GIANT PUNKIN CONTEST 2013 all cucurbitaceae!

[journey11]

LOL, yeah this would have to be an amateur's event. I remember you showing us those when you first joined, Monty. Amazing!

 

[MontyJ]

Wanna see how fast they grow?

Note the date in the pic...



Here is the same plant just 2 weeks later:

 

[desertlady]

Monty J Is that one punkin on one vine? did you cut off all flowers to make it produce one Big pumpkin? I am learning to grow mine. I dont think they grow well in Hot desert sun ! Some day I hope to have a huge one !

 

[Jared77]

Holy smokes!! I knew they grew fast but that's insane!

Monty I must have missed you introduction when you said you did that. That's really cool.

I can see how it would become work, something like that has to take a lot of upkeep and a close eye on it. The culling, the feeding, I've done some reading up on it but without the saved seeds from some REAL monsters I don't think I'll ever get anything close to that. I did a few of the things I'd read about to get mine to get bigger till the deer got it.

I did shade the pumpkin with an old bed sheet so the skin (or is it the rind?) didn't firm up so it kept growing. I culled any and all other pumpkins the plant produced too so all its efforts were focused on that one pumpkin. When I planted it I gave it a healthy dose of time release fertilizers and compost/mulch. Anything else you suggest? I'm just growing the Atlantic Giants you get in the seed packets so I know they are not going to be crazy big. Heck if I got 200+lbs I'd be doing backflips. Much bigger and it would really be really difficult to clean up and dispose of.

How big is the one your daughter is standing in and how old was she then? Just trying to get some perspective. The can helps in the last pic Though around here its usually Labatt blue bottle or if it is a can its a gold one (High Life).

 

[MontyJ]

Monty J Is that one punkin on one vine? did you cut off all flowers to make it produce one Big pumpkin? I am learning to grow mine. I dont think they grow well in Hot desert sun ! Some day I hope to have a huge one !

Yes, that is one pumpkin on one vine. I usually hand pollinate 3 females. The first is at 8' out, the second around 10' and the third at about 12' out. When I say 8' out, I mean along the main vine. Pumpkin plants grow from a single main vine. From that vine, secondaries will be produced, and from those vines, tertiaries, and so on. To properly prune a pumpkin plant, remove all tertiaries. You only want the main vine and the secondaries. Anything else is salad that will take away from the fruit. As you can see in the first pic dated 6/30, the plant has the shape of a Christmas tree. That's what you're looking for early on. Eventually, the main and all secondaries are terminated by pi9nching off the growth tip as they reach the boundaries of the growing area. The finished plant will cover about 625 square feet.

After pollinating 3 females, I give each a week or so to determine which is going to be the best. There are a lot of considerations to take into account. Shape of the fruit, position on the vine, growth rate all play a part in deciding which one to keep. Once they hit basketball size, I choose which is the keeper and cull every other fruit and flower. That's the scary part. One fruit, one plant. If something happens to that fruit, it's over. Pull the plant and move on. It can be heartbreaking. Somewhere I have a picture of a fruit that went birdbath on me. It split out the blossom end at about 800 pounds. It was on course to hit over 1100 when it went down.

Jared, expect to spend 1-2 hours every day per plant for maintenance. You have to keep the tertiaries removed as well as all other flowers once you set a fruit. And just because you removed a tert, don't expect it to stay gone. The plant will often grow another in the same place, so you have to keep going back over the entire plant. Proper pruning is key to growing monsters.

Shading the fruit is a must. Like you, I usually used old bed sheets or blankets. Also, you want to bed the fruit on something once it sets. I always used play sand. The reason is because the fruit grow so fast, they need something to slide on. Otherwise, the bottom will bind on the soil and cause the divot in the bottom of the fruit, which could eventually split. At the peak of the growing season, it's nothing for a fruit to gain 30-50 pounds a day.

I don't remember the exact weight of the one JB is standing in. It looks like it probably went 500-600 pounds. I do remember that it had extremely thick walls. She was 6 at the time. The one in the truck weighed 1095 pounds and took 8th place at the 2005 Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers GPC World Weigh-Off in Canfield, Ohio. At the time it was weighed, it set a new WV state record. It was later beat by another pumpkin weighed in at Altoona, Pa by a 1105 pound fruit (grown in WV). I think it is now the third largest pumpkin ever grown in WV. I'm not sure though since I don't keep up with such things anymore.

Like I said, I'll stay out of the competition, and just watch. I would be happy to offer advice to anyone who asks for it though.

 

[bj taylor]

30 to 50# a day? I had NO idea. 1000 plus pounds? I didn't think such was possible.

 

[majorcatfish]

what a beautiful monster of a pumpkin monty..
question what did you do with it.?

 

[Jared77]

Thanks for the tips. I can see how it would get pretty crazy and more of a job than a hobby. If I could get one anywhere near the size of the one JB's in that would be ideal. Much more than that and I'm going to be in trouble.

Good to know about the pruning tips that wasn't something I was doing. Maybe I shouldn't to help keep it in check a bit?

Were those seeds you'd gotten from someone else in competition?

 

[desertlady]

Thanks Monty J ! I know my pumpkin wont get that big ! ( too hot here! ) and lots of critters. But Im going to try it for fun !

 

[897tgigvib]

Ohhhhhhhh, ok Monty! Let me think of a good handicap for ya then!

Monty can only enter a CANTALOUPE, CUCUMBER, or GHERKIN.

(I Have a feeling he'll still win!)

This rule applies only to Monty. Lol!

It's a Cucurbitaceae contest after all, and we can have subcategory winners.How's that sound? Oh, where super chem girl who ran this so well last year? I'm just substituting until she takes back over