Growing a huge pumpkin

[creekwel]

I have started a competition with friends and family to see who can grow the largest pumpkin. I am going to document my effort here and there's one of Room for a View's Wall Mounted Water Butts for a prize in each catagory. So if you want to join in feel free and register on the forum. Two catagories the biggest circumference and the heaviest pumpkin.
The seeds we are using are Atlantic giant we got ours from Thomson & Morgan Planting date was yesterday Sunday 26th April no final weighing/measuring date set as of yet. I will also post any tips I can to make your pumpkin as big as possible.

Rules: there is only one no cheating. You have to grow it yourself, it can be grown outside or in a greenhouse you can feed it what you like. Dont tamper with the pumkin to make it wider or heavier.

Giant pumpkins need 150 days or more to grow, so now is the best time to start your seed off. Start them indoors now to get a head start and dont plant out until danger of frost has passed and the first true leaves have formed. End time should be September through to October.

Here are my recommended step by step instructions to maximize germination:

Giant pumpkin seeds have thicker shells you can aid germination by filing the edges of the seed lightly with a nail file or emery board. Dont file the pointed end. This allows moisture into the seed easier. Filing your seeds will make it easier for the leaves to emerge without damage. Soak the seeds in warm (not hot) water for an hour or two. Note some growers soak them for several hours.
Fill 10 cm pots with soil or potting compost. Use a Seed Starter mix if you are new at growing pumpkins. Experienced growers often make their own starter mix, adding a number of other things that they tend to keep secret. Add the compost to the bottom 5-10 cm of the pot, and make sure it is clean of insects.
Plant the seed in the pot, add compost so its 5-10 cm deep.
Place the seed either on it's side, or with the pointed end down.
Water thoroughly.
Provide bottom heat to the seeds about 25 degrees C. Many people use a germination mat or propogator which will improve germination rates. Once the plant has sprouted, stop the bottom heat as it can harm the roots. In 3-6 days the seedling will emerge from the soil. The young plant will display vigerous growth from the start. If they have not sprouted after ten days, start a second planting.

[creekwel]

Seedling Care:

Once the seedling emerges the hard work begins, if you take this seriously it will become a member of the family as you imagine a 200 kg monster!

Place in direct light, placing it on a window sill facing south is the first step. Some people will use artificial lights to extend the day in the shorter spring days, also to counter act the gloomy rainy days. If so place the pumpkins 15-20 cm below the light on cloudy days and at night. The seedling will benefit from as much light as possible.

Water to the pumpkin every couple of days. Do not soak the soil each day as this can cause damping off disease. Let the soil dry out a little on the top first, then water thoroughly.

(Damping Off Disease: This is a white mold that forms on the top of the soil. Damping Off disease flourishes in cold, wet, damp weather along with little sunshine. It quickly spreads across the soil and wilts the seedling. Do not give up hope. Here are some things you can do to minimize or eliminate disease problems:
First, get the plant in direct sunlight.
Stop watering until the surface is very dry.
Scrape as much of the mold off the compost as possible.
Stir the top of the soil as much as possible. Do this once or twice a day. It will speed soil drying.
Increase room air circulation. You can gently blow air on your plant trays with a small fan. )

The seedling does not need feeding in the first few days. Your seed starting mix should have plenty of nutrients. The seed also has some stored inside of it. After several days, add a little liquid fertilizer to the water, but not at full strength.

When the roots start escaping form the bottom of the pot, it is time to plant your seedling in the ground, weather permitting. Make sure its after the last frost, or you have prepared a protective cover. If not transplant to a larger pot.

[creekwel]

I spoke to my friend Andrew R. ( a commercial tree grower) yesterday and asked him how he was getting on with his pumpkin and he refused to answer any questions and told me I had to wait and see. It made me re-think about the advice I am posting to aid him, but then I remembered that he dosent like computers and the internet "whats that?"

[creekwel]

Planting:

Planting your seedlings takes preparation. Don't rush it is important either to wait until the chance of frost is over, or you will have to spend time protecting the young seedling with fleece, heaters etc.
If you direct sow seeds into the soil, you can plant earlier than seedlings, you will have taken a couple weeks off the growing season. You will have to wait for the ground to warm up. Black plastic may help to warm the soil.

Here are some simple ideas and tips to get your growing season off to a good start:

a) If you have not yet prepared the planting site, do so.I will cover this in another post.
b) Harden off the seedlings before you plant out side a few days should do it. Each day leave them out a little longer make sure to bring them in at night
incase you got the frost warnings wrong!
c) Dig a hole in the veg. patch you prepared, deep enough for the plant.
d) Fill in soil around plant. You can cover any or all of the stem up to the primary(first) set of leaves.
e) Avoid disturbing the plant as much as possible during the entire planting process. Most plants will have zero transplant shock if handled gently. Do not push the soil heavily down around the plant. You can always add nutrient rich compost if the soil compacts and sinks.
f) Thoroughly water the seedling immediately after planting with a light solution of liquid fertilizer.
g) Keep the soil around the seedling moist. If you prepared the bed properly, the roots will be surrounded by plenty of nutrients for it's early life.You need not water too deeply at first as the roots are shallow.
h) Avoid over watering at this point as you do not want to wash nutrients out of the bed that you prepared.

[creekwel]

Site Selection:

Select a site in full sun. As with any garden vegetable, the more sun the better. The more sun the larger the plant and fruit. Secondly, it helps keep the plant leaves drier earlier in the day and later at night, minimizing the time that moisture and dew is on the leaves. In wet or damp summer weather moisture can promote disease and bacterial wilt, a real danger to your crop.

