GIANT Pumpkins (Updated - Pics!)

[drat]

Hello list.
How did I get started growing giant pumpkins? Well, I was in my local grocery store last year and for some reason started looking at a display of vegetable seeds. They had seeds for a variety of pumpkin that would grow up to 110 pounds. I have never grown any vegetables before but I bought them on a lark. To make a long story short, I grew a 122 pound pumpkin that won my local fall fair. After that I was completely hooked.

I will try to post some semi-regular features including some pumpkin facts and what’s happening in my own patch this year.

Fact #1. Let’s talk about what pumpkins actually are. The following is taken from the book “How to Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins” by Don Langevin. Pumpkins belong to the genus cucurbita. This genus is a member of the cucumber family and includes all of the vine crops defined as cucumbers, melons, summer and winter squash, gourds and pumpkins. Cucumbers belong to an entirely different genus, cucumis (quit snickering Kim) and plant scientists place their origin in Asia or Africa. As such they do not enter into the equation of which defines what a pumpkin really is. A pumpkin is not a cucumber or a melon.

OK, I really don’t understand what he is talking about either and I promise not to use any more greek words.

There are three basic ingredients to successfully grow giant pumpkins – good seeds, good soil and good luck.

More about this in my next post.

Drat

 

[Snowwark]

Me snicker, me??? You must be confusing me with someone else Drat...lol..

So it all started out as a lark, eh? I'm sorry I missed seeing your pumpkin (ribbon and all), at last years fair.

Thank you Drat, and I look forward to your next pumpkin post!

Oh, I almost forgot! Did you use anything like Miracle Grow on your gourd last year?

 

[amid chaos]

Hi drat, thanks for sharing your big pumpkin adventures with us.

My question...how do you water...drip method, irrigation, long hose or wait for rain?

 

[drat]

Hello Buds!

Any irrigation method can be used. However, pumpkins are affected easily by many different bugs and diseases. Last year I watered with a sprinkler in the evenings and inadvertently encouraged some Powdery Mildew that eventually wiped out every leaf on the plants at the very end of the season. This year I have an underground drip irrigation system to keep the leaves drier and save water.

Last night I said there were three ingrdients to growing giant pumpkins - good seeds, good soil and good luck. Let's talk about seeds.

Pumpkin lineage is traced exactly like race horses. Who was the mother, who was the father and what was the resulting offspring. I bought some seeds off the internet this winter from the 4th largest pumpkin ever grown. The pumpkin was 1245 pounds and grown by Jim Bailly. Therefore my seeds were called 1245 Bailly's. They cost - wait for it - $35 Canadian dollars each. The 1245's came from the 790 Daletas pumpkin (790 lb pumpkin grown by Steve Daletas). A big internet web auction saw some seeds going for well over $600 American each!!! We pumpkin growers are very serious.

All giant pumpkins come from a variety called Atlantic Giants. They were developed by Howard Dill of Windsor, Nova Scotia. He owns the rights so legally no one else is able to sell Atlantic Giant (AG) seeds for there own profit. On-line auctions are usually held to support giant pumpkin growing clubs and charitable organizations. I belong to the NPGPGA (Niagara Peninsula Giant Pumpkin Growers Association) and the seeds I bought supported the American Diabetes Association. There are lots of people on line who will gadly send any one in the world seeds for free. We now have growers in many countries including Chile, Germany, Spain, UK and Australia.

Tonight I will send Sowwark some pictures of my growing pumpkins for her to post.

Later!

 

[amid chaos]

This is so exciting Drat....we are going to follow your adventure right up to the blue ribbon.

Thanks for the information..atlantic giants..a great name for a pumpkin.

 

[Snowwark]

Drat's Pumpkin Patch Pics!

Gowing pumpkins

Male flower

Drat's patch

New pumpkin

Pollinated female

This is so cool drat, and kind of sexy too....LOL...

 

[Snowwark]

WOW, $600.00 a seed????? That's amazing....and kind of like stud fees. Okay....I'll stop, and be serious.

