Giant Pumpkin Irrigation

For the last four seasons I've used over the top irrigation for my pumpkin plants. Different combinations of sprinkler heads would spray over the pumpkin patch from different angles to water the plant. The problem with over the top irrigation is that giant pumpkin leaves act like umbrellas and in the 2nd half of the growing season you start seeing a lot of dry spots under the leaves. Even to the point that the ground would crack from dryness.

This next season my plan is to us an under the canopy irrigation system using Dan Micro sprinkler heads. I'll be using a system very similar to giant pumpkin grower Thad Starr's. I"ve seen his setup while visiting him a couple of years ago in Oregon. It makes the watering nice in even with great coverage.

Gary "The Wiz" Grande also uses a similar watering system and says it is the best he has tried.

The Giant Pumpkin Off Season

My wife would tell you that there isn't an off season when it comes to giant pumpkin growing and that is somewhat true. When you aren't growing then you are thinking about growing. The best thing you can do when snow is on the ground is get ready for the upcoming season by doing a lot of research.

There is always something new to learn when it comes to giant pumpkin growing. Everything that it takes to grow a big pumpkin is wonderfully complex. The best thing to do from November to March is to research different growing techniques, amendments, genetics and ask questions of world class growers on sites like bigpumpkins.com and coloradopumpkins.com. There is a lot of misinformation out there and only by a lot of reading can you sort through it all.

One thing, when I can find some time, I'll be researching this off season is hormonal responses within pumpkin plants. As the season progresses you notice after years of growing that the plants want to do certain things at certain times. There are ways you can enhance or slow down this responses by the amendments that you give to the plants and how/when you water them. By making little adjustments you can add a lot of pounds to a pumpkin if you do things just right.

Another thing I'm thinking about this off-season is changing my watering system in the patch. I want to go to an under the canopy watering system so I can get more even watering later in the season. My plan is to add Dan Micro sprinkler heads under the leaves so I don't get so many dry spots under the canopy and keep one misting sprinkler to spray above the leaves during the heat of the day to keep the plants cool.

I just got a shipment or Red Wriggler worms this last week to get my worm bins going again. Nothing better than earthworm casting to grow big and strong pumpkin plants. It is also the best thing in my opinion for compost tea. I killed my worms last winter during a cold snap so I've moved the worms from the garage to the basement to help keep them happy.

Have a merry Christmas and grow em big in 2012!

The Great Pumpkin & The Marriage Ref Delivers

Last week my wife and I went on a trip to the Dominican Republic compliments of NBC's The Marriage Ref. All of the guests on the show were given an all inclusive trip and the timing for our trip couldn't have been better. 86 degrees, white sand beach and perfect water.

If you have been following this pumpkin blog you know that my wife and I were on the Marriage Ref discussing giant pumpkin growing and the dispute was over whether or not I spend to much time in the pumpkin patch. Celebrities Jerry Seinfeld, Ricky Gervais and Julianne Moore all sided with me on the show and I went on to the final round where I took second place (might as well as been last) in a chance to win $25,000.

If you are looking for a quite vacation spot, Punta Cana in the Dominican would be a great choice. Both Amber and I aren't resort people but the Bavaro Palace Resort that we stayed at was very modern with lots to do. A very enjoyable time for the both of us. So thanks to Tom Popovich, Jerry Seinfeld, NBC and all of the crew for a great time!

Pumpkin Patch Prep is Done

I did my fall patch prep yesterday. I added old leaves, humic acid, sulfur, blood meal, gypsum and alfalfa pellets and then tilled it all in. What you do in the fall and in the spring to the soil probably means more in regards to how big your pumpkin is going to grow then anything you do after planting the seed. Making sure your soil is balanced and with the right amount of nutrients in place is what is going to power that pumpkin in July and August.

After a cold spell moves through mid-week I'm going to put in a cover crop on Thursday. I'll be adding a mixture of 50% winter rye, 40% winter oats and 10% hardy vetch. The rye and oats produce tremendous organic matter and the vetch is a legume that fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil for free! Winter oats help suppress harmful nematodes in the soil.

In the Spring I'll get a soil test done and then probably add some compost and other amendments to the soil, depending on what my soil test says, a few weeks before I plant the pumpkin plant.

