Pumpkin Plants Today

Gave the plants some nitrogen, seaweed, sulfur and humic acid over the last few days.  Buried the main vine and using those nutrients to help support new root growth along the main vine.  I bury the vines with garden soil and then put a little compost on top.

Will be making some decisions for which plant to keep in the next few days.  Both are neck and neck.  Will probably go with the one on the right.

Tilled in the cover crop today so it will be mostly decomposed as the vines grow out to the second half of the patch.

Was doing some additional research on the 1825 Sadiq seed my plants are from.  It came from a 1911 Wolf (2145 x 2416) seed.  The 2145 seed that produced the 1911 went 15% heavy.  The 2416, which didn't make it to the weigh-off, was 1803 pounds and went 18% over the chart after losing its stump early and going down early.   The 1825 pumpkin went 7% heavy.  So lots of heavy genes in this plant.

This is the picture of the 1803:

  

 Looks similar to the 1825 pumpkin, but a bit more length from the 2145 genes.

 

Despite the Weather the Plants are Doing Okay

It has been a moderately cool and windy spring, so far.  Not bad weather,but not ideal.  The plants wired up pretty quickly after struggling early and my 1825 Sadiq plants are growing relatively aggressively right now.  To look at the pictures you wouldn't think so, if you were comparing with Jim Seamonds photos of his plants and compared, but for when I started and what they are doing, I'm satisfied.

I think I should easily be on schedule right now for a June 15thish pollination, which would then give me 102 days to grow the pumpkin, which is about as long as they will typically grow.  I like to use this handy little calculator to figure days between total days

One thing I like to do is look at photos from my blog from previous years and compare growth rates and the like.  This plant is maybe slightly ahead of my plants from the previous two years.

Color on my 1825 plants wasn't good yesterday, so I gave them just a touch of cheated magnesium, iron, boron, zinc, fulvic acid, aminos and copper.  My spring soil test showed that I was a little low in iron and magnesium, so that and some recent cloudy days may be affecting the plants.  If that doesn't work, I'll give the plants some calmag, which is essentially nitrate form of calcium and magnesium to give them a little boost. 

I've gone pretty light on giving the plants fertilizer so far this year.  My soil is higher in nutrients in the past, so I haven't given as much, but now they are kicking into gear I'm going to get back into my regular fertilizer program more.

These 1825 plants are going to have some big leaves on them.  They are already getting a little big for the stems.

Last year I started covering the hoop houses at night with insulated tarps.  The same ones you see on construction sites that they use to cover concrete in the winter.  They work perfect.  Last night there was snow on the hills just above my house and it has froze here, but the hoop houses never get below 67 degrees is the ceramic heat lamps inside, which is pretty descent.  I wish in the summer I could keep the plants at 67 degrees at night.  Usually I'm in the low 50s.

Finally hooked up the CO2 generator and running it for the first time this morning.  Cold morning so it will add a little extra heat in addition to the CO2.   Carbon dioxide is an essential component of photosynthesis.  CO2 and water gets converted into sugars in plants.  These sugars are then used for growth.  My CO2 generator is not quite big enough for the space and the greenhouse by no means seals the gas in, but I can increase the CO2 levels to almost double the regular levels with the generator.  In the summer I can only run it for about 3 hours a day until it gets too hot and I have to open things up.  3 hours is about the minimum amount to get any kind of positive results from it, so I'm not sure if the cost is worth the value yet.

The Pumpkin Man Goes National on BYU Radio

If you missed it, I was on the Lisa Show on BYU Radio this morning talking about how to grow a giant pumpkins.  Listen here:  https://www.byuradio.org/28a78780-09a0-4604-b4d9-3f0180f71cb8

How to Grow a Giant Pumpkin in 2021

The following are some of my most popular blog posts on how to grow a giant pumpkin.  The video is jam packed full of information on how to grow your own pumpkin that is 200, 500 or even 1000 pounds or more.  It just requires some good soil, good seed and good knowledge and you too can be a giant pumpkin grower.  Enjoy...

1. How to Grow a Giant Pumpkin Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzc54fJrqVQ

2. Competition Giant Pumpkin Seeds:  visit here to get your own giant pumpkin seeds

3. Giant Pumpkin Fertilizer Program:  view fertilizer program

Listen to The Pumpkin Man on BYU Radio Tomorrow

I'll be on The Lisa Show Tuesday at 8 a.m. on BYU Radio, Sirius XM channel 143 and simulcasting on 107.9 FM in Salt Lake City and throughout Utah. I'll be talking about how to grow your own giant pumpkin in 2021.

