Author Topic: giant pkn time again (Read 34787 times)

lisaparkin · « **Reply #80 on:** July 14, 2011, 19:07:19 »

They are looking fab Pete!!

Sinbad7 · « **Reply #81 on:** July 15, 2011, 23:03:54 »

Thanks for the reply Pete. I am excited, I have a baby pumpkin ;D

Brilliant photo's.

Grandma · « **Reply #82 on:** July 17, 2011, 14:17:16 »

I'm excited, too! My 'tennis ball' of 15 July is now a large grapefruit - it has put on 2½" in girth in two days! :)

But, being a novice giant pumpkin grower, I've got a couple of questions and would be really grateful if one of you experts could help, please. (My plant is from one of Pete's 749 seeds.)

1) Only about 30" from the 'grapefruit' another fruit has set - both on the main vine - should I take off the smaller one? (There are more female flowers coming.)

2) Last year, growing an ordinary Atlantic Giant, I lifted the best fruit off the soil and onto a wooden platform when it was about the size of a football. I could feel that I had pulled out some of the 'feeder' roots and the poor pumpkin shrivelled up and died leaving me with just a puny, second-best specimen to grow on. I've tried gently lifting the 'grapefruit' and can feel it's already well anchored down :o - so what to do please? I really don't want to do it any damage - it shows such promise!

Thanks for any advice. x

slyfox-mal · « **Reply #83 on:** July 17, 2011, 16:19:57 »

Grandma firstly on the issue of keeping both fruit its up to you how you do it but the way i look at it is i pollenate both and keep the best one a little later when youre sure its growing well and in a good position

as for the second question you always want the fruit off the soil no matter where its growing i use a sheet of ply wood with some yellow builders sand on the ply and then the fruit on top of the sand this keeps the fruit drier and also the sand acts like a bearing of sorts enabling you to move the position of the pkn when you need to an important thing is also the vine needs to be loose or you will stress the vine and possibly snap the fruit off the vine if its anchored down to hard you may need to cut a few tap roots near the fruit to allow the vine to rise with the fruit do it early and things should go ok
hope this helps regards mal

Grandma · « **Reply #84 on:** July 17, 2011, 23:02:31 »

Thanks mal :) - really helpful advice and very clearly explained. x

Squash64 · « **Reply #85 on:** July 18, 2011, 18:57:01 »

A couple of photos to show what a difference a week makes -

July 11th
[attachment=1]

July 18th
[attachment=2]

pete JB · « **Reply #86 on:** July 19, 2011, 16:11:35 »

Nice healthy looking plant Betty

Pete

slyfox-mal · « **Reply #87 on:** July 19, 2011, 19:05:38 »

my plants are doing ok concidering the amount of rain we have been getting lately i have attempted a pollenation on my 1145.5 plant and i have a small pkn on my 275 plant i just want it to dry up a bit now and let them get some decent sun

Dandytown · « **Reply #88 on:** July 20, 2011, 10:47:54 »

Looking good Mal considering the weather :-\.

Checked out your grower diary on bigpumpkins.com and all your recent pictures share at least one thing in common with mine which is wet and poor weather.

I have a 12" pumpkin on day 12 on the 3rd secondary which I am going to keep. Only wish it was growing faster but the weather is responsible for that I guess. I am going to cull the 8 day fruit on the 4th secondary which is also growing at an inch a day and is at 8". I have another on the main vine at 15-16" which is too young to measure so that will leave me with two fruits, with the hope that the main vine pumpkin will overtake the secondary vine pumpkin. Will probably cull all the remaining male and female flowers so that energy goes into the two pumpkins but I am checking with others if this is a good thing to do.

Good luck everyone as its not great weather for pollination of pumpkins and squash :-\

pete JB · « **Reply #89 on:** July 20, 2011, 14:18:52 »

I can understand where you guys are coming from. You are really at the mercy of the weather when growing outside. I dont really have a problem with rainfall although the bad weather has been hampering me also. These plants need sun and we aint getting any at the moment !

Good luck

Pete

pete JB · « **Reply #90 on:** July 21, 2011, 21:49:05 »

New photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65218770@N06/5962214102/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65218770@N06/5962200572/

Sinbad7 · « **Reply #91 on:** July 21, 2011, 23:13:12 »

Brilliant photo's pete, mine looks more like a peanut (size wise) compared to your's ;D

A plot holder asked me today what I hoped it would weigh, bearing in mind it is being grown outside and it's my first attempt what would be a realistic weight I should be aiming for?

pete JB · « **Reply #92 on:** July 22, 2011, 08:20:00 »

Hi Sinbad.
Thats a difficult question. I guess if I had to pick a number then somewhere in the 300 pound range would be a great success. It`s difficult growing these (as you are finding out) and getting one to the end of the season is hard enough. I would just try and get one thats healthy and makes it without splitting. Then it`s a case of trying to improve next year. One of the blokes at the competition told me last year that "you cant grumble with a PB"

Good luck, and give me a shout if you need any help.

Pete

Dandytown · « **Reply #93 on:** July 22, 2011, 10:45:33 »

Pete,

I'm not having a bad stint of doing things properly this year for a first time effort but I am rapidly making notes of things to do for next year which brings me to the subject of growing under cover.

