Don’t stop with the pictures! What are you going to do with it?
I would like to see a picture of it cut open if you ever do.
Make a jack-o-lantern out of it… LOL!
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I made a jack-o-lantern out of the last one, it makes neat pictures. I hope it is full of good seeds inside. We are supposed to have some cool air on Monday, maybe that will help it a little.
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Incredible!! We are all having fun watching you grow it. I’m just shocked at how fast Charley has grown. It’s a lot of entertainment for the price of some seed and your labor.
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Isn’t it though, I really didn’t put that much work into it, super good seed
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Will it hold till Halloween? You’ll be able to fit ten children in the thing!
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I hope, the last one just made it by a hair
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I am not sure, this hot July and August weather is not that great for the plant. At this point I really would be happy if it just slowly matured and has good seeds inside
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They are not a pumpkin but look more like one if placed bloom side down . They obviously love your growing conditions.
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Yes , that is correct, it is a squash. It is much more obvious on this one than it was on the one in my avitar which turned a nice orange. It seems that the genetics on some of the really big Atlantic giants lean more toward a pink . Charlie is still pretty white, I did notice some changes in it yesterday, like it is firming up more
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My pumpkin vines are aborting a lot of the pumpkins shortly after the bloom falls off. Sometimes it sets there for a week or two then falls off. Anything I can do about it? Common causes?
I’ve learned a lot from this thread! I have a couple of vines going and hopefully get to show off my own pics sometime.
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I would say they were not pollinated possibly. Do you have bumble bees on your vine? On any pumpkin I thought I might want I would hand pollinate . To hand pollinate , early in the morning the first day the female flower opens take a male flower that also just opened and carefully remove the petals so you just have the pollen covered male flower . I then take it and gently wipe it all over inside the female flower. Here is a male flower ready to pollinate a female. It is noon and the pollin has dried up , that is why I like to use the flowers as soon as they open
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Thanks for the hint. I did the hand pollination thing with the first several female blooms and they aborted so I stopped doing it. We do have bumble bees in the mornings so I figured I was stepping in where nature could take care of it. Well, I’m still getting abortions.
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My cukes started that behavior in the spring. Dr Reams used to say that anything that makes seeds needs the mineral manganese and when fruit is aborting like that it is usually lacking. The mj grower suppliers have a chelated form which I had on hand (water soluable) so I mixed some up and did a soil drench. Within 2 weeks I was having double & triple blooms at each node but the proof of the pudding is how much will come to maturity. I had lots of cukes after that and I should have taken a picture where 2 cukes were growing from one node. Sometimes there are other missing nutes, but manganese is my go to with this problem.
My son also had this problem and it was remedied the same way. As the plant’s roots extend more and can find some soil Mn this kind of behavior usually ends.
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Charlie is still gaining, water every night , two more cups of wood ash tonight. Trying to make until this weekend with cooler temps . Estimated weight tonight 557 lbs.
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Any Urea Nitrogen 43-0-0 ?
Tony
The ideal fertilizer would have NPK in ratios of 2:1:3 in a water-soluble form. Wood ash takes a number of months to break down before plants can uptake the cations for use.
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Thanks. I’ll check for manganese the next time I buy some fertilizer.
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I have attracted more bumble bees to my garden then ever before since I planted Rosa Rugosa bushes. They re bloom constantly and the fruit of some cultivars are large and flavorful.
Lots of growers use 0-0-58 at this stage but it can also cause the pumpkin to stop growing. I did not know wood ash can take time to break down, I incorporated a fairly large amount into the main hill back in early April before I planted the pumpkin so hopefully that will help. I don’t think you want much nitrogen at this point because it will make the vine try to grow. Just my thoughts , many of you here know much more about fertilizer than I do.
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Once again; awesome thread!
I’m learning a ton about pumpkins with this. I’ve grown some before but never took care of them. Now I’m spraying, watering, fertilizing, pruning, and probably screwing up a lot. At least I’m learning what vine borers and squash bugs look like!
Congrats to you and your monster!
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