Sunbathers

These are the seeds that were started earlier.  Another two plants from the 335 Scherber seeds haven't popped through the soil yet.

The Pumpkin "Grow Room"

This time of year I clean out my office closet and make it a grow room.  At the bottom of the shelves is a temperature controlled space heater and at the top are four 40 watt florescent bulbs along with three 60 watt equivalent CFL full spectrum bulbs inside of brooders.  This setup seemed to work pretty well for me last year.  You can't have enough wattage, but this seems to be sufficient, along with putting the plants outside on sunny days.

Two of the pumpkin plants (1421 and 1799) have been very vigorous.  I sanded and soaked my seeds on Wednesday and as of today the first true leaf is showing up on both of them now. 

I gave all of the plants a nice drink with BiotaMax in the water today.  Biotamax has a number of beneficial bacteria and fungi that help the roots grow as well as help protect the plant from harmful bacteria and fungi in the soil.

On Saturday I started a 335 Scherber and 2009 Wallace seed because two of the 1775 Starr seeds didn't germinate.  They were the only two to not get going but the third one is growing nicely. 

A local grower is supposed to be getting a clone of the plant that grew the 2009 world record last year.  I'm hoping to put that pollen pretty much into all of my plants.  The 335 Scherber wasn't a seed that I had though about growing this year but when some of the 1775 Starr seeds didn't germinate and I was thinking about a replacement the 335 came right to mind.  The 335 is a cross of a clone of a 1421 Stelts that grew a 1663 pounder with a clone of a 1161 Rodonis that grew a 1725 pounds.  My plan would be to put the clone of the 2009 into it, which on paper sounds like an excellent cross.  Genetics unfortunately doesn't read paper but all of those big genes you would think could give you something special.

I also started a 4.46 Marley (7.33 Hunt x self) tomato seed today.  I haven't ever tried growing a true giant tomato seed before, but I thought it was worth a try.  I'm also going to try a giant watermelon this year.  That seed I'll start in a week or so.

Giant Pumpkin Seed Starting Mixture

My first seeds have popped open and will be going in their pots this evening.  This year I'm trying a slightly different soil-less seed starting mixture.  The last couple of years I've used ProMix BX with my own worm castings.  This year I'm using a mixture of 65% ProMix BX, 10% worm castings and 25% Fox Farm's Ocean Forest.  The Ocean Forest has a touch of extra nutrients added to it including earthworm castings, bat guano, fish meal and crab meal so I thought I would give it a try.  The Ocean Forest has a nice dark look to it and I've seen some good reviews for it in the past.  I've used the Fox Farm Light Warrior mix in the past.  It was great for starting the seeds but was nightmare getting the plants out of the pots because it just crumbled apart when out of the pot.  I don't expect that type of problem with Ocean Forest.

Let the Season Begin!

Going into last season I didn't have a good feeling going into it. The weather outlook didn't look good last season from the start, but not only that, call it a gut feeling, I didn't have high hopes to grow a big one. I worked every bit as hard last year as I have in the past, I just didn't anticipate great results. This season however I have higher hopes going into the season.

Water is one of my concerns this year. Watering restrictions could be a big problem if the well doesn't stay up all season. Last year it was down 90% of the year. With the well I can water as much as I need, but if I have to use city water it could be a challenge.

Joe Scherber asked me a few weeks ago what I was going to do different this year to grow big. That was a good question. My answer would be little adjustments to my foliar applications, focusing on what the plant needs because a nutrient is locked up or unavailable in the soil. I may get a tissue test in June to see exactly what the plant needs.

The second thing is adding an additional water line for the Dan Micros for even more even watering under the canopy. I'm going to position the water lines a little differently as well.

The third thing is a lot of alfalfa pellets. I've put down alfalfa in the past but never this much. Lots of good stuff in alfalfa and my soil has nearly double the nitrogen as last year, by design.