Heavy to the Charts and it Has Clone Genetics in the Pumpkin

My son and I took a small pumpkin from the 868 pumpkin plant that popped up sometime after my main pumpkin ("Jerry") went down to rot to the weigh-off at Nick's Nursery yesterday. The pumpkin was probably about 30 days old and pretty good sized for it's age. I always wondered if Jerry was going to go heavy to the charts and I figured this was the best way to find out since it never made it to the scale. Jerry thumped like he was heavy so I took this little pumpkin to give me a ball park idea of what this 868 plant could produce.

To my surprise the little pumpkin went 15% heavy (aka abnormally heavy) to the charts! Now I really wish that Jerry would have had a chance to go to the scales to see what that pumpkin could have done. From the start it was the fastest growing pumpkin I ever had but for some reason it slowed down at the beginning of August and by the third week it rotted out. I wonder now if there wasn't something more than the one spot of rot that I found because that pumpkin completely rotted out very quickly.

About a month ago I pollinated the 868 plant with a clone plant that came from the same plant that produced a 1,725 pound pumpkin. On paper that is a very interesting cross. The genealogy of this pumpkin that I cut off the vine yesterday is that it has three generations of 1161 Rodonis in it. The first Rodonis weighed 1,579 pounds. The second Rodonis weighed 868 pounds. The third Rodonis weighed 1,725 pounds. Genetics wise it is 87% 1161 Rodonis which in my book isn't a bad thing. Since the last pumpkin went 15% heavy who knows what this pumpkin's seeds might produce.

Pumpkin Weigh-off Video

The following is a little video from yesterday's giant pumpkin weigh-off in Denver Colorado.

A New Personal Best Pumpkin at 924.5 Pounds

Last night we cut the pumpkin from the vine and much to my surprise and relief the bottom of the pumpkin hadn't rotted out. This morning I hauled my pumpkin and the kids pumpkin to the weigh-off at Jared's Nursery. Hauling a giant pumpkin is a real hoot. People wave, honk their horns and take pictures the entire way to the weigh-off. 364 days a year you can get teased some for being a giant pumpkin grower. Let's face it, the cool crowd on South Beach don't spend a lot of time growing giant pumpkins. But on the 365th day Heidi Klum could be standing next to a nice, orange giant pumpkin and people might not even notice her.

Pumpkin weights this year were way down in Colorado because many growers lost pumpkins due to rot and splits this year but there was still a good number of pumpkins at the weigh-off. My children took first place with a 146.5 pound pumpkin in the children's division. They did a very good job of taking care of their pumpkin this year. Later my pumpkin was weighed and came in at 924.5 pounds. A new personal best! Not as big as I thought it would be this year (after the pumpkin split the pounds went from 20 down to about 7 per day) but it is still the biggest and best looking pumpkin I've ever grown (let Jerry Seinfeld know that giants don't have to be ugly). Overall my pumpkin would have been in 2nd place for weight and won the Howard Dill award for the prettiest pumpkin but it was disqualified because of the splits. It looks like my pumpkin may end up being the heaviest Colorado grown pumpkin this year (Joe Scherber lost his 1,475 pound pumpkin last week due to rot) that goes to the scale.

Top honors for the day went to Ron Hoffman of Wyoming with a nice 1,012 pound pumpkin. I was very happy for Ron. He is a great grower and deserves the win. A well deserved second prize went to Gary Grande who beat out his brother by nine pounds.

Got the seeds out of my pumpkin tonight. Not a ton of them because of some rot that had started inside but I was happy to see some at all. These seeds are now officially the 924.5 Johnson (1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens).

Another Big One that Got Away

I feel for Joe Scherber today. Yesterday he lost a pumpkin that would have been a new Colorado state record to a spot of rot. He was exactly one week from cutting the pumpkin off the vine when he found the spot. He and I measured the pumpkin and it estimated at about 1,447 pounds. Joe is 6'4" and that will give you some perspective to the size of this pumpkin. The pumpkin was thick on the inside and flawless. The pumpkin was grown from the 1725 Harp seed (a seed from a former world-record pumpkin) and he crossed it with a cloned plant that grew a pumpkin that was also 1,725 pounds (1725 Sweet) and was a world-record for one week last year until the 1,810 pounder went to the scale. So the seeds from Joe's pumpkin should have some great genetics. Thanks for the seeds Joe. I know what I will be planting next year.

