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Ny

Hi Everybody I'm new to growing large pumpkins I am 24 years old and have grown little pumpkins before nothing even remotley large I thought 35lbs was a good size. Not even close! I met a man today and he gave me some seeds out of a 650lb pumpkin he grew last year and I'm gonna try to grow something this year I started to germinate the seeds tonight and hope I have enough time left in the season to get a pumpkin larger than 35lbs which is my record any help would be apriciated. I live on a beef farm and have an old cow pen that has soil as black as pavement and hope for this year it will be sufficiant for my goal. Thanx nyfarmboy

6/20/2004 8:41:31 PM

Wichita, KS

Put rabbit fence around the cow pen, and set up an automatic watering system if you can. you are starting a little bit late (so am I), but who cares? You'll still get a nice pumpkin if the vine grows properly, and it should be bigger than 35lbs before its remotely close to being mature. Have a lot of fun this season, and learn all you can so that next year you can start earlier and grow a 1000+ pound pumpkin!

Good luck, and keep us all posted in your Bigpumpkins.com diary!

Toby

6/20/2004 9:09:38 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

If you do things right you should be able to beat your 35lb record in two days growth... Welcome to this insane hobby. By the way who did you get your seeds from,so we can add a knotch to his scoreboard of people infected with the pumpkin virus :) Shannon

6/21/2004 4:21:27 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

NYF,

You have 2 choices.

1.) RUN as fast as you can away from this insane hobby!

2.) Get them in the ground ASAP. You'll beat 35 lbs almost without effort as Shannon says. You'll learn plenty doing it. If you enjoy the effort then stick around. You'll make good friends here & locally as the horizon expands. Many opportunites to better your growing skills will arise.

Welcome,

Steve

6/21/2004 8:45:17 AM

Ny

Thanx for the welcome! I always gasped at the size of the pumpkins I seen in books and at the fairs but had no idea how to get started. I'm already excited and planing for next year by gathering info and ideas. I have the perfect area for growing and not sure about the soil but I will have soil tests done for next season. This year I'm going to just water and maintain the vines as best as I know how from the info on this site. One question though "maybe too late" I started the seeds in the soil I;m going to plant in and covered the cups with saran wrap and I'm trying to maintain a temp of about 75-80 degrees. Does it sound like I'm on the right track? Thanx again, Jay

6/21/2004 9:13:39 PM

Ny

Thanx for the welcome! I always gasped at the size of the pumpkins I seen in books and at the fairs but had no idea how to get started. I'm already excited and planing for next year by gathering info and ideas. I have the perfect area for growing and not sure about the soil but I will have soil tests done for next season. This year I'm going to just water and maintain the vines as best as I know how from the info on this site. One question though "maybe too late" I started the seeds in the soil I;m going to plant in and covered the cups with saran wrap and I'm trying to maintain a temp of about 75-80 degrees. Does it sound like I'm on the right track? Thanx again, Jay

6/21/2004 9:14:41 PM

Sioux Falls, SD garyboer@dakotalink.com

If they are in small cups, you should watch them closely, maybe even scratch down carefully and peek. The day after a seed sprouts the root may shoot down 4 inches. As soon as sprouted I think get them into garden.
Also, I was able to extend the season a bit one year by throwing a big sheet of clear plastic over my plant in Sept, taking it off on sunny days. I even had some of that fine spray grass starting hose hooked to warm water from the house. Some nights there was frost but warm and humid under the plastic. I pollinated in Aug and put on 300 of my 434lbs in Sept. Did start to get some mildew toward the end

6/21/2004 11:58:34 PM

Wichita, KS

cool. 300 pounds in August = about 10 pounds a day! And Jay, many growers report that their pumpkins gain over 40 pounds per day at the hight of the growing season. Say goodby to the days of 35 pound pumpkins!

6/22/2004 4:33:01 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Jay,
I'm quite new to this large pumpkin business myself.
I'm thinkng that a soiless seed starting mix would be better. In soil, you have living organisms that can cause the seed/young sprout to rot. Your seeds may be O.K., but there may be some risk there.
I found that I had the best germination results, when I filed the seed edges; I used peat for a planting medium.

Doug

6/22/2004 1:27:34 PM