Looking at some great growers soil reports and talking with some heavy hitters and after a great conversation with Gary Shenfish at last seasons weigh off at Jared's, I decided I needed more nitrogen. My soil reports in the past have had me in the acceptable/moderate range for nitrogen for most crops but it is my belief these plants need a little more than the average crop. The alfalfa is providing that.

The Start of the Great Pumpkin

Pumpkin growing is a lot like Major League Baseball. Each spring hope springs anew. Usually by the All-star break you know if you have a player and then come September first you are planning for the playoffs or you already are talking about next season.

Pictured here are the seed packets for this seasons starters. At this point you hope you look back at this post in October and say, "I'm sure glad I grew that seed." I like the genetics in these seeds. I'll take my two best 1775 plants and put them in one hoop house and put the 1421 and 1789 in the other. The kids will grow the 1799.

Going into this season my mind was set on the 1421. Now I'm not so sure. Talking with Thad Starr today he said that Quinn Werner said to not grow genetics more than three years old. That actually makes good sense. The 1421 has grown a lot of big pumpkins. Probably statistically the 3rd best seed all-time for progeny. However with all of the seeds that have been planted the biggest that it has grown is in the 1600 pound range. The 1789 has pumpkins 200 lbs larger however. When you look across all the pumpkins it isn't grower techniques that is pushing the weights up every year. Every 3-4 years the genetics have gotten so much better that it is making the older seeds obsolete. The 1421 is now 4 years old.

We will see what the plants look like and then make our decision. This year I'm not going to go by plant vigor when making my decision. I'm going to look at the plant traits and see which plant that looks the most like the parent plant that I want and then go with that. Too often you hear world record holders say that the plant that grew the big one wasn't their best looking plant early on.

Tilled the Pumpkin Patch and Added Amendments

Today I tilled the planting areas and add some gypsum (for calcium), iron and manganese to the soil.  I also added some sugar to help get the soil biology going.  Last fall some of the patch wasn't tilled so I spent particular time tilling the areas were the sorghum sudan grass was still standing.  That will give it a month to get broken down until I put my plants in the soil.

Overall the soil looked pretty good.  I saw some of the biggest worms in the patch that I have ever seen in my soil where the sudan grass was located.

Learn to Grow a Giant Pumpkin from World Record Holder Ron Wallace

Learn the secrets to growing a one-ton World Record giant pumpkin from the grower himself. Special, limited time offer on Ron Wallace's How I Grew the World Record 2009 DVD. Just $18.99!

In this special DVD  Ron sits down with you and carefully recalls all the techniques and details he used to grow a 2,009 pound and 1,879 pound pumpkin in his record breaking year.  This DVD is packed with photos, PowerPoint, numerous reports and narrations of EVERYTHING he did to grow the first one-ton pumpkin.


Order online at to take advantage of this special offer at:
http://seeds.denverpumpkins.com/gaint-pumpkin-seed-shop/how-i-grew-the-world-record-2009-dvd/

Check Out the Denver Post on Page 3C

My wife is a wonderful writer and writes a monthly column for the Denver Post on how to spend your money smartly.  Her personal narratives always make me laugh until I find that I'm the focus of the article.  However, this time she kind of got the article right.  At least the topic was right.  You can never go wrong talking about giant pumpkins.  You can find her article online at: http://www.denverpost.com/smart/ci_22902867/life-lessons-from-growing-great-pumpkin.  

(Note to readers:  my wife was never one to let the truth get in the way of a good story.  Lol)

7 Secret Giant Pumpkin Growing Tips for New Growers

The following are 7 giant pumpkin growing tips for gardeners and families wanting to grow a giant pumpkin:

1. What do you feed a giant pumpkin?
A well composted soil that is balanced is key to growing a giant pumpkin. Most of what will determine if you are going to grow a giant pumpkin happens before you even put the plant in the ground. A great soil comes through some hard work and soil tests to make sure the levels of nitrogen, potassium, potash and calcium are in the right ratios.

