Dills Atlantic Giant Pumpkins Part 2

Came from here

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/997725/


I spy something very small, yellowish, with a bloom at tip.
Yep. Its a teeny tiny baby female pumpkin at the tip of my main vine. Seems like I been waiting forever. The next two weeks will take even longer than forever.
I want to know if I burnt my other plant up or does the ground really have a disease.
So I am planting some regular Jack O Lanterns in that area. Soaking the seeds today and sowing them this evening.


Just showing another Old Photo for the thread starter pic

You might have mentioned this before, but what's the earliest indicator that a baby has been pollinated? Or do you just have to wait to see if it keeps going?

if it stays shiny longer than 5 to 7 days then it most likely made it. some still abort around 10 days after pollination but less often at that age......
If it looses its shine within those 10 days then its a gonner.
If it stops growing within those 10 days then its a gonner.
Most feel more comfy that their wee one has made it after the 10 day mark.
AFter you grow them a few times, you can pretty much tell around 5 to 7 days if its gonna make it or not.
How are your plants? Do you have a pollinated one?

I lost 2 this year that were the size of grapefruits.

I have a few shiny ones that are maybe a little bigger than golf balls. I'll just keep an eye on them. I'm not in any rush because we just want a pumpkin or two at Halloween.

The plants are innnnnsane. I have three vines and they're trying to take over the world. Now I know why people plant pumpkin "patches" - they need their own space. I'm chopping off a leaf here and there so that they don't shade my green beans or overrun the watermelon. Redirecting some of the vines into the strawberry patch, which is done for the year anyway. I hope chopping some of it off doesn't invite disease, or bugs where they shouldn't be. The plants are currently very healthy, free of pests, and vigorous.

I don't have any details on what kind I'm growing or anything like that. We saved some seeds from a pumpkin I got at a local pumpkin patch. I know they're supposed to be orange. I didn't have room to plant the small white ones, dang it.

Most growers allow 300-500 sqft per plant,I have 3 in 1000sqft and it is too tight.

Day 26 for both

1081 Leonzi

S-S: 68
F-B: 65
C: 101
OTT: 234
Total est weight = 266 Lbs
Weight gain = 25.1 lbs
Target Weight: 700 Lbs
Weight to go: 434 Lbs

1112 Holland

S-S: 51
F-B: 55
C: 75
OTT: 176
Total est weight = 119.8 Lbs
Weight gain = 7.3
Target Weight: 700 Lbs
Weight to go: 580.2 Lbs

Wow, Amigatec! This is getting pretty amazing!

yeh, that Leonzi is really putting on some weight. Go Pat Go!
What did you say your state record was?

My 898 plant is growing faster now. And I havent barried any vines yet.
8 inches a day now.
The plant is 80 inches long this morning. 6ft. 8in. Has 6 good secondaries now but they are straight up in the air. I have to start training them downward.

some leaves on the 898 measure 2 ft across. july2nd pic

I want at least 13 secondaries behind the fruit and at least 8 in front of it. The secondary vines get cut off at 12 feet or so, allowed to heal 3 to 4 days , then buried.
Making the whole vine at least 24 feet long.

A grower named Tina has a pumpkin on the vine at the 34 ft mark. I think it measured 30inch circumference at day 10.
The theory is, the more plant you have behind the pumpkin, the bigger and faster the pumpkin will grow but you also chance the pumpkin exploding due to too much energy....... also some growers have grown over 1000 pounders with the pumpkins only at the 8 ft mark leaving a new theory that too many leaves takes away from the pumpkin growth. Who knows? I think its all a combination of tending to it correctly, and Luck.


275 VanHook 2 wks 3 days from sow date.......it will be slow for the next week then pick up speed-----but this one doesnt pollinate til Aug.

I confused cricket. The one s you cut, them the one s you burying or the one s that still attached.

You think ther e time yet before the cold sets in to plant mmore pumpkin seed?

