Large Pumpkins

It has been extra hot this week for us. Heat index above 100. Moms car said it was 108 yesterday. I kept shaking my head no in disbelief.

Juhur, I hope you get your 100 pounds. Nothing sweeter than reaching a goal.

I think I managed to get a few pollinations on the melon growing in the 100 gallon container. They doubled in size in 24 hours. The plant does get late afternoon shade cause it is sitting on the east side of a storage shed.

The ground is dry as a bone and no rain in the weekly forecast. I will have to water everything today........deeply......or everything will be a loss.

1. hollands giant pumpkin at 8 days after pollination. 21 inch circumference.
2. finally have a female bloom on the 705 lovelace giant pumpkin out about 17 feet.
3. 705 plant view.... yesterday

1. a leaf on the holland pumpkin mutt plant.....28 inches across
2. a carolina cross melon that is 2 days after pollination
3. another view of the 705 female that just bloomed this morning with 5 lobes.

This is a wonderful "feel good" kinda thread,Just LOVE it!!... Those littlie dainty hands next to that "big ol" leaf.That is "SO CUTE"!!
Blooms and plants look really nice Cricket. Getting hotter here also,only 80 for tomorrow then near 100 the remainder of the week. (ShoooooWeeeeeee)!


This is my only good melon plant it is in a decor planter between Sunchokes West and a multi fruit tree East. The leaves are two to three times the size of a mans hand

The heat index yesterday was 112 according to somebodys car meter...

I have never grown a pumpkin that had veins........veins that look like the veins on the top of your hand.
This little pumpkin has several and its kinda interesting and creepy. You can see a large vein on the bottom side of the pumpkin.



This message was edited Jun 26, 2012 9:51 AM

umm. I went looking to read the first post I made about growing a giant pumpkin.
Do you know how strange it is to read what you have written in the past......its like reliving it.
Completely different from just reading someone elses post.
I missed a lot of questions back then too. I was asking myself why didn't I answer....no idea. over looked it I guess.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/729033/

It was still fun read tho, right up until its death, I was bummed all over again,lol

You know what I find funny, I posted on that thread, "I have no interest in vegetable gardening or growing pumpkins, just enjoyed you watching you grow them".
Um, that must have been about a year before the boys started eating me out of house and home,lol

Here are a few my early pumpkins and squash jungle from this year.

aww those are pretty and the okra is too...........is that a Long Gourd in the middle?

My goodness, CG, thank you for refreshing my memory--what's left of it. LOL, I have forgotten how long it has been since I became a fan of your hobby. Was one then, still one now, funny how things changed but some remains constant. For me is the love of gardening. I must confess though; I should have mastered the pollination process by now, which I haven't practiced much. My bad!

CL, in my neighborhood we've a small shared/community veggies garden, just about your size of a garden. It's a joy to be able to pick fresh fruits/veggies right out from one's backyard.

The first pumpkin I ever grew was in 1967 a day a two ago for ya (LOL).Never have grown a nice giant though.I will try again though, especially after watching this and Cricket. None this year so I will watch and learn,maybe someday I will see the secret that makes it all make sense.

lordy Juhur....that was 45 yrs ago


this one pumpkin is larger and growing faster sooner than any I have grown and very happy with it. I have pollinated a few more on the plant but they have names.......breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner for a batter and fry like squash.

I have a fall plant growing too but it is still young and just now starting to get some length but it hasn't laid down yet. 1230 Berchy plant.

1. 10 days after pollination on the holland mutt plant. 28 in. cir. 4 inch growth in 24 hours.
2. 2 days after pollination on the 705 lovelace plant.

That's wonderful, juhur7. I wonder if everyone remembers their first pumpkin, like their first kiss.lol
I think I'm safe saying I'll never grow a giant pumpkin. It's more fun to let Cricket entertain me!
I do you enjoy planting giant cabbage plants tho, ever since the sent home seedlings with my kids.

Cricket, Those gourd looking squash are Tromboncinos, they can be eaten young as zucchini or grown out as winter squash.

I have some giant cabbage seeds standing by.....I ordered them to grow back in the early spring but decided to wait til fall since cole crops do better in the fall here.....but undecided on when to start the plants. According to the almanac, we will have cooler weather sooner this fall.

I'm going to seed mine mid July and grow indoors for six to eight weeks. That'll be the earliest I've started them, don't know if it'll help or not.

