Growing giant pumpkin is a passion for some gardeners. Check out this blog: http://www.giantpumpkinman.com/. The author reports touring giant pumpkin growers in Utah. One pumpkin weighed 1,500 pounds, growing 60 pounds per day. He expected that pumpkin might reach 2,000 pounds by season’s end. My neighbor Karen was trying to grow a super pumpkin this year. She used special soil, super fertilizers, both organic and traditional; and babied it all summer. I asked her how the pumpkin was doing. She looked disappointed when she replied “It’s not much bigger than a large honeydew!” We pondered back and forth what might have been the problem. I suspect that the short spell of cold weather late in the spring may have set the pumpkin back right at the start. On top of that, the wind here in the valley, the excessive smoke this summer and the lack of humidity were challenges too. What do pumpkins need to thrive and get big? Pumpkins need room to grow without competition from other plants or weeds. Too many pumpkins per vine can be an issue. They can’t be grown in the same place each year because that depletes necessary soil nutrients. Too much nitrogen can limit fruit size. Giant pumpkins, which are a special variety, reportedly do best with ½ cup of a 10-10-10 fertilizer every two weeks. The weather may have been too hot. Other than early in the season, it wasn’t too cool. Water is critical and the soil needs to be kept evenly moist to a depth of six inches. Mulch will reduce soil moisture evaporation. Pumpkins should be watered with a drip or soaker hose to keep water off leaves. Then of course, there are spider mites, aphids and squash bugs that can cause problems. According to the giant pumpkin man, you should bury many of the leaf nodes along the vine to encourage rooting at each one. This extra root development powers up the vine to super feed the fruit: “…the difference between a 1,500-pound pumpkin and a one-ton pumpkin is usually not one or two things, but 20 or 30 different little things. Every time you don't bury the vines because it is too hot outside in July or maybe don't bury the vines deep enough you can scratch off a pound or two off the pumpkin and those pounds add up over time.” Oh well, try again next year. JoAnne Skelly is an associate professor & extension educator emerita of University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. She can be reached at skellyj@unr.edu.
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