2. Do you need special seeds to grow a giant pumpkin?
Yes! Atlantic Giant seeds are the only variety of pumpkin seed that will get over 500 pounds and the Atlantic Giant seeds you get in the hardware store probably aren't going to do it for you. You need seeds that have had controlled crosses of the best seed stock to get the real giants. With these types of seeds to grow a pumpkin over 100 pounds is not very difficult. Get seeds from the Pumpkin Man at http://seeds.denverpumpkins.com.

3. When should you plant your pumpkin seeds?
I start my plants indoors under grow lights and in a heated closet around April 15th.  By May 1st I put my plants in the ground inside of a hoop house (a small greenhouse).  For most growers who aren't looking to grow competition pumpkins I would recommend starting their pumpkin seeds around May 3rd in a big pot and put their plants outdoors around the 20th.

4.  How much do you water the pumpkin plant?
I water everyday and keep the ground lightly moist but not overly damp.  Giant pumpkins are 80% water so you need a lot of water to grow a big one.

5.  When do you pollinate the pumpkin?
I usually pollinate around July 1st.  That will give the pumpkin a little more than 90 days to grow before the weigh-offs that start around the end of September and go to mid-October.  In just 90 days a well taken care of pumpkin will put on as much as 40 pounds a day at its peak growth and will end up over 1,000 pounds.  By July 1st your plant should have grown big enough to power the growth of your pumpkin.  You want to grow just one pumpkin on the plant and it should be on the main vine at least 9 feet out from the stump.

6.  Do giant pumpkin growers use any special growth hormones, fertilizers or chemicals to grow a giant pumpkin?
The honest answer to that is 'kind of.'  A competition giant pumpkin grower usually grows organic.  Not because of a a green, love of the earth attitude (frankly most growers would poor battery acid on their plants if it would make a pumpkin grow bigger) but because it tends to grow the biggest pumpkins.  Growers will use a combination of things like Myko, Azos, liquid seaweed (growth hormone regulator), compost tea, etc. that may seem a little exotic to some but is pretty well known in the giant growing community.  A lot of these things can be found in the Giant Pumpkin Growers Kit.  I am spent time with growers that have grown world record pumpkins.  They don't really have any secret formulas other than hard work and a fair amount of research to have had the success that they have had.

7.  I've heard you should bury your vines to grow a giant pumpkin.  Why is that?
At each leaf node a vine will put out a root from the top and bottom of the vine if the vine is buried.  You can probably double the amount of roots your plants have by burying the vines.  Those roots will be an important part of growing a big pumpkin.

To learn more about growing giant pumpkins or to get involved in competition giant pumpkin growing visit the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable growers at www.coloradopumpkins.com.

The 2013 Pumpkin Seed Lineup is Set

Drum roll please!  I've decided on my seed lineup for this year.  I'm going to start three 1775 Starr seeds (1725 Harp x Self), a 1421 Stelts (1385 Jutras x 904 Stelts), a 1789 Wallace (1725 Harp x 1810 Stevens) and a 1799 Daletas (1495 Stelts x 1409 Miller).  Now I just pray that one of these seeds can grow big for me and I hope it isn't the one that I have to pull from the ground in May.  I like the genetics in all of these seeds.  Some of them are proven (meaning that the same seed has grown giant pumpkins for other growers) and some of them will be the first year that they have seen dirt.  The 1789 Wallace grew the second biggest pumpkin ever last year.  I grew a 1789 last season but last the plant to disease.  The 1421 is in the top 5 for biggest progeny all time.  It also tends to grow orange pumpkins and I wanted one orange one in the lineup.   Thanks to everyone that gave me seeds!  I hope I can do you proud.

Pumpkin Seeds to Grow Next Season

Unless I get a surprise seed, I know which seeds I'm going to grow next season.  I got in the mail today a 1775 Starr.  Along with that I'm going to plant a 1421 Stelts and a 1789 Wallace.  The pumpkin that the 1775 came from was just a perfect looking specimen and maybe the biggest pumpkin that I'll ever see.  It had the exact same measurements as the world record pumpkin, but went light to the charts.  The fact that the seed comes from a selfed pumpkin and its pedigree is from a long line of world record producers (998 that produced 1689 WR was pollinator in 1385 that was the mother and the father that produced the 1725 WR.  The 1725 was the mother and the father that produced the 1775), I think this unproven seed has a lot of potential.

