We should have a nice cool spell the next few days. It was 92 here today but dropping down around 88-89 with 20 to 30 % rain. It has been a while and cannot remember how to tell if the female is goin to open by morning. I want to say this one will open in the morning, but deffinately open by Thursday. Since my other plants did not make it, I have no cross males. This one will have to self pollinate with some hand help.
Amigatec, I wish you luck on pollination. ARe you setting out any ice jugs or fans during the first 48 hours after pollination to help cool things down?
My plants are still in rapid growth stage and hoping it does not cause aborts.
The leaf color is a nice grass green shade which means nitrogen is good. The nitrogen is not too high.
This plant is also one of those type that has yellow tented vines until they get a little older then they turn green. Its not a sign of low nitro. Its all good.
Did you know some vines can have an orange tented color?
So far all the other females that I pulled from that vine has had 5 segments. I am anxious for this one to open.
The next female in line is already showing well and should be about 5 to 7 more days before she will pollinate.
How can we chat about Giant Pumpkins every single day? Because-----its an amazing plant that everyone has to grow at least once---but I guarantee if you try it once you will be hooked. The plant is a little slow after transplant, but give it two weeks and it will Soar.
This plant has grown from 3 feet long and 2 feet wide To 13 feet long and 15 feet wide within the past two weeks.
It is a completely different plant every day that I go out and look at it.
And my plant is slightly slow compared to the world record plants.
2nd female on the main vine----will most likely be at the 15 ft mark by pollination date.
humor me.
compare the plants width of todays photo June 9th with a photo above on June 7th. (2 days growth)
on June 7th I set the poles for the misting system. The vines have grown a lot in the past two days.
I know the fence makes it harder to view now. But if you look to the left of the photo -----the longest vine growing towards the fence is goin to be a Second PRimary vine that will also grow a pumpkin.
Two Primary Vines, One plant, Two giant pumpkins.
To grow another pumpkin on one of the first secondaries-------that secondary has to be grown just like the main vine with its own secondary vines in order to have the foliage to feed another pumpkin.
This is one of the clones.
It will take two of us to transplant it. One to hold the vine and turn it as I turn the pot over, etc................... Thats goin to be fun!
The rooted clone runs out about 3 feet from the pot.
What I look for on a female ready to open is, the female is a large as a Lime, and the flower is orange with darker vines in it. I then place a bag over it to ensure no stay pollen gets in. I also like to bag a few males so the bee don't transfer pollen from plant to plant.
Go out in the morning and pollinate then. I was out in the patch at 5:10 this morning with a flashlight and 2 males.
I think I have saved 2 of the 5 females I have pollinated since Saturday morning, one is going to abort, the others I am not sure. The ice has helped to cool them down.
This female is about the size of a popcan now. This is from my 1081 Leonzi.
Like CG said once you grow a Giant you can't go back.
These are one of the fastest growing plants in the world. The main can grow a foot or more a day and the fruit can gain 40 lbs or more a day.
My plants were planted almost 60 days ago, and have already reached the end of the patch, I have started terminating secondaries.
MOrning.
I was not up as early as Amigatec. You been busy.
936 Holland Female was ready to pollinate this morning.
The female flower was of course still closed yesterday but the closed blossom was yellow instead of green , then I knew this morning would be it.
She has 5 segments. Nicely set too.
There are no other plants with males to cross pollinate.
I had to let it self--pollinate --with my help---I used 6 male blossoms from the same plant to pollinate.
You tear the flower petals away from the male stamen and use the stamen like a paint brush and gently rub it on the female stigmas/segments.
If you don't already know---this is how it works.
The male pollen on each segment/stigma will travel down the tube to the female pumpkin below the flower ( female pumpkin = Ovary). The Ovary has very tiny little seeds already there. Each seed has an egg. The egg is located at the tip of the seed where you would later see a newly germinated seed root . The pollen fuses with the egg and starts to mature. Then the female gets FAT.
So, you want to make sure you use as much male pollen as possible. 4 to 5 male blossoms are normally plenty.
The female was nicely covered with male pollen this morning. You can see the pollen.
I closed the female flower and tied it shut with a piece of twine. If you are cross pollinating, this prevents other crosses that may happen with bees. This also helps prevent the pollen from washing off if it should rain.
This is my second Primary Vine . It has reached the fence . I will train it to grow under and past the fence.
It will take about 2 weeks to train this primary vine and its own secondary vines before it is ready to produce.
Happy Gardening, Good Luck Amigatec. Keep us updated your progress.
The second primary grew a foot past the fence today.
I cut one of the clones loose from the plant and transplanted it.
It was 5 feet long. It had some vine stress on the edge of the pot. Will take a few days to recuperate. I had to cut all the large leaves from the vine. They wilted, but the young leaves did not. Sigh.
I put a temporary shade tent over the newly pollinated female and placed a 2 liter jug of ice a few inches away from the female. In the morning I will have to untie the twine that is holding the blossom closed---so it will get some air.
I have 2 of mine postioned on the mill fabric now. This is my 1081 Leonzi. (A 1068 Wallace remake)
And this is the 1112 Holland.
I have started the S curves as well. These will take a few days to complete.
This message was edited Jun 11, 2009 8:25 PM
Are you using Mycorrhizie on your Pumpkins?