 

[amid chaos]

ROFL...Stud fees...OMG, that is funny.

Drat..everything is looking great...wow, so orderly. and look at those baby giants...so cute..LOL

 

[Mamu]

Wow never realized pumpkin seeds could be so expensive.

A few questions: I notice you put the vines on blocks, why do you use blocks?

I also notice gravel around the base of the plant is this natural or do you put the gravel there?

Do you polinate your own flowers? If you let the bee's polinate do you get cross-polination that could effect the size of the pumpkins? I know lots of people who grow hairloons plants cover the blooms and self polinate.

 

[Willowwind]

Very Cool Drat!

I second the question about the blocks. What are they for?

 

[drat]

The pink styrofoam blocks are there to lift the main vine off the ground as the pumpkin grows. If you don't raise the vine there is too much stress between the vine and growing pumpkin and the stem usually breaks.

The bricks in the picture are there to turn the baby pumpkins to a perpindicular position to the main vine. Otherwise, as the pumpkin grows, if it hasn't been turned perpindicular, it will eventually crush the main vine.

There'e no gravel in the patch, it's just that the top of the soil is very dry from a lack of rain when I took the photos. The large bags of sand in the photos are for the growing pumpkins to rest on so they have some drainage from the dirt.

Styrofoam courtesy of Mr. Snowwark.

 

[drat]

Pollinating is usually done by hand. People want to know the lineage of a pumpkin so this way we have control over who the male and female were. It also alows us to make sure that pumpkins at optimal spots on the vine are pollinated. Good spots for pumkins are at least 10 feet out on the main vine and where the main has a convex curve so the growing pumpkin does not crush the vine. As the vine grows we train it to go in the direction we want or turn the way we want it.

Pumpkins need LOTS of room. The average backyard pumpkin grower should have at least 400 square feet (20 x 20) per plant! My patch is pretty tight at 20 feet by 35 feet with two plant. Yes that's right, the picture you saw of my pumpkin patch is only two plants!

Later buds.

 

[Snowwark]

Only 2 plants? You are going to have to buy yourself some major acreage someday, Drat.

Are there many women into growing giant pumpkins, or is it mostly a guy thing?

I'll have to try and peek in next week, and see how your gourds are growing!

Thank you Drat, this is very interesting!

 

[marydmjj]

Wow! I can't believe your patch is only 2 plants! I have regular pumpkins growing here but they don't seem to spread as much as yours.

Thanks for sharing the pics and info.

 

[Mamu]

Drat this is all so interesting. I thought you just put the seeds in the ground, water when dry and just let the pumpkin patch go.

I guess growing giant pumpkins is a labor of love.

Boy would I love to roast some of those $600 seeds, their probably better then caviar. Bet you don't need too many to fill you up.

 

[Tulirose]

OMG! For such a serious and interesting and informative topic, I find this hysterical! Sorry, no offense meant at all! It just those two photos: First the male flowers (oolala!) and then the pollinated female (she looks like she had SOME night!) LOL! Again, I am learning a lot and I thank you for posting but blame Snowwark for my way of thinking!

 

[Willowwind]

So, do all pumpkins take up that much space, or just the giant ones?

 

[drat]

All pumpkins need lots of room. It's recommended that regular pumpkins are spaced 8 to 10 feet apart. Giants are usually much more that that.

To answer Snowwarks question about who grows pumpkins, lot's of different people do. Men, women, children.

For more info, pictures, grower profiles check out:
www.bigpumpkins.com

 

[cgcw]

Very fascinating information. I had no idea what was involved in the process of growing our jack-o-lanterns. Some times my kids will ask to grow pumpkins -- now I can answer with a definate no as it's much to involved -- not to mention the space requirement.

 

[foxglove]

What on eath did you do with the winning pumpkin? Did you do it up for Halloween?
My family grew cucumbers one year and they took over the whole garden! Goodluck with the pumpkins