The 1421 Stelts seed often will produce beautiful, orange pumpkins as well as giants.  Statistically it has produced the 3rd most big progeny so it is a proven producer.  The number one seed of all time is the 1161 Rodonis, which I grew a couple of years ago.  I'm hoping for a nice orange pumpkin that is well over 1,000 pounds this year.

My third seed for this next season is the 1789 Wallace.  I grew this same seed this last year and it was a beautiful plant until it went down due to yellow vine disease.  The root system and growth of the plant was just fantastic.  This seed produced a lot of pumpkins that went light to the chart this last year, but also produced some giants.  The pumpkin with the biggest measurements ever came from the 1789 seed this last year.

I'll probably also start a 924 Johnson seed as a backup this year.  Hoping and praying that one of these seeds will get me over 1,000 pounds this year.

Google is Tracking My Pumpkin's Every Move

This just in.  I've recently discovered that Google has been tracking my pumpkin growing from outer space!  The most recent satellite photos from the Google Satellite clearly shows my pumpkin ready to be taken to the weigh-off.  I suspect that some member of the growing community (I'm watching you Wiz and Scherber) has put Google up to this.  I may have to start covering the pumpkin as the satellite makes its pass overhead each day.

Satellite Photo:

What to Do During the Pumpkin Off Season

This time of the year can seem long to a pumpkin grower.  We are now half way between patch prep time and the end of last season.  This time of year is spent working on my website design business, family, friends, church, skiing and studying up on the latest techniques for growing a giant pumpkin.  I have to admit that for the later I haven't done as much as I would have liked.  The holiday season was crazy busy.

This  off-season I'm reading Teaming with Microbes.  Definitely a worthwhile read.

Right now I'm planning on adding a second water line to the patch so I can get a little better water pressure to the dan micros.  Other than that I plan on doing things about the same as last year.  My patch prep was different this last fall however.  I add a lot more nutrients into the soil which I hope will translate into more pounds on the pumpkin.

The Patch is (Mostly) Tilled and Fall Patch Prep is Done

Today I tilled into the pumpkin patch 2.5 yards of compost, 20 pounds of gypsum, 4 pounds of sulfur, 3 pounds of blood meal, 25 pounds of humic acid, 5 bags of leaves and lawn clippings, 150 pounds of alfalfa pellets, 2 pounds of magnesium and 4 pounds of Organic Richlawn 5-2-1.    The full patch didn't get tilled because I had a belt problem on the tiller with about 40% of the patch left to go so in those areas I just put some compost on top of leaves and will leave it to sit.

After tilling the patch I sowed some Winter Rye, Winter Oats and Hardy Vetch.  Temperatures are forecast to be above freezing for the next 7 days so I hope to get that seed going before it gets cold.  With temperatures in the 60s and low 70s for the next week that shouldn't be a problem.

My plan for next year is a little more organic matter and a fair amount more nitrogen in the patch.  I didn't see the growth in my vines that I would have liked to have seen this last season and after seeing some soil reports and talking with top growers I've decided that additional nitrogen in the soil is a good idea. With all of the organic matter that I've put down I'll need the extra nitrogen to make sure all of that material is broken down by spring.

9New's TaRhonda Thomas with Pumpkin

I think giant pumpkins are one of the most beautiful things in the world.  The one way to make them more beautiful is to have modelesque TaRhonda Thomas pose with your pumpkin.  Thanks for stopping by TaRhonda.  You guys are a lot of fun.

A Real Jack-o-lantern.