Come to the Biggest Pumpkin Weigh-off in Colorado

The much anticipated 6th Annual Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers Pumpkin Weigh-off will be held on Saturday, September 24th. Last year, more than 3,000 people attended this event that featured 1,500+ pound pumpkins measuring more than 14 feet in circumference.

“We saw some amazing pumpkins last year and look to see some giants again this year.” said Gary 'The Wiz' Grande, President and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers (RMGVG). “It is always fun to see the children’s faces the first time they see the pumpkins. They are something straight out of a fairy tale and we might see a new state record this year." The current Colorado record was set by Barry Todd of Littleton last year at a whopping 1,308 pounds.

“The weigh-off is a celebration of our growers’ hard work and is a fun way to kick-off the fall season,” said Jamie Johnson, Vice President of the RMGVG who was featured on NBC’s The Marriage Ref this summer with his pumpkin. “It is a great event with food, straw mazes for the kids, music, face painting, haunted house, audience voting and of course, some really amazing giant pumpkins.”

The record for the world’s largest pumpkin was 460 pounds until 1981, when Howard Dill, a grower in Nova Scotia, came up with one that was close to 500 pounds. He patented the seed, and growers around the world jumped to buy Dill’s Atlantic Giant. As they crossed and re-crossed varieties, the pumpkins grew ever larger; by 1994, the symbol of Halloween had passed the 1,000-pound mark. The world record pumpkin was grown last year by Chris Stevens of Wisconsin and weighed an amazing 1,810 pounds.

The event will take place at Jared’s Nursery in Littleton, 10500 W. Bowles Avenue, starting at 10 a.m. with the junior division, followed by the giant pumpkins at 11 a.m. Admission is free to the public.

For more information about the RMGVG weigh-off or to get more information on how to grow giant pumpkins or vegetables post a comment below

To watch a short video of last year’s RMGVG pumpkin weigh-off event visit http://www.pumpkinlink.com/pumpkin-video.html

The Home Stretch

We are coming to the end of the season now. 1 1/2 weeks until we cut the pumpkin off the vine. Gave the plant some seaweed today along with a little SO-PO-MG (sulfur, potassium and magnesium) 0-0-22 to squeeze a few last pounds out of the plant. The plant looks pretty hammered these days. A few new vines are keeping the pumpkin going but probably half of the leaves are on the verge of death. Hot summer days and powdery mildew that popped up over the last three weeks have taken their toll. Last I checked the pumpkin was still putting on 4 pounds a day. I suspect the pumpkin will be estimating around 970 pounds by the weigh-off next week.

If you would be interested in giving this a try next season visit my Pumpkin Growing Store.

Monster Big Pumpkins

A great grower who I've been privileged to spend some time with talking pumpkins over a plate of buffalo wings is Ron Wallace. Super nice guy and former giant pumpkin world-record holder (1,502 pounds). I just found out that Ron had the big one get away from him. In the later part of August he had a pumpkin estimating at about 1,780 pounds go down on him because of a pin hole split after 4 inches of rain. It still had more than 40 days of growing left and based on his best estimates it would have ended up around 2,100 to 2,200 pounds! just amazing.

As for my little pumpkin, it is still growing as of the last measurement. Two weeks from today I plan on cutting it off from the vine. At this point the pumpkin still seems solid so I think there is a descent chance of it making it. Today I'll be giving the plant some seaweed and calcium.

The 656 Johnson AKA Jerry

I took the final measurements on "Jerry" today because I will be cutting it open to get the seeds out. The 868 measures 142 inches in circumference and has an estimated weight of 656 pounds. So now the pumpkin (pictured below) will be known as the 656 Johnson (868 Johnson x 1725 Harp).

One Last Round of Calcium

There are studies that show that calcium can preserve the shelf life of some fruits and vegetables. I gave my 1204 plant one last round of calcium in the hope it might give me one more day on the vine. The pumpkin these days is looking ripe on the outside. Probably won't last more than a week or two now. I haven't measured it since Monday and it was still growing then but I don't expect it to still be growing now. A local garden center, Timberline Gardens, has offered to weigh the pumpkin and put it on display. I'm hoping it will last long enough to do that.

