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New Castle, Indiana

I posted a question in one of the other boards and was directed here. This one makes more sense for my purposes.

My wife and I just got a new house with about an acre and a half of land so I thought 'finally I can grow pumpkins properly'..lol. The field seems to be of good soil quality(other than a bit of a mole problem) and is surrounded by corn..of course.

So I was thinking when it's all said and done this season, do I keep the seeds from the fruits for next year? I don't know much about plant genetics but I have heard that each successive generation gets better. Is that true?

7/24/2021 4:31:18 PM

Syracuse, NY

You can save the ones from the pie and smaller ones in general, but I HIGHLY recommend that you get your field pumpkin seeds on here this fall, after all is said and done, as you say, lol, because there'll be ones available in the Seed Exchange message board and/or in the Seed Auctions that run all winter long on this website Friday thru Sunday nights for several months. No harm in saving the ones from your pumpkins as it IS, but there is more interest and camaraderie (had to look that up!) concerning seeds to and fro between growers with respect toward that end. Now, if you grow a 300-pound field pumpkin this year on what's outside right now?... Forget what I said, lol. I only have ONE FP's seeds of my own and there are FOUR of them in my back room window, destined to STILL be planted out, pending getting my manure spreader fixed (1-2 hours) and just doing it (3 weeks so far, lol) - maybe I'll have more results, I dunno...

Else, beware of the weed killer they use on cornfields next growing season - I have them across the road from me and the breeze comes right up through and you know the rest; They've told me that they put on the weed killer 2 weeks after they plant; for any time reference, that's what I've got, and I still didn't protect them enough, but they're doing well now anyway.

If you have a mole problem, don't look in the mirror - works every time---eg

7/25/2021 11:14:13 AM

New Castle, Indiana

So people sell seeds here that came from larger fruits? I see they tend to name them by weight/name of the grower. I should post a few pics here of what I have going so far.

I actually tried to grow an atlantic giant when I was a kid and lived in the city. I was...not successful.

7/26/2021 9:26:26 AM

Syracuse, NY

Yeah, it's all subjective and they're traded and announced as to what has been dried properly and are ready for anyone whom wants to try 'seed X' for the sending of a bubble-pack envelope to the grower's address. Once a seed has a track record, though (results in any timeframe as to what it has grown) it is more likely to be a more-sellable item and it is up to the grower to direct one to the place of purchase. Or tell the new grower his address, lol.
Why do you think we're all so nice to each other???

HAAAAAAAAAAAAHHAAAAAHAAAAAA.

Ahem - yeah, it's always interesting to see pics of a grower's ongoings, esp. now with some diseases and problems arising that'll be in need of help with.

Before delving into posting pics and them being disoriented, go here and read the top 10 or so posts ABOUT that issue(s) so you're better-informed:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/msgboard/ViewBoard.asp?b=7

Awww, man - I gotta go put a Whizzer sprinkler on my 1985 Miller plant now. Darn it. (I can' wait, lol)---eric g

7/26/2021 1:20:24 PM

New Castle, Indiana

Two of my vines started making tracks for the corn field. Had to redirect them a bit.

7/27/2021 9:21:51 AM

New Castle, Indiana

My larger FP vines have a couple solid fruits going. Think I should lop off the ends and call it a day with them? I'm ok only have a couple of those. I'm gonna have a least a dozen smaller ones.

7/31/2021 11:19:45 AM

Syracuse, NY

This is kinda neat, Mr. Vicious, that it is just you and I talking (I'm starting to question my English, these days, lol!) and every word I'll weigh carefully, as there was not a lot of information to direct you to on the subject of vine pruning 'after the pumpkin'; Someone DID say to cut off the main vine past the fruit at the NEXT leaf node to reduce the time it'd take for the vine to heal/seal over after the surgery - I would do this to just ONE as an experiment, in case other options appear, so that you have: The fruit on the main, which grows past the fruit's stem and then is cut off at the next leaf junction, but (ironically-said) LEAVE that next leaf on there just for fun and support it upright with a bamboo stake or something. Or, just chop off at the fruit and see how that goes and shed a tear(s) in sync with the dripping that occurs. I have done both and do not recall any advantages or disadvantages. I DO hate to see water dripping out right AT the pumpkin stem, though, lol.

