Growing A Giant Pumpkin (fertilizer, manure, vines, spring)

[snofarmer]

Spring will be here some day and I was thinking about giving it a try.
The end of April is a good tome to start your seeds.
Has anyone ever tried to grow one?
If so How did it go?
What did you do to grow a giant any tips or tricks?

[Cornerguy1]

Tried it once and maxed out at just under 400 lbs.

Tips I once received from a gent who routinely grew pumpkins over 800 lbs:

-- base your planting bed on a pick-up load of well-rotted cow manure

-- use seed from a proven giant pumpkin line

-- start seedlings indoors as early as practical.

-- once fruit has set, pinch off all fruits except one

-- water and liquid fertilizer are your friend

-- while the fruit and plant are small enough, place on a suitably sturdy hardwood pallet to make future movement much easier. This only applies if you plan on taking your beast off to the local PumpkinFest.

[snofarmer]

Thanks for the tips

I have access to some cow manure, i'm going to mix it with compost. Will that work?

How big did you make your mound?

I have a 3ac area that gets sun all day long.

[South Range Family]

I grew them at my other house. My best was 200 pounds when 600-900 was still considered big. That was 20 years ago.

My current neighbor has a weigh off at his garden center every year. They weighed a world record there two years ago.

Start off with a Dill's Atlantic Giant for seed, and do exactly what these guys say. BigPumpkins.com: A Giant Pumpkin Growing Community

[snofarmer]

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look.

[nitram]

First I'd get some quality seed from known giant pumpkins. You can find them online.
Second use a commercial fertilizer with a high phopsphorus number, 50+.
Third, cow manure is high in salt content and low in nutirent value.

[uggabugga]

there used to be a good forum specifically for growers of giant pumpkins 6-7 years ago, i can't find it now.
but some of the guys who grew the 1300-pound monsters would sell the seeds from those pumpkins for up to 5 bucks each.

[snofarmer]

I got some Atlantic Giant seeds from Bill Foss,
10 seeds for $16. and got them started today.

Cow manure isn't any good?
It seams like everyone recommends it.
I'll mix it in with my compost make and use it to build my mound.

I guess I better get to work on a cold frame for them.

[steel7]

I would of liked to grow a giant pumpkin this yr but its time consuming & needs special care.

[snofarmer]

They can be,
The vine (s) have been growing around a foot a day.
Training vines, pruning, watering, fertilizer, covering vines with dirt,
pollinating,mantinaing you own compost pile(used to cover the vine) picking the one pumpkin for the vine, can all be time consuming.

But it's fun to see the expressions on the grand kids faces when they see a big pumpkin..

Originally Posted by steel7

I would of liked to grow a giant pumpkin this yr but its time consuming & needs special care.