Pumpkin train spotters say that the direction the plant grows in is important, the vine should grow from East to West. However, the maximum sun exposure of the leaves is not impacted by the direction of the vine. Another suggestion is that a slopping plot facing south provides the optimum growing conditions.
Perhaps one of the greatest assets in site selection is a high water table. The roots will dig deeply into the soft and the rich soil you have provided it. An abundance of water (and nutrients) is what it is looking for.

While selecting a place to plant this year's pumpkin crop, keep in mind the basic principles of crop rotation. Whenever possible, you should not grow a crop in the same location two years in a row. This applies to all crops. There are two main reasons for this. First, crops deplete certain minerals in the soil. By planting different crops, you minimize this problem. The different crops can also add to your soil as their remains are tilled or plowed in at the end of the year. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, disease can overwinter in the soil and infest the following years' crop. Ideally, you should rotate your crops in a three year cycle.

[creekwel]

Preparing the Bed:
Start your bed by digging out a cubic meter deep pit. Fill this pit with manure and compost. I use very little natural soil in the pit. Everyone has their favorite compost ingredients and amendments that they add to the soil. By using lots of rich materials, you will have a nutrient rich and soft composition for the pumpkin roots to grow in. Be careful not to compact the soil. Compacting the soil makes it more difficult for the roots to spread, defeating the effort you put in to preparing the soil.

Allow enough time for decomposition. If the material is not well composted, it can be harmful to the plant, burning the roots or robbing nitrogen from the soil. I like to prepare the bed well before the season. If I can get into the garden in March, I prepare it then. That way, anything I put in is well composted by planting time. This is what I have used.

First, put in compost from the heap, especially the stuff that has not completely decomposed.
Place a thin layer of straw.
Add leaf mulch.
Now add a thick layer of compost.
Add a thick layer of manure.
Repeat layers of mulch, compost and manure. Note you can mix all of these together, but I do not spend the energy and am not convinced it makes any difference. Also known as lasagne gardening (for another post)
I do not mix fertilizer into this mixture, as we are organic but you may choose to do so. I believe this is a rich enough mixture . I also water with liquid fertilizer ( pig poo in a bucket diluted so it looks like very week tea), so there are plenty of nutrients for the young plants.
Everyone has their own secret ingredients to add, using more or less than I've listed above. Many growers will mix these components with native soil. If your soil is rich in nutrients and compost, go ahead and use it. If you have heavy clay or on the other extreme sand, you will want to use only a little of it.

[creekwel]

Mounding the Bed:
The majority of serious pumping growers "mound " their soil. Mounding is simply creating a hill or raised area where you plant your seeds or seedling. This mound is 15-30 cm higher than the surrounding soil. The concept of mounding your soil is not new to growing. It has been used for centuries. While we often talk about mounding(or hilling) pumpkins and squashes, it is also used on a wide variety of crops. mounding up potatoes

There are two benefits of creating a mound or hill for your plants and both are for early season growth. First, mounding will allow for better drainage. Spring rains or over zealous watering often bring more moisture than the plant needs and could promote bacteria growth, damping off disease or "drowning" of the roots by depriving the roots of oxygen. Secondly, the raised soil allows better heating of the seedling and soil around it in the cooler, early spring days.

Beyond the Bed:

Preparing the soil where the roots are likly to grow is very important. This may be the difference between a large pumpkin and a prize winner.

Soil condition beyond the bed is important because the pumpkin sends out secondary roots along the entire vine system. Enriching the soil wherever the vine travels, results in bigger pumpkins.

The soil should be rich in nutrients and neutral in pH. Add amendments to the soil such as manures and compost in generous portions. Thoroughly mix the amendments into the existing soil. You can not put too much manure and compost into the area where the pumpkin will eventually grow. At the same time, you probably can not make the soil as rich nor add amendments as deeply as at the planting site for the seedling. It is simply too much work. Just remember to make sure whatever you add is completely decomposed. One giant pumpkin plant can cover several hundred square feet of space by the end of the growing season.

[creekwel]

I have 5 germinated seeds. Germination rate is poor at 33.3% most of the seeds had small maggots coming out of them. Too much water? or infected seeds to start with?

Pictures to follow

[creekwel]

pumphole.jpg (186.69 KiB) Viewed 1357 times

I have started with a metre square hole I have choosen a corner of the poly tunnel near the door where it is a bit wetter Apparently the plants suck up water like blotting paper, so here it should get as much as it needs. In this hole I am putting pig manure, composted straw, composted green waste blended farmyard manure, peat and soil. Hopefully this will satisfy the hunger of the beast

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picture of the ground prepare around the pit ( Oh and a few started plants)

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These don't look like they can grow a 250 kg pumpkin!

[creekwel]

Small up date on the pumpkin growing position Heres is a pic of a pumpkin still in a 10cm pot

still left on the shelf

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I left it in the pot to do a size comparison
The next picture is of a plant from the same batch planted in the ground

normal growth

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This next one is planted on top of the pit

Huge leaves and flower buds well developed

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I had to stand back to take the picture to make sure I got it all in.
One of the other participants paid me a visit and was shocked at its growth He didnt think I was going to take it seriously. He left in a hurry as he was going to dig up his plants and make a pit. He should have logged on and followed my advice. I am worried he will pay a visit in the night and nobble the competition. Do you think my wife will understand if I sleep with the plant!!!!!!!!

White fly has started to appear, I am going to have to look for organic remedies