Some growers swear by allowing the main vine to grow and grow until it perhaps shows signs of slowing down naturally, at which point, well, chop that and leave one leaf to still grow as big as it will there, lol. One thing's fer sherr - a leaf at the end of a terminated vine gets HUGE!

My beliefs branch out to also feel that if the ENTIRE plant is pruned of ALL possible growth once physical boundaries are reached, all nodes are buried and the ONLY growth points available are the fruit and maybe ONE larger vine we just cannot seem to bring ourselves to prune off (the main?), the biggest and heaviest pumpkin will ensue - the only minus is either the pumpkin overgrows once a heavy rain occurs or tertiary growth explodes because of the confinements placed on the plant now, maybe both!
Go for it, though, and funnel those creative juices into your FPs and let me know!

Awww, man - I gotta go water my 940.6 Gerry plant for 2 hours.
Darn it. (I can' wait, lol)---eric g

7/31/2021 5:33:24 PM

New Castle, Indiana

Alright sounds good! I think I'll prune the vine with the smaller one and see how that goes. If it goes well, then I'll do the same to the other.

My smaller ones seem completely unaffected by the number of fruits on the vines. They're quite prolific. One of them is almost ripe for harvest actually.

8/1/2021 10:33:34 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Ok change of plans. Turns out the smaller of the two is on a secondary vine. I didn't want to just terminate the main line because it isn't producing so I'll wait and see on that one. Now as for the other one....

DUDE...of course the vines have their tendrils that grab onto the grass, but on top of that...THEY ROOTED! I had no idea that was a thing with pumpkin vines. So that vine was getting water from the ground at every leaf node. I noticed this after I chopped it off and pulled it up.

8/1/2021 10:44:06 AM

Syracuse, NY

Yeah, you'll hear about 'burying the vines' all the time, and that's the main (ha ha) purpose of doing it - to encourage add'l vine rooting to occur; Its secondary (ha ha) purpose is to help everything stay in place a bit more in the wind and I'll give it a tertiary (ha ha) purpose of that it just looks really cool. You probably have more vine rooting going on naturally than I have intentionally caused on my own plants in years, lol, so, good for you! I always INTEND to do it, but even right now, a possible toothache and a rainstorm are pending - I'd rather be on BigPumpkins! 'Don't do as I DO', lol---eric g

8/1/2021 12:38:31 PM

New Castle, Indiana

Interesting...well like I said the soil out here is pretty darn good. I've been been building a fire pit out there and I feel bad digging into the ground because I hate to disturb such pristine looking soil...lol.

Everything looks good after the pruning. I've almost got the fruit completely up on its base; been moving it into position little by little as you described. Might have a decent size jack o lantern there in October.

8/2/2021 3:17:46 PM

Syracuse, NY

You won't believe this, but, hey, if the end result is a proud-looking, super-shapely Jack O'Lantern of your dreams, then, good for you! There are actually a small number of growers on here that want their fruits to grow 'blossom-down', and you may be caught in a misconstrue of my words versus anyone's interpretation of them:

Me:
"Turning the fruits can ONLYYYYYYYYYY be done to get the fruits at a 90-degree angle (perpendicular) to the vine,

>>>like a punching bag hanging down from its mount<<<;

This MUST be done during the DAY and only a TINY amount each time over 3-4 days or until accomplished and NEVER at night when any stems or vines are less pliable."

Holeeee Mackerel!!! SO soddy!!!

I meant the punching bag as an example of any entity at a right angle (perpendicular) to its mount (like a pumpkin to its vine) and did not realize that the 'hanging down' part would have been taken as perhaps the direction of the turning being from South to North rather than simply counter- or clockwise...a small amount of either.

No LOL outta me, lo.... well, if it's working, good to go!!! Keep after it!

8/3/2021 4:40:53 AM

Syracuse, NY

See, the Atlantic Giants are most often too big to ever even think of growing them with the stem upright and the vine running up and over, although it HAS been done and sometimes it happens quite naturally. I may be wrong about being wrong here, lol, but this is what it sounds like to me. A Field Pumpkin, however, is probably a piece of cake, as long as it now grows OUTward more than UPward.

A simple misexplanation ('zat a word?) - I like the looks of it, lol - followed by maybe a misinterpretation.

I can't wait to see your pumpkin(s), of course, and that is nothing new.

