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New Castle, Indiana

So I realize I'm extremely late in the game here but we've got a couple more months at least of decent growing weather so I'm not overly concerned. Also I'm not looking to win any contests...yet.

Anyway I'm posting a pic of the fruit on my diary. It seems to be doing well. The vine it's on is a nice straight run, no secondaries yet. I have a pallet ready for when it gets a little bigger. This vine was particularly eager to reproduce and started giving me females at like four feet. This one is further down at like six or seven. At what point would it be OK to just cut the vine off at the end...if at all? Also I know it needs a lot of water but I don't have an irrigation system in place and I'm afraid of giving it too much at once. I don't really care how big this one gets as I'm just going to take the seeds and go again next year.

7/20/2022 9:07:47 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Update: after seeing some other diary pics I found I had some weed fabric in my shed. I cut off a piece of that, laid it under the fruit and put a little play sand underneath as well. Seems like a good way to keep it from getting too wet on the underside.

7/20/2022 9:56:57 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Ok well...I don't know if there's something wrong with the diary section or what but I posted a new entry and it isn't showing up. Maybe it takes awhile?

7/20/2022 10:21:11 AM

Diamond, Ohio

It’s takes a day if you’re not a premium member.

7/20/2022 11:10:19 AM

Central NY

definitely late to be competitive which it doesn’t seem you are too worried about but if it’s seeds you are after you still need to get one to the “mature seed stage”…can’t remember when that is..day 50 maybe?…not always as easy as it sounds….most aren’t setting fruit until the plant they are growing in “competition soil” reaches at least 12 ft-14’. There’s also vine training / burying and a host of other tricks and tips and products that we use. I’d probably just let the plant grow it’s main vine and the side vines coming off the plant. In the meantime I would check out every diary on this site, get an idea of the scope of these plants when they are “growing as they should”. I would also join the indiana club.. so many great growers down your way that can help you achieve the goals you set. Good luck.

7/21/2022 8:04:35 AM

New Castle, Indiana

DAP 50? Well considering it stays warm here well into September now that shouldn't be too bad. There's an Indiana Club? I mean I figured there were growers here I just haven't seen them on the site. I have looked at other diary's and man...my vine is puny compared to them...haha.

7/21/2022 8:44:23 AM

Central NY

Most of us cheat. We start early with great seeds…warm up the soil with electricity…test the soil to try to get the nutrient levels the closest we can to optimal conditions ,build little “hoop houses” to keep them warm early on.. yadda yadda yadda… but short answer to your original question now what?…once you have one set and growing you crack a beer, sit back and relax, and watch that sucker grow to 2000 pounds. That’s what dibble did last season. Easy peezy. Welcome to the site. Lots of great info here.

7/21/2022 10:28:01 AM

New Castle, Indiana

LOL...if I got a pumpkin that big from a seed I bought from the store I would crap. Also I drink bourbon...:)

7/21/2022 12:38:13 PM

New Castle, Indiana

Alright so I think I've overwatered and I need a way to reverse that....so here's my plan;

-Going to use a spray bottle to spritz the leaves a bit.

-Adding some Burpee bone meal to the soil

-Skip watering and see what happens

7/22/2022 10:46:08 AM

New Castle, Indiana

And also...there are two vines nearby...maybe within a couple feet...that I'm considering just pulling out because this is the only one at this point in the season that's going to yield anything of value. My question is, in that proximity would they have been enough competition to make a difference?

7/22/2022 10:48:10 AM

Cincinnati,OH

https://ipga.us/

7/24/2022 7:35:04 PM

Lebanon

@Steve, don't stop watering, your leaves aren't wilting because of too much water, unless you're patch is muddy, they are wilting because they have too little! It's very common to see leaves start to wilt after your pollination takes, especially the leaves beyond the new pumpkin. Last year I thought my plant had some kind of disease because all the leaves past my fruit started to wilt, so I chopped the vine off after the fruit so it wouldn't spread. But the fruit was just hogging all the water the plant was sending downstream. Good luck with your pumpkin, any question you have has been asked and answered somewhere here. And get a real seed from a real giant next year, the hardware stores have been selling "giant pumpkin" seeds that are entirely different than the AG you can get here

7/24/2022 10:35:04 PM

New Castle, Indiana

Yep you're right. I think the wilting was heat stress. Yeah you're probably right about the seeds too. In fact..just last week I noticed one of the plants that came up from a package of my AG's was actually an FP. I suspected this when I noticed the leaf shapes but confirmed when I saw the first female show up. Pulled it up out of rage...lol.

7/25/2022 9:14:55 AM