Growing Giants-----You need at least 8 weeks to grow the vine, then at least 8 weeks to grow the pumpkin. 10 weeks to grow the pumpkin would be even better.(16 weeks at least) We only have 14 weeks left til first frost. YOu could grow the fruit 45 days. Which is just enough time for that, and would still give you a nice pumpkin for Fall Holidays and seeds for next year.


Vines in more detail:
You have the main vine. The main vine grows secondary vines. The secondary vines grow tertiary vines. The tertiary vines get cut off completely as they appear.
The main vine and the secondary vines get covered with soil as they grow but cover only after any trimming has had 3 days to heal. YOu don't want to cover the beginning of the Main Vine (trunk). It needs air circulation so it does not rot. When the secondaries reach the edge of the patch or the desired length, you cut the tip ends off. then you wait 3 to 4 days for it to heal. Then you finish covering the vine with soil at the end. Leaves are not covered/ barried. Just the vine it self. Covering the vines with soil helps to anchor the vines down and prevent wind damage. It also prevents Squash Vine Borers from laying their eggs on the vines. The larvae will eat through the vines and destroy the plant.


I received my Mill Fabric from extremepumpkinstore.com. All the mill fabric that I have seen has been grayish. Imagine my disappointment and surprise when I saw this
Hot Pink Mill Fabric that I am suppose to place on the ground under my pumpkin fruit. Ew, hot pink..........please.........

Yes there is a quite detailed set of 'rules' to growing one of these. Most growers plant out so they can pollinate the first week of July, Since it gets so hot here then I am about 1 month ahead of that.

I started mine inside on April 4th with a plantout date of April 15th, that is our last average frost day. I pollinated on June 7th. I used bags of ice to cool the females down so the pollen would take.

About the first week of June I started to shift the plant from growing plant to growing fruit. About 2 week before pollination you need to stop the fertilizer, I use Bloodmeal (12-0-0) before pollination and some 6-19-19 after. I shifted the plant by terminating the secondaries vines, that will force it to produce more fruit.

Also the vines will form roots at all the leave nodes so burying the vines will promote that as well.

This message was edited Jul 4, 2009 11:11 AM

Thanks for explaining. I didn't understadn before but sur e do now and it make s alot of sense.

Ewwwwwww. Hot pink!!!!!! I wonder what if anythign that hot pink color will effect that plants.

Over at Auburn they did a bunch of major testign with differnt colors for g roudn cover and for overhead shade covering. In some cases ther e was no signifcant differenc e on the plants and in other cases ther e was. Soem of the colors the plants would just not grow properly.

Wil see later if I cna fidn the test study of it for ya. Ya may just want to think twic e before usign that color.

My mill fabric is beige in color.

they say red mulch makes plants grow faster and larger fruit.
wonder if hot pink counts.

this is no fish story. The 898 main vine grew 12 inchs in 24 hours. Sweet. Thats a good rate at this point. By 2:30 pm today it was 1 inch past the 8 foot stake mark.
Then I have a 10 ft stake mark. Should be there by Monday morning---or past it.
I have a lot of fun growing these plants. I say wow every day.
Cant remember if I mentioned it or not, but the 820 * giant green squash plant has a wee babe on it too. The plant is not growing aggressively like the 898 is. But should pollinate on the 820 when it reaches 8ft out. Thats good enough for me. BUT, also, I have been letting two vines grow as mains on the 820* since the dog broke the actual main. The secondary that I thought I wanted to be the new main is not growing as strong as the one I did not want. Soooooo..........I might pollinate both vines and see which one grows the fastest and let both of those vines have its own secondaries. Who knows.
I figured you might be sick of my photos so I did not do pics today.
This is how obsessed I am. I had a very old metal glider that was in useable condition but very rusty. I sanded as much rust off as I could. Painted it with a primer. Then painted it with a minty pastel green. On the back rest of this glider are three squares with smaller squares in the center. I am goin to paint the outer squares pumpkin orange. ( I know---I will take a picture when I am done)
I will paint the squares this evening hopefully. Anyway, I am sooooo redneck..... I put a piece of old carpet at the end of the 898 patch and sat my glider on it. My resting place while working in the patch.

