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St. Louis MO

I finally have a growing beast at 52"c and have heard a couple different explanations of what strength fert. to use from now till the end. Some suggestions I have recieved are 10-60-10 and 15-11-29 which I cannot find. Please help me and let me know why to use any suggestions. THX

7/31/2000 9:34:44 PM

Roanoke Il

Steve all that I have read is that you want some thing high in potassium or the last number of the 3. 15-11-29 would probably your best bet. Shultz tomato plus is close to that at 18-19-30. that is what I have been using and it seems to be working. The only place I could find this is Target. Of course I'm not sure that this is a regional chain. Hope that this helps mark.

7/31/2000 10:44:00 PM

Steve, according to Paul Langevin's book on growing Atlantic Giant Pumpkins there are 3 distinct stages of fertilization to follow, the first is long past as your pumpkin no longer needs to get a good root system going. The second stage is to level out the feeding with a 20-20-20 mixture which is found in "Peter's Plantfood" water soluble formula, available at most hardware and Garden Centers. After your fruit has set and vine growth has slowed it is time to switch your focus to the high potassium formulas which Mark mentioned. One way to achieve this is to use Peters and supplement with Muriate of potash which is around 0-0-50 or 0-0-60 this is a water soluble granular fertilizer available at most garden centers and can be sprinkled around the ground and the Peter's then can be sprayed on the leaves and used as a soil drench. Remember I am a first time grower and am going on the advice of others, but so far it has paid off, I have a 220 lb. pumpkin (214 ott last weekend) Hopefully things work out well for you good luck!

8/1/2000 8:23:26 AM

Rexburg, Idaho (brianchristensenmd@gmail.com )

I've also had a hard time with this. I spent all day yesterday looking for this peters 15-11-29 and couldn't find any. I did finally find muriate of potash. The question is how how much and how often do you use this stuff? and do you continue to use the balanced fertilizer along with it or use just the potash? Thanks

8/1/2000 11:19:39 AM