I kind of got into giant pumpkin growing because of a jack-o-lantern.  The first pumpkin plant that I bought at a local nursery was because I wanted to have the biggest jack-o-lantern on the street.  This year, for the first time, I carved my own pumpkin.  We've done the kids pumpkins in the past but I never got around to carving my own either because of rot issues or a lack of time.  I can be 99.9% sure I'll have the biggest jack-o-lantern in Arvada this year.

Compost for the Pumpkin Patch

Today I picked up 2.5 yards of compost and put down two nice piles into the patch mixed with some shreaded leaves from the yard and grass clippings from the neighbor.  I hope to till these in next month.  In the spring I'll put in another 2.5 to 4 yards.  I'd like to see my organic matter come up another 3% by planting time next year.  The compost that I got today wasn't fully composted but was very nice horse manure with a lot of alfalfa in it.  Should be ready in another 1.5 months.

Now is the Time to Start for Next Season

Seems like the season is done, but next season is already starting.  70% of your success or failure right now is going to be determined by what you do right now.  Getting the soil ready during October and making sure the nutrients that you need for next season's plants are in the soil is going to determine in a big way how big that pumpkin is going to grow next year.  After getting a soil test you are going to want to add the appropriate organic material to your patch.  I'll be adding some compost and shredded leaves to the soil and tilling that in during the next couple of weeks.  If the weather is good, I hope to plant a cover crop as well.

The Giant

Pumpkin with the 2nd biggest measurements ever comes out of the weeds today!

I've known Thad Starr for almost 4 years now and have been to his home in Oregon twice now.  I built him a website 4 years ago and he has always been real good to me.  His pumpkin is going to the scale right now in Half Moon Bay and I wish him the best of luck.

About three weeks ago we were talking about some of the big pumpkins (and claims for big pumpkins) that were out there.  And then it occurred to me me that Thad had been pretty quiet about his own pumpkins.  I said to him, "I know you guys had a cool spring but you've had a great summer up there in the Pacific Northwest.  I'm guessing there is another big one growing up in Oregon that SOMEONE isn't talking about."  His reply, "Ya, but my pumpkins always go light."  I had to laugh.

After a few more conversations he hadn't ever elaborated but when I told him that I would be up in Oregon and that I would probably swing by he slowly revealed that he had a pumpkin estimating over 2,000 pounds!

I told him that I would help him load up his pumpkin that he would be taking to Bauman's Farm the next day.  I didn't realize that this year Half Moon was the next Monday and that I would be helping him load a potential World Record with the other pumpkin.  That is both an honor and kind of scary.  Big prize money this year for a world-record pumpkin over one ton.  Potentially $20,000-40,000 on the line as well as the claim to fame.

His pumpkin measures 459.5" OTT.  That estimates to something like 2,060 pounds which would easily break the current record of 2009 pounds set this year by Ron Wallace.  The pumpkin was grown from a 1725 Harp seed and it is just a great looking pumpkin.  In photographs pictures don't do this pumpkin justice.  It is so symmetrical that in photos it doesn't show it's real size.

I shot some video and while at the airport I made this video because I didn't have anything else to do.  Below are some pics of the pumpkins.

 

 I've already given Thad a bubble.  Lol

They Grow Em Big In Oregon

I conveniently arrange for a business meeting to be the same time as the big Bauman Farm weigh-off in Oregon.  It is an amazing experience to be able to see multiple pumpkins over 1,700 pounds.  The following are some of my pics from the trip.  More to come.

The first pic is of Steve Deletas 1,799.5 pounder.  This one went down to rot around the stem a month ago.  The pumpkin went from 18 pounds a day down to 14 and then two days latter it drop to 2 pounds a day.  As you can see in the third picture it was thick inside.  Steve claimed the pumpkin had lost 50 pounds since it was initially weighed.  They dropped this pumpkin latter that day from a crane.  The earth must have rippled.

The second picture was the winning pumpkin.  Also over 1,700 pounds and also grown by Steve Deletas.  Not nearly as big but it went very heavy.

Thanks to Thad Starr and family for putting me up over the weekend.  Had a great time with them.