Cricket,
Thanks for that almanac tip! I was concerned about starting seeds inside too early, but, if it was too hot, or I couldn't get to the watering, I'd still be on time for resowing seeds beginning August 1st. But, if it's gonna be an early winter, I'm proceeding with my plan to sow cabbage seeds starting this weekend. 1/3 will be in flats outside in the shade of the patio cover, 1/3 will be started at the end of July indoors, and 1/3 will be direct sown in Mid-August.

Here's my story:

In 2007, a neighbor across my fence gave me 3 Bonnie giant cabbage seedlings the first year I had a veggie garden. I was an UBERnewbie. So, I planted them shortly thereafter -- at the end of May -- going into the scorching TEXAS HELL HEAT!

I had no clue...they limped along all summer, and I fought valiantly to keep them comfortable, still not knowing any better. At the end of that summer, when I was ripping all the raggedly vegetation, I looked at those pitiful cabbages that soooooooooooooo looked like they wanted to live, and I had mercy. I figured some nice fresh potting mix and some nice fresh fertilizer would perk them up...I had no clue, still...and, so, they continued to limp through our blazing summer.

At the beginning of the fall, I noticed they were looking a bit better. So, I repotted them again. One in a self-watering eBucket, and TWO in a large planter, side-by-side...I had no clue...

Well, they took off when the weather got cool, and shot out when the weather grew cold, and plumped up and greened up all through the winter. A miracle was happening! By the end of that next March, uh, yes, I did say next "MARCH," NINE MONTHS LATER, the cabbage worms attacked one of the two cabbages planted side-by-side in the large planter. Now, cabbage worms must be OCD, because they reduced one whole cabbage to a lace doily skeleton, and never touched the cabbage right next to it -- talk about singleness of purpose!

Anyways, one day after I had read a post over here somewhere about what makes a cabbage split, and how you have to cut it immediately if it does, we had a tremendous rainstorm. Sure enough, the perfectly fine cabbage I saw that morning in the eBucket had split by that evening, so I cut it down.

Here is that cabbage, almost a whole YEAR to the day I planted the seedling...

And, I had no clue...

So, Cricket, if you're starting them inside, you just go ahead and start those seeds in the next month or so, and you'll be fine. If you're direct sowing them, you can wait until mid-August or so, and keep sowing at maybe 3 week intervals, up until around the Winter Solstice. Ask me how I know...

Cause, now, I have a clue!

Hugs!

This message was edited Jun 27, 2012 1:21 PM

This message was edited Jun 27, 2012 1:23 PM

That is awesome, Linda.
I can't find any pictures of our cabbages. I did find the thread where we grew our first Bonnie O/S...I still follow Farmerdill advice on growing them to this day. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/815121/
Btw, that little tad-pole of a kid is over 6 feet tall now.lol

Cocoa_lulu!
Thank you, sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much, for the link to my original planting dates for the cabbages! I see now that the eBucket cabbage grew from February 2008 until I cut it down in mid-March 2009!

It actually grew for MORE than a year!

Hugs!

"We now return to our regularly scheduled discussion of PUMPKINS!" ^^_^^

That is pretty neat Linda. I have saved rabbit manure and have some grow box frames (4ftx4ft) to set for a few cabbages. I hear and see they can grow 6ft wide. So.......who wants to start that topic on Giant Cabbage??? with a picture profile.???etc...

oh, I have Nothern Giant Cabbage seed. They were very expensive. 5 seed costed me $10. I lost two of the seed and have 3 left. This is what i will be growing.

http://www.almanac.com/weather/longrange/region/us/8
this is what I have been going by when I grow my plants, seeds, etc...
this link is my own region. At the graph at the bottom.... shows below normal temps for fall.

I've been browsing the price of giant pumpkin seed and it seems to be getting there also.Really just looking through to see what is available, things go faster and change much quicker.Lots to choose from.....Always about next season with me when I never even seem to get planted what I plan.(lol)

Thanks for that link Cricket!

Well....if I can get one of these big girls to grow.......I'll have plenty of seeds to share.
And and I have a giant sunflower growing too.....will have plenty of seeds off it too. It hasn't bloom yet. It is about 7ft tall. I'm growing for big bloom and not tall plant this year. I read they can get 24 ft tall if you feed them lots and lots of safe nitrogen..


11 days after pollination

Cricket; I grew a sunflower that was 30 inches across the seed cone about six years ago.Those I can usually grow!...However all my sunflowers failed this year,a first ever for me and hopefully a last too!!! There was hardly any wind that year and I used a old water pipe for a stake when I grew that man was I happy !!.. even if the record is or was over 60 inches.Well way out of place,.... I got it about half right (ROFL) !!!.
And Back to the subject ,what would you like perhaps for a few of the seeds you have?(counting chickens before hey are hatcthed) ( putting the horse before the cart).... BEG

Tall Zinnias. Earthy toned sunflowers. Purple Green Beans. Cushaw Melon?? I hear it taste good. And I like the Banana Melon at Bakers Creek Heirloom. I am game for anything good.

