant. Investing into a seed that doesn't germinate can be very disappointing and potentially costly. To try to mitigate the risk this is what I do when planting Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds:

1. Write the number of the seed with a permanent ink so you don't get your seeds mixed up when planting



2. Lightly file the edge of your seed with some sand paper until you just start to see a light brown color coming through. Sanding the seed will help the plant get out of the shell and get it growing sooner. Atlantic Giant seeds can sometimes have tough shells so this helps get the seed off to a good start.



3. Soak the seed for 1 hour in warm water with a small drop of liquid seaweed in the water. The soaking will help start the germinating process faster and the cytokinin in the seaweed helps increase germination rates and may help early plant growth.



4. Many growers at this point will wrap the seed in a wet paper towel and then watch for the root to come out and then plant in their growing medium but I prefer to plant at this point right away so I don't have to worry about damaging the root. I am using 60% ProMix BX soil less medium for my seed starting mix combined with 40% earthworm castings from my worm bins. Studies have shown that new seedlings thrive in a 40-50% mixture of earthworm castings. This soil has been warmed to 80 degrees for the last 8 hours and then moistened with water so the soil is damp but not wet.



5. I then plant the seed into the medium that is in a 9 inch peat pot (wasn't easy to find these nice big pots but I got them at a local garden center) with the pointy part of the seed down 3/4 inch below the surface.



6. The peat pots are then placed in a small closet with a thermostatically controlled space heater at 80 degrees (about 84 degrees would be considered perfect but the thermostat on the heater only goes up to 80 degrees).
   

In 3-10 days I hope to start seeing the seedlings poking through the ground and at that point the season has officially begun.

Final Soil Report

I got my soil report the beginning of the week and things are looking much better. The sodium levels are back into the normal range but my phosphorous and potassium levels are still on the high side. I did another soil flush on Monday which will hopefully get my potassium numbers into a more normal range.

Once the soil has dried out I'll add some nitrogen to the soil to get those numbers back up (the nitrogen dropped with the soil flushes) and then we will be ready for roto tilling. After roto tilling I'll put my hoop house over the planting area to begin warming the soil. I'm hoping things start drying out soon. We expect rain here in Denver on Thursday and Friday so I'm going to hold off on planting my seeds for a couple more days to make sure I have time to get my final patch prep completed and the soil warmed before transplanting outdoors.

Pumpkin Season is Upon Us! Yea!!!

There is a little known disease that runs rampant around the world in January and February called Orange Fever. Symptoms include: irritability, angry outbursts on pumpkin discussion boards, and cabin fever. If you are not familiar with Orange Fever than you don't grow or live with a giant pumpkin grower.

Winter time is a hard time on pumpkin growers. There are the seed trades, soil seminars and genetic research but that isn't enough to keep the fever away. If anything all of that probably just adds to the fever. Slowly, like ice breaking on a frozen river, the fever breaks and is replaced with pumpkin obsession in Spring time.

Yes, pumpkin season is upon us. Finally! This blog, for those not familiar, is dedicated to the wonder of the giant pumpkin. In it you can find my entire growing season from last year and tips on how to grow big pumpkins. I'm not an expert, yet. But the 755 pounder I grew last year was a great rookie start and if I can get my new soil up to par I hope to get over 1,000 pounds this year.

If you would like to grow a giant pumpkin I can give you some great seeds. Planting time for most growers will be in the next three weeks. With transplanting outdoors, into hoop houses, the first couples of weeks in May.

To answer the most common questions about growing giant pumpkins:

1. What do you feed it? Mostly a good composted soil and organic fertilizers. I water 4 times per week for a total of about 1.5 inches or more depending on weather. You want the soil to be lightly moist but not wet between watering.


2. How do you move it? This is one was a big concern for me but it really wasn't a big deal. You simply throw a little pumpkin party at the end of the season and have 5-8 friends help you lift it with a lifting tarp. It was really fairly easy.


3. What do you do with it when you are done with it? This is really up to you. Most pumpkin growers compost it.

It takes some time and patients to be a giant pumpkin grower, but if you would like to grow a big pumpkin for Halloween it really doesn't take much effort. To get a pumpkin over 100 pounds is really fairly simple with a good Atlantic Giant pumpkin seed. Give it a try this year. You may love it! There is a great pumpkin grower group in Colorado willing to help you or leave a comment below with any questions you may have.