Got an Atlantic Giant to grow

[chriscross1966]

Tried several tiems and they've never worked out.... this year I've got one to grow properly on  a massive pile of poo.... currently the fruit is about 18" across adn growing like topsy.... I've got it u pon a breezeblock and scatter slug pellets round it quite frequently....anything else I need to watchout for?... can't imagine it will need water this year unless we get a dry month....

[chriscross1966]

[Dandytown]

I would say give it plenty of water as they need about an inch of water a week over the entire plant area and the roots spread out everywhere!

Better to spread the watering out rather than in one big drench.

Just for info, my patch size is around 550 square feet and the plant and roots fill the entire area.  To give the entire patch one inch of water a week I have to water in the region of 220 L each day which is aroung 31 watering cans full.

Most seasoned AG growers place sand under the pumpkins as it assists with drainage, keeps the pumpkin off wet soil (rot) and acts as little ball-bearings to help the pumpkin slide along as it grows (the biggest is in the 1800lb region).


I'm not too keen on the breezeblock method as the skin of the pumpkin is extremely soft and prone to damage.  As it grows the bottom will scrape the breeze block and there's your entry point for bacteria and bang goes your cherished fruit.

Chris, measure your pumpkin circumference from the pumpkin stem right around the blossom end and back to the stem.   See these links:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/viewarticle.asp?id=37&gid=4

http://www.giantpumpkins.co.nz/how-to/weight-table/

[chriscross1966]

OK, I've got some bags of sand somewhere.... will sort out tonight.... is it worth salting the sand with slug pellets?

[chriscross1966]

Well I'm well underneath anythgin that calculator does.... if I get onto that I've broken the family record held by my brother :D..... ATM all of the ground underfoot there is squelchy, and I can't remember the last week we had without an inch of rain during it somewhere so I still reckon I'm ok.... for next year I'll use a polytunnel adn it has an autowatering rig fed by a 1000 litre tank....

[Dandytown]

A polytunnel will be a good move and a 1000 litre tank is perfect!  I am mainly using the mains via soaker hoses but a gravity fed tank of warmed water would be better.  I also have one of those black cold water tanks that you tend to find in household plumbing systems.  It holds around 70L, is raised 1m high and can be emptied in a few hours through the 45m of soaker hose I have running through the pumpkin patch.

I'm not sure about the slug pellets being mixed in with the sand.  Everyones slug problem will be different so I guess for you its weighing up the risks.  Do you have any polystyrene?  You could get a square of it and punch some small drainage holes in it and then put the sand on top followed by the pumpkin.  That would provide some extra protection

Here's an example from a friends pumpkin diary
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=183852

[chriscross1966]

Yes, after some less than successful experiments with a purely solar powered autowatering rig this year I'll be going to a battery powered one next year. I have a header tank for it and a lift pump, so for "normal use" I can rig it to push a hundred litres or so into the header tank, allow it to warm through the day and then drop it in at night...

[Digeroo]

Many thanks for the weight estimating tools.  I will go with my tape measure.  The only problem for me is that the biggest pumpkin is right in the middle of a vast sea of leaves and intertwined stems more or less hidden still, and getting to it without damaging something might be a problem. In particular I planted three but have absolutely no idea to which plant the pumpkin is attached.

[chriscross1966]

Managed to get down there tonight just as it got dark.... I've been away for a week... it's now around 2 feet across adn a foot or so deep. I put a frame over it that is basically holding four panes of horti glass over it and managed to get a bed of sand under it instead of the slab just before I went away... fingers crossed, it won't win any awards but it might beat the family best..

[Nigel B]

Yes, after some less than successful experiments with a purely solar powered autowatering rig this year I'll be going to a battery powered one next year. I have a header tank for it and a lift pump, so for "normal use" I can rig it to push a hundred litres or so into the header tank, allow it to warm through the day and then drop it in at night...

Hi Chris,
Did you learn anything helpful about the solar against battery power? What size/type of experiment did you do? Yunno, just a  rough outline. :)
Congratulations on the pumpkin, by the way. Its something of an achievement just to get on the calculating scale.  ;D

[Jayb]

Nice one :)

[chriscross1966]

Yes, after some less than successful experiments with a purely solar powered autowatering rig this year I'll be going to a battery powered one next year. I have a header tank for it and a lift pump, so for "normal use" I can rig it to push a hundred litres or so into the header tank, allow it to warm through the day and then drop it in at night...

Hi Chris,
Did you learn anything helpful about the solar against battery power? What size/type of experiment did you do? Yunno, just a  rough outline. :)
Congratulations on the pumpkin, by the way. Its something of an achievement just to get on the calculating scale.  ;D

What I learned from the solar power is to not trust the rating plates on solar panels.... although it should be up to running the pump it can't deliver the turn-on surge.... so what I plan on doing is installing a small gel battery there plus a small panel, plus a control box with a timer in it.... the timer turns on the pump for around fifteen minutes each day during the day, then an off-the-shelf water timer will drop the contents of the header tank ...

header tank holds around 100 litres, pump supposedly 12 litres a minute, but a bit less against a 2 metre head lift, supposedly at around 0.8A IIRC.... but an 18W panel couldn't supply the power to get it to start up.... battery had no problems

[Nigel B]

Thanks Chris. I appreciate that.
Some working figures I can refer to. :) Saved.

[chriscross1966]

THe pump is tiny BTW, it came from Hong Kong and the graphed figure for pumping water against head seems accurate, adn from what I cna tell so is the general running current, it's jus tthe pulse to turn it on that the panel can't manage... anyway, given this year it hasn't been needed... the expensive bit is the solar panel, though I might be able to oput a much smaller one in there when all it ahs to do is charge a battery....

[Nigel B]

Thanks again for sharing Chris.  8)

[chriscross1966]

Well number one appears to have stopped... estimated weight around the 80lbs mark...number two has surged past it and using the online weight estimaters came out at around 110-115lbs.... which seems about fair, I can move it a bit but picking it up off the floor is beyond me. Managed to get a layer of sand under it though. Found out why number one had stopped, I'm calling it number three and it had formed a fiar chunk down the vine adn I'd missed it for a couple of weeks....

[chriscross1966]

What was Number 2 and is now the biggest:... rough estimate is 80-115 depending on the estimation system used.... it's too heavy for me to  lift with th efooting I cna get there...



chrisc

[chriscross1966]

Most of the harvest. The big one there is about half the size of the biggest one.... that's still to come... I take a size 11 BTW, the big one there weighs about as much as a bag of sharp sand... 25Kg by my estimate.... will get on scales tomorrow...

[chriscross1966]

THis years biggest before harvest...



chrisc

[chriscross1966]

Just weighed the big one at work on the postal scales and it was 51.6kg.... beating my brother's old family record by nearly 20lbs.... woop!

[chriscross1966]

Here is a better idea of the size of it