Pumpkin growing challenge 2017

Sow in April, plant out in April or start of May. Have someone keep an eye on them for you.

Steve...

 

That is a good plan mate to be honest

Sorry Steve yes I have sanded and soaked in katana too for 4 hours then put the straight into pots of compost soaked in Katana too no trying to chit them this year seeing if it makes any difference they are in a heated propagator at 28c in the greenhouse and have a light over ready to go on them in there when they show I will remove the lid so they have lots of bottom heat and light
Trying a bit sooner this year than last as fely it was late to flower last year but not as early as the two years before that if you get what I mean
And if all else fails I do have more seed to sow I only did 6 plants so got lots of scope I might even sow a few in the end of the month and see how they compare growth wise

 

And we have lift off first one is popping through

 

"Snap"

I have 2 up...



Lightly sanded, soaked overnight in damp kitchen roll (Thurs -> Fri), potted (Fri pm) and hey presto, we are up and running.

Both of these are wallace 2009 sibs, 2 of the remaining four are orange and I would like to grow one wallace and one orange this season.

Steve...

 

And 24hrs later, 2 more are up...4 in total.



This is (for me) very quick, normally I expect to make 2 sowings as the first generally fails, one year I sowed twice then sent for more seeds to do a 3rd, so to get this all in less than a week is amazing.

Steve...

 

Just read about the soaking and stuff. Well, I jammed mine into wet soil on Saturday only 3 though so have lots of seeds left to try again

 

@Steve R I have a couple of areas I'm going to bring under cultivation this year by spraying out and rotorvating and I'm intending using this 5 x 20m area for Pumpkins (and the other area for Marrows).

I've already clear felled the trees and scrub for 6m to the West (lots of wood for my stove )and I'm wondering how many Pumpkins I can get on that patch, plus whereabouts to plant them and what direction to send them off in.

Do you have any suggestions?

 

I would say 1 to be honest scrungee maybe two if you did one at each end and grow them towards each other but then they are going to compete agains each other a bit

 

For orientation and scale I have added my pumpkin bed to your plot sketch, along with some size conversions (I'm an imperial kind of a guy and love feet and inches).



And here is a more detailed look at my bed.



My bed is the wrong size really because I need to change the direction of the main vine to allow it to continue growing, it can grow 16ft across the bed then it must turn left or right. Longest total main vine I have had was around 24-28ft, by that time I had a "set" pumpkin at around 20-22ft.

Also my secondary vines must also be trained as the overall width is 20ft, allowing a secondary to grow 10ft, then it must change direction, longest secondary vine is 26ft

Hopefully my diagram shows that clearly.

Now, comparing our two plot sizes and if you grew as I do you could squeeze in 3 pumpkin plants growing from left to right or vice versa but as you have the space (and if I had that space) I would split the bed in two so 2 x 32.5ft x 16ft, the length would be good and the width "manageable" by training secondary vines but would benefit from being wider.

I have no idea about orientation of plants or growing direction as for me that is always decided by the growing space that I have, however, my best pumpkin came from a plant that was grown south and that is the direction I will grow in this year, but only because it means eventual pumpkins will be next or close to a path so I can get the 3000lb new world record out.

You should go and look at the diary section of Big Pumpkins Grower Diaries - BigPumpkins.com, you can view previous years growing with photos of a lot of growers there. One worth looking at is Ron W Grower Diaries - BigPumpkins.com ron W 2016

Hope this all helps Scrungee, just remember I am no expert on this.

Steve...

 

My initial thoughts were to do that (because of the adjacent scrub/trees), planting along the Western edge of the patch and growing at 45 degrees across it so they head due South. That would allow about 22 foot length of vine and with 3 plants about 16 feet apart:

 

That would be a good solution to gain length for the main vine, but that is just one vine. Your secondaries along the main vine from the start would lose space and grow into a triangle as opposed to growing square.

I was told when I started this growing to pollinate a female flower as far along the main vine as possible and to fill the space behind it with secondary vines only, encouraging those to root at every node. The further along the vine your pumpkin is, the more plant behind it, it has and the bigger your 'kin can grow.

I guess I'm looking at it in a funny way because it is not square and my mind computes it's losing ground for the secondaries and gaining a few feet on the main vine.

Steve...

 

Sowed 7 seeds this morning.

 

Nice one Scrungee, got all your Marrow seeds in too?

Steve...

 

Yes, 27 pots of them sown yesterday. They'll need an area of over 20 poles.