Pretty soon, you'll be wanting to start a diary and submit pictures!
Ohhh, man, I hope it goes well, unlike my telling you about fruit turning, lol---

You should be able to go here and select 'Submit To Your Own Diary (New)' off to the right;

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/

I hope you are doing it from a desktop computer, because that's all I'll ever have done it from. For anything else, I dunno whazzup if it doesn't work...
******IT MAY TAKE a day or more for your entry to show up!
There IS a Premium membership, with lesser delays, but I'm outta time, lol---

I DO believe that any pics need to be taken with your smartphone turned 90* to the left
(OMG, just, counterclockwise, lol) and send it in oriented like that and hope for the best,
whenever you go about it, if you even want to - once attained, it'll be great for you to post pics and get advice on any problems, successes and/or prizewinning on your part/carvings/ ideas for next year, etc., etc., and it's time for me to hit the hay.

Good Luck with it all! - Eric G

8/3/2021 4:41:09 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Hah! Yes I did take the punching bag analogy literally. In any case it hasn't been difficult to get the blossom side down on this one. Since I don't have a massive area of vines it's easy to get to.

8/3/2021 9:03:36 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Posted a couple pics. After looking at some others I'm rather embarrassed...lol. That guy in Salem, OH is growing some monsters over there.

Also I've noticed that the giants tend to develop yellow instead of green. I recall when I had an atlantic giant fruit going it too was yellow but unfortunately rotted on the bottom once it got to be about softball size. I just assumed the vine aborted it but perhaps not?

8/3/2021 3:41:43 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Field Pumpkins are C Pepo. Atlantic Giants are C Maxima. C Pepo have hard 5 edge stems typically start green and turn orange an can get about 200lbs in size. C Maxima have soft stems typically start Yellow and can get 2624 lbs or bigger

8/4/2021 7:37:33 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Darn...that means I could have theoretically had one if I hadn't let it rot....well I was young and the internet didn't yet exist for me to get that information.

8/4/2021 12:32:09 PM

Syracuse, NY

I guess I can suggest that insulation of any kind go under that fruit o' yourn pretty soon if it's even remotely manageable, only because I feel that IF anything were to rot for any reason? - It'd be the one time we don't that it will, and the 50 times that we DO it that it wouldn't have, anyway.
Or similar, lol - A hole could be made for the blossom and I'm glad we can now see the fruits of which you speak---eric g

8/5/2021 4:33:14 AM

New Castle, Indiana

I'll set it on a block or something. The small pumpkins are doing pretty well without so I'll just let those go.

8/5/2021 7:46:46 PM

Syracuse, NY

Okay, Mr. Vicious, lol.
I actually have 4 of my own #37 FP plants in the back room window yet - they're just going to show me that in spite of abhorrent neglect (although I DO check them and adjust their spindly, little vines every night, and I'm so sorry for them) they are still gonna do just like the 'real' ones out in the patch, and hear them roar; They really ARE in good shape. Maybe I'll catch up - this weekend is do or die for final plantings---eg

8/6/2021 5:01:35 AM

New Castle, Indiana

The smallest of the FPs I have out there are actually growing bigger than the...not smallest ones. Either something is very fishy with the seeds I planted, or I goofed and planted the smallest ones in the middle by accident.

8/6/2021 10:47:17 AM

Syracuse, NY

'T's allright - I should be kept away from any 'Launch', 'Commence' and/or 'FIRE' buttons as well. You'll get there, lol---Soon, I'll have an FP plant in the ground. And the lawn partially-mowed, lol; Probably some AG plants and a CAR that I forgot I had are out there, somewhere, ha ha --- eg

8/7/2021 3:25:45 AM

New Castle, Indiana

I was up a little earlier this morning so I got to see who it is that's been pollinating my fruits. Turns out there is a colony of bees in the area that have been doing the job. Too bad I don't have any females right now.

Posted more pics too. Found out that typically smaller pumpkins can be planted in July to coincide with an October harvest. This year they're going to be finished probably by the end of the month. This would also explain why my larger ones have taken longer as they are probably designed to be ready around the same time.

8/7/2021 8:44:30 AM

Syracuse, NY

Okay, so you need to pull up all your plants, mow the lawn that is in there and re-plant everything in time to continue growing, lol---NO, don't do that, ha ha ha;
PS - A pollination this year by anything undesired won't affect the shape, color, stem length, etc. of this year's fruits compared with anything else having pollinated it that would've been desired, unless MAYBE the pollination was VERY lopsided (only like ONE bee got in and was VERY light on the pollen, but I doubt it)---I should try that on one sacrificial fruit...FYI.

