Thoughts or pointers on growing Giant Pumpkins?

freeseasy · 3 months

Those Pumpkins require a huge amount of calcium to grow strong rind. I plant my starts in a huge mound of soil heavily amended with both compost and a slightly excessive amount of bone meal.

rabbidgirl07 · 3 months

The only thing I would suggest is have sprays and powders on hand and control bugs and common mildew before they even start. It sometimes only takes one night during a drought or too much rain to make the plant overcome by something detrimental.

MrBrownThumb · 3 months

I don't have any experience growing giant pumpkins, but I wish I did. I would recommend checking your PBS* or Netflix for the documentary Lords of the Gourd: The Pursuit of Excellence. It is an excellent documentary about people who grow giant pumpkins for competition. The growers do some talking about their growing regiments and besides inspiration you might find some pointers.

You can Google the growers and see if you find their websites or blogs. I believe the first time I saw the documentary years ago I looked one of the people up and they were selling the seeds from their pumpkins.

*My PBS affiliate usually airs it during October leading up to Halloween, but it may vary.

MasterStrategy · 3 months

Grow the Atlantic Giant seeds. they are the real deal for giant pumpkins.

vandal42 · 3 months

First thing I would recommend is seeing if there is a group of growers in your area. There are quite a few and in the North East seem to have alot to work with. Second I would go to http://www.bigpumpkin.com It is the hub on the internet for giant pumpkin growing and will dispel a lot of myths and misconceptions about the hobby. Also you can get good seeds if you ask politely on the forums they have set up. There is a lot of good info there and It would be the first stop and then also you can see if there is a growers association in your area as well.

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