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Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch

The 1204 Scherber AKA "Ricky"

Dear Jerry Seinfeld. I hope this pumpkin proves two things. First, giant pumpkin don't have to be ugly. Second, this pumpkin was named after Ricky Gervais and hopefully it proves that the "British" don't have to be ugly (if you watched me on NBC you'll know what I am talking about).

I Hope Sulfur Powder Isn't Overly Toxic

Four weeks from today is the vine cutting. At this point I'm just hoping that I have a pumpkin at that time. The 1204 pumpkin is still holding together but I'd give it a 40% chance that it will still be around by the weigh-off at Jared's on September 24th. Growth has slowed down considerably. I'm praying that it will make it.

The 868 pumpkin is growing slow as well but still growing. I continue to get splits on the face of the pumpkin and those splits have now started to go into the stem area where I found a little rot forming. I am hoping that sulfur powder isn't overly toxic because I've used a fair amount of it and bleach around the stem. I also re-covered pumpkin face area to help it dry out.

We have had three days in a row of record heat in Denver. You can't water the pumpkin plants enough when it gets this way. I watered 25 minutes more than I usually do yesterday and when I was checking the soil this morning there were still areas that were a bit drier than I would prefer. Hard to get the pumpkins to do to much growth when it is this warm. Looking forward to some relief.

The Pumpkin Plants are Aging

At this time of year you start to see a lot of aging in the plants and pumpkin growth has slowed down a lot. The oldest leaves have died off, most of the leaves look tired and now the youngest leaves on the edges of the plant are doing a good portion of the work to make the pumpkin grow. I usually see a lot of sucker vines popping up on the plant this time of year. A hormonal change has happened in the plant and it knows it is coming down to the last month of growth and it is doing everything it can to produce more posterity. I find these sucker vines irritating and pain to get rid of. There is a fine balance between going into the plant to get these vines out and not damaging the older leaves when you do so. One thing you have to watch for is new pumpkins growing in the patch. Even with a watchful eye, I've pulled out 60 pound pumpkins that were well hidden in the vines.

The last couple of days I've given the plants NutriCal, calcium and Fish & Seaweed. Very slow growth on the 868 pumpkin. The 1204 is still growing quickly for this time of year.

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A New Hope

At 150 pounds smaller than my big pumpkin, the 868 pumpkin (aka Jerry) is where I am hoping now to get over 1,000 pounds this year. It is my last hope. There are 47 growing days left until the weigh-off at Nick's Nursery so as of right now my plan is to take it their. If I can get about 39 more inches on this pumpkin I should make the 1,000 pound mark. This pumpkin was a later pollination on July 4th so it will be 95 days old then which is young enough that it should be still growing a little by weigh-off time if the weather is good.

The picture to the right makes this pumpkin look more orange than it really is in normal light. The morning orange sky I think made the pumpkin less pale orange than how it really looks. As you can see there are no dill rings so far for this pumpkin and very light ribbing.

RIP Ricky; The 1204 Pumpkin is Dead

I am very sorry to announce that Ricky the pumpkin formed a crack into the cavity this morning and as a result will not be going to any weigh-offs this year. An internal crack called a Dill Ring formed inside the pumpkin and intersected a deep rib and split the pumpkin open this morning. Nothing could be done about it and it happens to a lot of growers. Ricky, also known as the big pumpkin, was on pace to easily break my personal best weight of 868 pounds. If it stayed on track it probably would have hit about 1,100 pounds. I'll take measurements on it this evening to get an unofficial weight.

This pumpkin was named "Ricky" after Ricky Gervais whom I took a wise crack at while on NBC's The Marriage Ref this summer. The cross of the pumpkin is 1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens (in other words I crossed my pumpkin with a seed from last year's World Record pumpkin). Seeds will be available in a month at http://seeds.denverpumpkins.com.

As the saying goes, "If you ain't blowin them you ain't growing em." But the saying also goes, "If you are blowin them then you ain't showing em."

The other pumpkin, Jerry, is still growing and the cracks on it are of a different kind and of less concern so we will put our efforts into that pumpkin now. Pictured below is the little split that caused all of the trouble.