By next year, you'll know all about controlled pollination. If I can help it, you won't be using paper bags to 'cover' them - I stopped with that in about my second year when a cucumber beetle was in the flower that pollination morning; Most likely, he crawled up the stem and into the flower. I don't care - it won't happen again. Later---eric g

8/8/2021 2:36:05 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Yes Yes I know..lol..the grass is a nuisance there but I just didn't have the time to de-sod the whole area. I DID manage to mow around the vines and get the general area cleaned up though.

8/8/2021 8:11:09 AM

Syracuse, NY

Got the big part of the lawn done, about an acre, and then hit 3 Ag plants with Mildew Cure ordered from Holland's Land O' Giants for Powdery Mildew (PM). I used the overhead sprinklers AND a hose with a sprayer on it @ 60 PSI and it was actually FUN because I was finally doing the right thing. Then, a torrential downpour for the next 1/2 to an hour. Splat! Been inside ever since but now gonna I'm bag 2 feems on my 301.5 #3 waaaay out in back - good start for a Pumpkinhead 3 movie - woooooooo... Will apply the rest of MC again when it dries out(side), lol---eric g

8/9/2021 2:32:18 AM

New Castle, Indiana

So it's been awhile but I thought I'd report....

I believe all my vines developed this powdery mildew thing you mentioned. As I don't know really know where that comes from I don't know how to deal with it. Leaves also appear to be burning off little by little so....yeahhh....things took a turn there. Could it have been from getting too much water on the leaves themselves?

8/22/2021 5:45:42 PM

Syracuse, NY

Powdery Mildew (PM) blows northward from the south and gets onto unusually-moist leaves as we've been seeing here in NY this year more than ever - I had PM waaaaaay before I ever had on my 1985 Miller plant and it was weeks before I talked myself into getting Mildew Cure from Holland's Land O' Giants - there's a link to it on the front page with Joel Holland and his three MONSTERS from a couple of years ago.

You can just click 'add to cart' and do the PayPal thing or I believe CC is available, too---I think I got a complimentary email from the Holland's that are so nice about shipping it right out to me as well.

It's the best deal I saw at $160 flat out - that's the cost; It is drop-shipped from the manufacturer I believe in Florida and I had it inside of 7 days from ordering to my door. 2.5-gallon jug. Shake well, it is like a milkshake and has numerous oils in it to stop PM in its tracks. Smells like garlic, which is fine 'cause I love that smell and flavor! Non-toxic, non-this and non-that (I still ran away once I got the sprinklers running, lol!);

I got smart the next day and attached a garden hose along with my whizzer sprinklers to REALLY douse the plants - at 60 PSI it is fun to water!!!
Shoom, shoom, bzzzzssshhhhhttt---creative I was, lol!

8/22/2021 6:26:32 PM

Syracuse, NY

Anyway, one gallon of it per 100 gallons of H2O; hafta read the label for any specifics but that's the main ratio; Within a few days (4, 5) PM goes away, although NOTHING can be done about the evidence on the leaves that were damaged. ALL my plants got treated (like 14) and the 1985 had had a problem from the start from growing AGs in the same exact spots for 20 years, lol.
I then waited about 3 days before any other watering/fertilizing for it to 'do its thing';

Ferts ?can? be added along with it, I believe---

In any event, I'm glad I bought it, it has worked and I still have another treatment's worth if I choose to use it. For the $$$, it's peace of mind against that crap growing on my bodacious leaves that I adore, lol---For smaller amounts, sure, they exist, but if you have it any year, you'll have it every year (PM) so, let's be prepared - my 2003 Haist last year would have done a lit-tle better had it not had PM, which I had to let run rampant. eg

8/22/2021 6:27:11 PM

Syracuse, NY

Okay, FOUR of his monsters and here's where to find it, halfway down the page:

http://www.hollandsgiants.com/grow.html

Good luck, no matter what---eric g

8/22/2021 6:37:48 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Mildew Cure can be bought in smaller more economical sizes at this link.

https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/safergro-mildew-cure/natural-organic-plant-disease-control

Applied at 1-2 oz per gallon it would be best applied by misting with a pump sprayer or by using a backpack sprayer. It’s a contact fungicide, so you need to get good spray coverage ideally on top and the underside of all leaves.

8/24/2021 12:44:29 AM