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Hayward, CA

We Bought this pack =et of seeds from Lowe's in Union City CA. The Package says" Dill's Atlantic Giant" Giant Pumpkin.
The plants are very small compared to all of your diary entries. Can anyone tell me if they are familiar with these seeds. They appear to be packaged by Ferry-Morse.
Brent

6/1/2007 12:51:01 AM

Santa Cruz, CA

We grew a 409lb pumpkin off a seed from a package of Dill's seeds we bought directly from him a few years back. We had a very large heathy plant. When did you start your pumpkin plants? Our plants are about a month old and have 6 or 7 leaves. We're in the Santa Cruz area and our soil is just now warming up. We should see a big growith period in the next month with a "sea of green" by July 1. How is your soil? Poor soil can slow growth too.

6/1/2007 1:31:11 AM

Hayward, CA

We started the seeds in fiber pots on may 17th. I am a first time grower of anything and I actually had to transplant into larger pots cause I had no idea how fast the roots grow. (I had never grew anything but hair) They all sprouted and now have the first leaf showing on all 5 plants. Found out the clay soil in our back yard needed a some more work to it in order to grow anything so I have added some super soil amendments and steer compost bags and turned it all in by hand. Tested the PH cause its all I know to do and it appears to be around 6.8 to 6.9. the pots had seed starter soil and I mixed in some of the soil from the back yard. I am using a small shop light in our kitchen and place the plants outside for about 4-6 hrs for the past few days. See a lot of pictures on here and was just wondering am I doing it all wrong, or just not enough warmth yet?
Brent

6/1/2007 11:30:20 AM

Hayward, CA

Oh Yeah, One more important thing to note: This is for my 2-1/2 year old daughter this year to have a giant pumpkin for halloween. We do not expect to win any prizes but I would love to have her first pumpkin to carve be a giant one!! All in all I find that we are really enjoying the anticipations and expectations and this site is the greatest for learning. So many helpful people in the world all meeting here. I may want to do this every year. It's easy to say we have definitely been bitten and may be infected for life!!!

6/1/2007 11:41:52 AM

New Carlisle IN

Correct me if I'm wrong, but dosen't the seeds from Lowes come directly from the Dill's?
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=3&p=189509
Terry

6/1/2007 11:54:39 AM

Wood River, IL (kennyw_49@yahoo.com)

Hi Brent,

Welcome to the madness. This is my second year growing AG's. I'm in it for the same reason. Couple years ago at our local pumpkin farm while we were picking out a pumpkin for halloween, my then 4 year old ask "if I would grow her a big pumpkin like the ones on TV" The rest is history I think I'll grow these the rest of my life.

If you sit tight you'll get all the answers you need right here. These is the best group of people you'll ever meet.

Your in for a very fun summer.

Good luck

Kenny

6/1/2007 12:10:44 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Welcome Brent!

Ferry-Morse has been in business since 1856 so they must be a decent outfit. But truly competition grade seeds come from the growers here at BP. The F-M seeds should provide ample pleasure & learning. If the Giant Pumpkin Bug sinks it teeth in hard enough, you'll be around all winter & will have more free high quality seeds than you'd ever know what to do with.

6/1/2007 3:47:47 PM

Santa Cruz, CA

Hi Bret,
It sounds like you're realy to go. I'd get the plants into the ground ASAP. Their roots grow really fast and will get root-bound soon. If you've had them outside for a few days they should do well putting them into the garden now. Also, pumpkins don't like their roots messed with so be careful when you're putting them out that the roots don't get moved around too much. Good luck!

6/2/2007 12:14:13 AM

Cornell, Wi

I am sure the plants are fine. I know you can definetly tell the difference in size of plants from regular seeds vs. geneticly superior seeds. I planted 8 AG seeds last year from market and 6 out of 600 lbs pumpkins. The results were definant. The better seeds produced bigger plants with bigger pumpkins. You could tell the difference from a mile away. If you want big pumpkins get the good seeds.

6/2/2007 9:55:20 AM

Hayward, CA

Thanks everyone. We will have alot of fun. I ordered the book "how to grow world class pumpkins III" to hopefully answer alot of questions. Perhaps next year we will find a source for the better seeds and have a little better luck!
Thankyou all again! This is really a great site!!!!!!
Brent

6/2/2007 8:00:41 PM

Santa Cruz, CA

You're welcome to some of our Atlantic Giant seeds anytime. If you want to try and give one a go this year, you can e-mail us at: kristine@hinds-house.com and I will send you a few. If you're set for this year, next winter check on the "seed Exchange" section of this web site in Nov. or Dec. and you will get growers willing to send you some seeds. You will need to send them a bubble envelope with postage and your address...it is that easy. Good luck and have fun!!