I have seed savers Bannana melon and four or five others with no room to grow them. My garden is a city lot,not a field.
I've gotten edited twice typing here for repeating caps locks so I'm trying to take it easy this time,Fatigue from Sun senility, you know. May have some Cushaw and usually I have ice cream tubs full of zinnias,only this year guess what,I have one little stand of zinnias with about nine plants remaining.All I have there is a couple of dollar store production packets I decided not to plant as this is the worst year I have ever seen so far,And I've seen a few as you know.
I have some royal golden watermelons I tried to sprout ,from seed savers they failed also.Only the moon stars replaced them and are growing like the weeds usually do. Even the Tickseed sunflowers as weeds are frying crisp and failing, you know it is dry when even the weeds die from the hot sun.
I have a few successes though as you all do in a hot dry season and what are earthy toned sunflowers?
And as I take leave for this afternoon it is currently 102 degrees here, and remember this is Indiana not Texas!!
OH, or Alabama.Also this is really suppose to be a 5b zone.That 6b from me is by temperature.THANK YOU Cricket this is still a fun thread!

earthy tone sunflowers= burgandy, orange, , brownish tones with a touch of yellow that blend through the flower petals. Autumn blends are nice too.

It's getting hot, even for us and the grass is drying out and the weeds have issues and weather channel says it here to stay for a couple weeks.

Not sure if I am growing giant pumpkin or giant stem.
12 days after pollination 36" CC.

Whoa! Giant stem in order to support giant pumpkin!!! Great going CG!

Oh wow, never seen anything like. How cool!

I know....its comically freaky

Totally, radically, freaky! Way to go!!!!

I must step in here and curtsey to all who grow those gigantic pumpkins! I am intrigued by them, but probably more so by your obvious insanity - jeese! (I am chuckling here in great glee)
If you all were sailors, you would surely have the wooden boats, which take constant care - but oh, are they WORTH IT! Just like your own efforts! Those sailors, by the way, are called "The Passionate Sailors." So, you must be "The Passionate Gardeners." Best of luck to all of you, and thank you for your great dedication to such an incredible "product!" Think about it - are you a wood or fiberglass person? I rest my case - LOL!
Oh, how I love to read your notes and see those photos! Makes my own garden, resplendent with all sorts of veggies, look a bit pale in comparison...

I was looking that stem with some envy,awe,and certain facinating wonder. I think that is one of the things about melons, everything you do always seems to bring something new and different.The melons teach and let you learn,they are always full of suprises waiting to say"take a look" "have you seen that before" always fun no matter what they seem to be.

Thank you for sharing as always!

its gonna out grow the chair shade very very soon. Gotta make a shade structure.

I could send ya mine from the pick (LOL) I had to rip out the vines this morning,vine rot and grubs to the roots did them in . Seems like I'm being negative only there are others and I'm contemplating next years,Holland giants, MayBe??

Question of how much soil improving I can do.

Oh yeah Hey Cricket what are Australian white squash really like? Any experience with them? I'm curious besides what I have read. I was reading that there are giants from some of those also.(WHITE SQUASH)

I really like Bone Meal and Cotton Seed Meal. and Gypsum and Lime.

I have never read about the Australian white squash. Never seen pictures either. Didn't know there was such a plant. Sounds interesting


I have to construct a tent for the pumpkin today....i cannot put it off any longer. It is a must.

14 days after pollination. 46 inch circumference.
and a better view of that freaky stem.

Wow, wow! How amazing that's! CG, stay cool as you work out in the garden today. It's real hot here. I spotted two female flowers on my reg. pumpkin vine this morning. One flower already open, the smaller one isn't yet. I'm gonna heading out there, and see about tie off the budding one to see if I can eventually pollinate the flower. Got to give my veggies a dose of fertilizer as well. I'm so glad to see the big one is coming along with your expert care. I'm sitting back and looking forward to your future posting.

wow...we were dry as a bone until a big heavy storm this morning...


side by side growth comparison from day to day and why it is so exciting.

Yesterday
Today

Great pic!!! How big do you usually get them to grow? Go and grow for the 2000 and some pounds record!!

I aint never grew one over 310. Something always happens to the plant while its growing.........flood, fungus, squash vine borer....etc...