Apart from the obvious genetics I can't help but think that the size of my Atlantic Giant is also due to the fact that it was under cover untiul it was about 7' long which gave it a good start. I plan to grow under cover next year for the duration of the season but am wondering how in the middle of summer, you managed to control the temperature. Is it just a case oif being there everyday to open it up but give it a nice warm night?

Things I will do different.
1. Better soil prep over the whole area and get some soil tests
2. Add ammedments to soil (following test) - depending on budget
3. Grow under cover
4. Pesticides and anti-fungal spray!!!!
5. There will be a 5 and 6,7,8......... ;D

Sinbad7 · « **Reply #94 on:** July 22, 2011, 13:57:47 »

Thanks for the advice Pete. I think I might just aim for a healthy pumpkin this year like you said.

I might be trying to do everything right and killing it with kindness already ;D

I made the big mistake, like I tend to do with everything, and haven't left enough space for it to wander. It's heading up to my pond now, so does the time come when you nip the top out of the main vine?

pete JB · « **Reply #95 on:** July 24, 2011, 12:26:39 »

Sinbad.
If you are happy that you have a pumpkin that you want to keep then it`s ok to nip the main vine out. If your pumpkin is growing on the main vine you will find that the growth (of the vine beyond the pumpkin) slows dramatically once you have a decent fruit set. It`s not gonna harm you to nip it out though if you are running out of space.

Hope this helps

Pete.

pete JB · « **Reply #96 on:** July 24, 2011, 12:38:51 »

Dandytown,

Temp control is a big problem especially in a tunnel. It`s not what you want to hear I suspect but it`s not really possible to control the temp properly. It`s just a case of opening up both ends of the tunnel to get airflow through during the day and then closing at night to keep some heat in.
You will find that plants cope better once they are established and have a better root system. It just takes lots and lots of water because they suck it up when it`s hot.

I like your list, it all makes sense and the ammendments dont have to cost loads. I add a lot of fish blood and bone (which helps soil bacteria levels) and I get this from Wilkos. A few boxes will cost less than a tenner. I also make as much homemade compost as possible on the allotment. In fact, I get all the waste stuff (cabbage tops, grass, bedding plants) that other allotment holders and the council dont want and then make batches of compost in large bins. It basically costs nothing and I`m convinced that there is nothing better to add to your soil than compost made from a range of ingreidients.

Not sure about pesticides, I dont seem to get bothered by anything. Red spider mite can be a problem but if you keep humidity levels up then it should be ok.
I keep spme sulpur powder handy for and cracks on the pumpkin and some baby powder also. This helps to dry any cracks.
Boy am I rambling. Good luck

Pete
:)

slyfox-mal · « **Reply #97 on:** July 25, 2011, 19:05:27 »

im glad to see the intrest in this topic is going good as we all know growing a giant pumpkin plant is simple however growing a giant pumpkin itself can be real difficult indeed there are so many things that can go wrong but its nice to see people like pete shareing his expierience and not only him but even people who have not really grown a decent pkn before chipping in and shareing info keep it up people youre doing brillient .

its been a hard couple of weeks up here in the north east almost constant rain and no sun is not a good enviroment for growing pknsbut hey what can you do !!
i think i have managed to set a fruit on one plant hopefully both plants my john van hook 275 plant is alot smaller than my van hook 1145.5 plant but managed to set a fruit first this fruit is about 10 days old now and starting to grow a little

has you can see i have it settled on a bed of sand now this will allow me to turn the fruit a little for a better position ideally i want it 90 degrees to the main vine i will keep moving the pkn a little every day untill i get it where i want it a lot of growers put an s curve in the main vine when setting a fruit this allows the main vine some slack and this stops the main vine getting to tight on the stem end of the fruit if that happens it can snap the main or even snap the fruit from the vine
i have not done this as i really dont think i shall have a big pkn this year.

as you can see in the pic above i have already got the board and rubber covered with sand ready for the pkn to touch down i like the position and the length of the stem on this pkn so i dont think i shall have to move it much in the near future
getting to this stage is pretty simple now that hard work begins almost contant feeding and treating for problems like powdrey mildew up until now i have fed 8.7.7 fish hydrolysate and a nice seaweed concentrate i got off symbio uk now i have a fruit set i am going on to a 3.0.8 high k fertilizer and shall be giving a foliar spray fortnightly with lithovit liquid co2 hoping to start packing on the weight
well enough of that for now good luck everyone and keep them growing all the best mal

Squash64 · « **Reply #98 on:** July 26, 2011, 16:06:09 »

Taken last Monday

[attachment=1]

and today

[attachment=2]

and one of the tiny pumpkin. It's next to a ball the size of a tennis ball.

[attachment=3]

Sinbad7 · « **Reply #99 on:** July 26, 2011, 16:35:07 »

Thanks for the reply Pete. I'm not sure what I am going to do now. I've been away for a couple of days and am itching to get to the plot to see it. Looking at the photo's of Mal and Betty makes me want to compete.

love the photo's Mal.

Your's are looking good Betty, so neat and tidy. Thought I'd better show you all how I am doing so far. Not sure when I took these photo's, sometime last week!

http://s191.photobucket.com/albums/z284/sunnyday_012/Pumpkin%202011/

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Author Topic: giant pkn time again (Read 34787 times)