The show will also air on DISH Network channel 980, all major podcast platforms, and streamed live at https://byuradio.org/listen

Sunbathers

 This is the first full sun for the plants this year.  Should have gotten them out a couple of times before this, but life has been busy.  I really like the looks of my son's 1498 plants.  The 1825s in the middle are little younger but growing well too.  Although a little leggy.  

Pumpkin Seeds are Off and Running; Kind Of

 

All of the seeds we started eventually germinated and were put into their pots.  My son's seeds were started 8 hours later, but all of his seeds germinated prior to mine and are growing faster.  It is easy at this point to think those seeds are "better."   I have to admit I was envious, but growing a 2,000 pound pumpkin has nothing to do with germination times or growth rates at this point.  If they germinated and are happy, you've done your job.

You might see in the picture that one pot doesn't have a seedling.   The first of my 1825 seeds to germinate hasn't pushed up yet.  I'm thinking it probably won't at this point.  I've never had this happen before.  Not sure what happened to it.  I'm soaking a 2269 Haist seed now.  When that one germinates I'll pull up that 1825 seed to see what happened to it. 

The 2269 seed has intrigued me for a while.  Nobody has really grown it and I'm not sure why.  It is a 2003 Haist that was selfed and has all the potential of most other 2,000+ seeds.  We'll see, but maybe I'll grow it.  Won't be making any decisions about that until we have the plants in the greenhouse however.

Seeds Are Started!

Got the seeds started yesterday.  We are off to the races again.  This year I'm only going to grow one giant pumpkin.  I just don't have time to do two right now and I want to give it 100%.  So my seed of choice this year is the 1825 Sadiq.  I really liked the shape and parentage on that seed.  It is also nice to grow a seed from a personal best pumpkin is already a good grower. 

My son is growing a 1398 Janowaik (1501 VanderWielen x 1885 Werner) that went 19% heavy.  This seed I think isn't high on people's radar, but I like the potential.  My son wants to grow something that can be a nice orange, but also grow big.  This one I think can accomplish both.  It was just a dozen pounds off the growers personal best pumpkin.  It had a nice orange color and smooth skin, which I like.  My son grew the 1885 seed last year and got a personal best, so hopefully this one will do even better.

So what we did yesterday is sand the edges of the seeds until the light brown color starts coming through.  This lets the seeds pop open more easily has the seedling pops out.  We then soaked the seeds for about 5 hours in a solution of water, liquid sea weed and humic acid.  Those nutrients help get the germination process going.  Now the seeds are wrapped in a lightly moistened paper towel, inside a zip lock bag and on a heated mat.  The little device between the zip lock bags is a temperature monitor.  I try to keep them between 80 to 89 degrees.  Usually within about 22 to 36 hours a tap root will pop out of the seed tip and I'll then transfer the seeds to their growing pot with a seed starting mixture in it.

Hope Springs Anew; Amending Soil in Spring

This week I'll be starting the pumpkin seeds.  It is like the opening week of major league baseball.  Everyone is in first place with nothing but opportunity ahead.   

A week ago I finally got around to prepping the greenhouse soil.  Later than I prefer, but in time.  

My soil test came back with things in pretty good shape, other than nitrogen and organic matter was a little low.  So I add three bundles of sphagnum peat moss, three bags of Miracle Grow garden soil that a friend had given me (I know many growers would not use anything in the patch that said Miracle Grow on it, but 3 bags over 640 sq feet doesn't bother me at all), ammonium sulfate, Azomite, humic acid,  4-4-4 fertilizer, elemental sulfur (doh! I didn't look close at the bag and it was mono-ammonium phosphate--big blunder), copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, and a little compost around the planting area.

I tilled that all in and the put down some winter rye seed to help suppress weeds and add additional organic matter.  That will be tilled in around June.  In the photo, you can't see them yet, because the seedlings are only starting to green up, the grass blades are already nearly and inch long.  In two weeks, that grass will look like a healthy lawn.

I'll till in the grass in the planting area the end of this week, so it will be partially broken down when I put the pumpkin plants in the ground.

This year, if the weather will cooperate, I plan to get one pumpkin plant in the soil, much earlier than I usually do, the other will be grown in the grow closet and planted later..  I can control the temps fairly well, so I hope to get the roots growing into the soil, rather than into the sides of the starting pot, to see if that makes much of a difference.