I bought some but I had already added regular fertilizer to the patch before I read the instructions on the Mycro----which said to add the mycro 2 weeks before adding fertilizers to the patch. I really got confused then cause I see Holland and other growers adding the mycro as they bury their vines but at the same time they fertilize.
So, I thought about just adding it to the rest of the plant. I bought 3 lb bag months ago.
I don't have any of that belt--mill fabric. I have a load of sand .
Amigatec, Is this your real name?
I happen to see your diary at BigPumpkins.com
I use the Mycro everytime I bury roots. The roots under these plants are massive.
And on BP yep that's me.
Ugly storms lately.
Had minor damage.
2 DAP ( 2 days after pollination)
The temporary shade shelter til I know for a fact if shes a keeper.
I put these up today. I pollinated 3 more females today. I have one plant with no fruit yet. The first 1 aborted, the 2nd one and 3rd one I don't know yet.
This growing giant pumpkins is a LOT of work. I sprayed fungicide tonight. I still need to bury vines, but I think I will wait until tomorrow.
The storm broke many leaves on my plant. IT has exposed the roots that were growing at the surface of the ground. I have some --very little----composted horse manure and grass clippings that i will mix with some shredded leaves and try to cover the exposed roots.
I read a message at the BP site about making sun shelter.
I agree about the blue tarps building up heat. We think that is what happened to my pumpkin in 2007. We think it got too hot and matured too quickly----Baked it is more like it. Live and Learn.
I will most likely make a tent using a Sheet. But I also like making the tent frame with 1/2 inch pvc pipe in a Criss Cross pattern = X . Some only make it using 10 ft pvc sections. I rather it be longer. I will be gluing a 10foot section and a 5 foot section together this evening.
I hope my first female makes it. ITs goin to get real hot from now on and pollinating will become impossible. (unless I try using an air conditioner )
There were ants in the blossom end yesterday----1 day after pollination. I hope it has not hurt it.
I am using 4 stakes and a piece of shade cloth. I put grommets in the corners and used rope to tie to the stake. This way air can get under the cover and cool the fruit, and I don't have to worry about insects getting under the sheet.
We had a really bad and windy storm this morning. It beat the snot out of my pumpkin plant. I have to give it a lot of TLC today and tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I took some pictures of the other females further out on the main of the 936. The blossom Petals are ripped open on one side-----of Both females .
I do not know what this means----if it means anything at all. Just interesting.
the other female --last on the vine so far.
Normally, you pollinate several females on the main vine.
After they are about basketball size--which takes about 10 days after pollination, you decide which one you want to keep by keeping a record of each for a couple of weeks. Pollinating several is like having backup ---incase one aborts.
You want to keep the one that Grows the fastest per day(at the same age), keep the one that has the most segments/lobes , Keep the one that has the best position.....
Logically, the first female should grow the fastest because she is getting the plants energy first. That should really confuse your decision.
I am not sure if the other two females are goin to be any good due to the blossom defects. I have no experience with this.
this is a photo of the aged segments at 3 days after pollination (DAP)
Looks a little messy but its been raining.
How can I pass up a photo of the pumpkin at 3 DAP since I am already there.
IT has a short stem and that may cause stem stress later on when she starts to gain quickly. Not sure how sharp of a curve I should have in my vine.
I have to go maintain the patch now-----fix storm damages.
Great therapy, indeed! Such fast-growing vigorous plants. The pumpkin seeds I haphazardly planted a few weeks ago have far outshown (in size) the tomatoes and peppers I started indoors and coddled.
If it's therapy, there's room for all the troubled people in the city at our community garden's pumpkin patch. We planted it a week ago and hardy seedlings have popped up everywhere since. No giants, but I'm absorbing info in this thread in case I need it. Fingers crossed for lots of bees because it would take some time to hand-pollinate this patch!
Here is my biggest one 3.9 lbs.
I just can't stand it anymore!!!
I JUST HAD to measure my fruit today.
1081 Leonzi
S-S: 14
F-B: 16
C: 20
OTT: 50
Total est weight= 3.9 Lbs
Target Weight: 700 Lbs
Weight to go: 696.1 Lbs
This message was edited Jun 14, 2009 7:23 PM
This message was edited Jun 14, 2009 7:23 PM
Your right Indy---gonna be huge therapy there. Nice plant too. What are you growing?
Amigatec, shes looking good. Which one is it?
The storm damaged a lot of large leaves. The roots were exposed to sunlight.
I shredded some leaves, then shredded some straw used to catch rabbit manure that I have had for a year, Mixed them up together, added some BioGro Endo Plus (Endomycorrhizal Fungi , smells like it has fish emulsion in it). Sprinkled some BioGro on the ground surface where the roots were showing. Mulched all the vines and surfaced roots
Mulched vines
This message was edited Jun 14, 2009 6:55 PM
Secondaries off the main vine pushing past the walk board. Need to move the walk board and bury the vines.
The second Primary beyond fence.
It has been raining so much that I haven't been able to weed. I sink to my ankles in mud.
You would think that a lot of rain would make the plant grow faster but it does not.
I have noticed that It slows down. strangely.
898 Holland
You're getting there, keep up the good work.
I started mine 2 weeks earlier then normal so I can beat the heat and set fruit.
Most people thinks we're crazy for doing what we do but when you grow for size the rules change. :)
820* Lovelace ( green squash) that the neighbors dog broke.
growing, slowly but surely