Happy Gardening
Carolyn (Cricket)

I have been looking at trailers to my big one on. I have looked at 4 possible weight off sites and for me there is only 1 choice. Republic MO. They pay 5 places and $600 for top place, I plan on taking some of that money.

We never tire of pics at all. And sure hope ya both show pics if ya can of moving thes e big babies. You two are providing us a look into somethign we have seen and could onyl possibly imagine. It fasinatign to see it comign to life from a seed. : )

Here is how I loaded mine last year.

I have ordered one of these for this year.

And I will build a Tripod to lift it with.

Oh the growers have all the angles figured out. LOL

I nevvvver get sick of photos.

I'm thinking maybe next summer I'll take pumpkin vine photos at regular intervals to show their growth. Just regular pumpkins. I don't have the dedication needed for giants.

Regular-sized pumpkins on the way, fingers crossed. I have three of these:

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at that!!!!!!!! Never seen th elike s before. triping out here and thinking about watchign somethign thatheavy being loaded and watchign truck bed sink under the weight.

I bet ya all get nervous and jittery come judging time to see who has the biggets and ya on pins an dneedle s the whole time. I know I would be after all that.

thats a cute wee one.
one of my regular pumpkins has germinated.

I have a t-shirt that has an old chevy or ford truck on it, a giant pumpkin next to the truck and its 3 times bigger than the whole truck, a man standing next to the truck scratching the top of his head.

This is my pumpkin patch thinking--resting chair. It is not finished. We got a storm today and was not able to do any touch up painting yet.

Well Jake Van Kooten from B.C. Canada grew a 1568 last year, and he said he loaded a 3/4 ton pumpkin in a 3/4 ton truck. He has a friend that runs a crane service load it for him. He drove 900 miles to Elk Grove California to have it weighed.

I can just see him pulling into the weigh-off with the back of the pickup swatted down and the rest of the growers going, 'Oh Crap, there goes 1st place. Hey Jake need some help unloading that thing?' LOL

ok, so i took a pic of the tshirt.

275 vanhook

820* Lovelace

winds in front of storm pushed over a few vines on the 898. I put them back where they belong and anchored them down with corners broken off of clothes hangers.
Storm didnt bother the 820.

898 from a short distance.

the 898 is around 9 feet long right now. This wee one will be ready to pollinate in about 7 days. It should rest on the ground about 12 feet out. (guessing)

Pea Size

ha! you do all that work to grow it, and then you have to go to great lengths to get it anywhere. funny shirt.

gotta post a few more pics i took

the 898 long view, the first few secondaries are going back in the opposite direction of the main vine-----which at this point makes the plant look narrow instead of having that christmas tree pattern look.

dont let my pattern of growing this plant confuse you. It is not the traditional way to grow the plant. I drew up this pattern according to how much room I have to grow the plant----and considered the fact that I need more plant/leaves behind the actual pumpkin rather than in front of it.
other giant growers use a simular pattern. Not every one agrees on how the plants should be grown. To each his/her own.

1081 Leonzi

S-S: 71
F-B: 68
C: 110
OTT: 249
Total est weight = 317.8 Lbs
Weight gain = 14.4 lbs
Target Weight: 700 Lbs
Weight to go: 382.2 Lbs

1112 Holland

S-S: 54
F-B: 52
C: 78
OTT: 184
Total est weight = 135.4 Lbs
Weight gain = 4.0
Target Weight: 700 Lbs
Weight to go: 564.6 Lbs

That's kind of a modified Pitchfork pattern.

Sometimes the plant has its own idea!

Pat, your almost half way there.........guess you knew that though.
did you give it some kind of warpspeedygro juice or something?

i hope i can train the plant to my idea as much as possible.
Pitchfork pattern so i can nip it in the bud when it misbehaves.

amigatec, when I compare the measurements on July 5th to the bench marks you posted on June 27th, it looks like the 1081 Leonzi is on track to possibly reach the 1200 pound plus range. Do you have any other benchmarks to compair?