6/2/2007 9:58:15 PM

Hayward, CA

We are seeing something strange on the first true leaf of two of the plants. I did something that may not be that big of a deal but it sure made me cringe when I did. Two plants had the first true leaf "pucker" so to speak and ithey were kind of "burnt" on the very edge of the leaf. I believe the puckering was a result of the edge not allowing any further growth and the rest of the leaf was still growing causing the billowing effect!. wnt to the cucurbit disorders site and could not find anything that looked like the problem I was seeing. So...I cut off the first leaf on the more severe plant and cut the area behind the puckering on the plant that was not as bad. I know they are just plants but to my little girl, they are her "pumpkin friends" and yes,they already have names. time will tell if I had just broken her heart or not. She will not get to see them until Monday evening so that is a plus. the new groth has yet to unfold, so I will hope for the best.
Brent

6/3/2007 9:59:51 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Don't do anything radical. Try posting a digital image in a diary or the photo gallery so we can see what the plants are up to. Young plants often do strange things especially during warm weather. Try to never spray them with any chemicals or fertilizers in the heat - only at sundown.

6/3/2007 11:09:04 PM

Hayward, CA

Well, never sprayed them with anything, so I guess thats a plus. I will post a picture in the diary tomorrow. Hoping for the best!

6/4/2007 12:21:32 AM

Minnesota

Compared to some of the seeds the professonel growers here use there not (I'm relatively a begginer) You should of came here first and asked if some body had some seeds for you, they really helped me out, I had enough, I gave my brother some, my sons school has some planted there, I even had enough after I water logged some and they died. I was told to ask in the fall, there are people giving away seeds left and right. Some of these seeds are out of 1,000 or more pound pumpkins, and they are genourous to give them away free, if you check the prices on these seeds, they can be very expensive. From my expierence this year and the people's generosity at this web site, I say try back in the fall and get some seeds from the growers here for next year. Usually you send a bubble envelope in a bubble envelope.

6/4/2007 12:38:25 AM

Long Island,New York

Very often the first few leaves may show a girdling of the leaf edge. I call this the "fitted sheet syndrome" because it looks like the corner of a fitted bedsheet. The plant will outgrow it.

6/4/2007 4:52:28 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

The first few leaves are not used to the full sun, and tend to burn and curl up,on the edges, I just sort of break apart the curled part and the leaf comes up, with a burnt edge....just a rookie here, but I want all the photosynthesis going on that I can at that stage, so I dont cut em off!!! Peace, Wayne

6/4/2007 9:59:09 PM

Hayward, CA

Thanks everyone. You have really made us feel alot better and the plants are still doing well. This is a great place for all kinds of help. I didn't even think about pumpkins or gardening to this extent until my daughter and I had seen this package of seeds called Dills Atlantic Giant Pumpkins. So.... I would say without a doubt at least in this case the packaged seeds are absolutely wonderful. They forced me to locate an informational source I would never have done without the curiosity this packet of seeds gave me. I had no idea there were web sights like this before we bought the Dills Atlantic Giant seeds, just knew there was a Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival once a year and never ever went to it. I can tell you now we will be there this year and hopefully every year from now on. May never meet alot of you but we would like to say thanks and understand how much fun this can be. Is this a great site or what?!?!
The Chester Family

6/5/2007 12:32:12 AM

Santa Cruz, CA

Hi Brent,
We've had some leaf burn here too due to the sunny days we've been having. I usually keep the leaves and don't cut them until they are three quarters old and brittle. There is shade cloth you can purchase at a local garden store. That really helped us last year when it got into the 90's here. I just stapled the cloth to 5' poles and pound them into the ground keeping the shade cloth a few feet above the plants. I make a point to especially shade the new leaves that aren't ajusted to the heat yet. In Napa and hotter climates they mist the whole pumpkin plant. The misters can turn on every few minutes in the heat of the day if necessay. Sometimes if I'm in the patch and the leaves look wilty from the heat, I lightly spray them with water and they usually perk right up. You're going to have more heat than we do here in Santa Cruz, so the shade cloth might be necessary. All these guys (and some gals) on bigpumpkins can give you really great advise. What about that shade cloth? -Creek

6/5/2007 2:40:29 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Brent,

You might be surprised just how small this website has made the world for a lot of us. I've met Atlantic Giant growers from CA as well as the rest of the world at the annual growers convention in Niagara Falls. All because we "cyber met" here first.

Grow well,

Steve

6/6/2007 9:46:43 PM

Hayward, CA

Hi all,
We just received our book "how to grow world class pumpkins III" and some new seeds from creekside(Thank You So Much, E-Mail from Savannah on the way tonight). So excited! Can't wait to get home and check them out!!!! Thanks to all again.
Brent

6/7/2007 4:14:59 PM

Santa Cruz, CA

Good luck! I'm glad you got our seeds. If you're ever in the Santa Cruz area e-mail us that you are traveling our way and you are welcome to see our patch if you'd like. The 630 Sprinsock plant is doing really well so far. You might want to try that one unless you want orange than try the 644 Sprinsock. Have fun, it's a great hobby.(or is it a sport?)-Creek and Family

6/7/2007 7:14:30 PM

Santa Cruz, CA

I wanted to let you know that there is a meeting in Elk Grove (near Sac.) once a year for California growers. It's usually in late March. I don't have the info with me now but I thought you'd like to know the California growers do get together. There is usually a speaker, lunch, seed raffle and see give-a-way too. You can get 15 or more seeds if you go from excellent growers like Pete and Cindi Glasier and new gowers too. -Creek

6/8/2007 12:34:31 PM

Hayward, CA

Wow, I am really looking foward to that! I am so happy we found this site. It would be so much fun to meet and talk with other people that are into growing these Giants!
Brent

6/9/2007 12:26:36 AM