From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Saint Cloud

Hi all. This is my first year trying to grow a giant pumpkin. I bought some seeds (Atlantic Giant) from Walmart and tossed them in the ground. Then I started reading. I probably should have done a bit more planning but here I am. I have two plants going one looks really healthy and has a 200" and about 200lb pumpkin growing on the main vine about 12' from the roots. I have it laid out in basically a tree pattern and have tried my best to terminate all tertiary vines but a few have snuck in. I can see their little heads pop up with new leaves and then I tip-toe in there and cut em out. The main vine is about 20-25' long and the secondaries are 10-15' long depending how close they are to the root site. I have buried most of the vines. The pumpkin seems to be done growing. It is very orange and has not grown in 3 days. The plant is really throwing out a lot of new vines. Is there any thing I can do to get the plant to work back into growing the fruit? It grew quite a bit about 7 days ago where it gained 30 lbs in about 4 days. We had 2" of rain during that growth so maybe the water helped it grow. since then I have seen no change in size.

8/21/2020 3:24:19 PM

Central NY

Hey Rj- we’ve been doing this awhile and there’s always more planning we could have done...lol..welcome to the sport!...sounds to me like yer on top of it... hard to say when they slow down but usally an abrupt stop is indicative of a problem. Check the fruit over really well. If it’s up there in Dap (days after pollination) it may just be on the way down or gaining very slowly...if you set stick 1/4” away from the fruit you can see if itt it gets any closer over a couple days. Stick around as many folks here will be offering seeds in the fall from some of the worlds biggest pumpkins. Best of luck, there’s nothing like your first.

8/21/2020 4:56:47 PM

Central NY

(Shorter answer, yes...this is time of year where all growing tips are terminated.)

8/21/2020 4:58:56 PM

Saint Cloud

Thanks all, it was an exciting season. It was a lot of work in the middle to keep the vines buried headed the right direction. I have a very health giant pumpkin plant... still. it just doesn't have any more fruit to put energy into.

DO you all know. Do different seeds (i assume from bigger plants) keep the plants growing longer? this thing was going gang busters and then just stopped. I will admit I didn't cover it as much as I could have but I did put a wet t-shirt on it in the middle of the day when it was hot. I am working from home this summer so I could check on it during the day. I dont think I will have that luxaray again for another 30 years (retirement). HA!

8/24/2020 1:58:34 PM

Saint Cloud

I think my pollination was right around June 28th. So, that means it grew for right about 52 days. I dont know what is average growth length.

8/24/2020 2:00:50 PM

Central NY

I would say most fruits come weigh-off time are around 90+ days...you hope they are still trickling pounds. There’s charts called “benchmark” charts that shows growth rates that will get you to 1000/2000 pounds. There’s definitely a curve. What a cool choice of something to do when you are stuck home.! Fun, isn’t It?....

8/24/2020 3:34:21 PM