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North Conway NH

but this summer i 'm trying to be the dad of a giant pumpkin. i started late. my first pumpkin appeared without my help around mid july. the pumpkin was located about 10ft on main vine. there was a smaller, but pumpkin about 5ft furth down the vine. after a week or so i cut the smaller pumpkin off.Q#1(was that the right thing to do?)
i did notice better gains in the remaining larger pumpkin.
being my first time and all, i began to believe that if i wanted to grow as big as possible, i would have to take a risk with one pumpkin on the main. i began pruning flowers and females. i left a couple tiny male and females on my larger side vines. MY 2ND QUESTION ( it is august 20th. should i now completely give up on growing a back up pumpkin? meaning , would a female that is pollinated by hand now have a chance at growing over like 200lbs? if it could and i pollinate it, wont that slow my largest pumpkin down? o.k. so that is really about 6 questions, but you know how it is or used to be.
3rd question... there is about six feet of vine beyond where my pumpkin is set. there is no suckers or anything because i cut them all. my question is if the vine should be cut off at the pumpkin? does the vine beyon utilize or direct energy to the pumpkin that is behind it? i have not cut the vine because i thought the leaves were imprtant for supplyinf food(i think?)
lastly , would cutting off secondary vines that have already been pruned and only have big leaves, be a bad idea, or would this make my pumpkin grow fast?
my pumpkin is very healthy lookin. its in a good position.
its circum, around from stem to where the flower used to be is48inches. both ends are around 8inches of the ground. how much does this weigh. how big do u think it could get with my late start and all.
thanks alot

8/21/2003 1:41:43 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

Man you're in the pumpkin state...read posts about the NHGPGA meeting this weekend...All your questions will be answered and you'll meet some of the greatest growers and nicest people in the world! Grow em Big! Chuck

8/21/2003 5:54:34 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

Don Langevins new book "How to grow world class pumpkins 3" is do out if not out already....get it as soon as you can a must read for all new comers....Go through the how to section here...also site search on terminating vines etc...also a chart for how to measure and estimate weight in there...If there AG seeds they'll grow!

8/21/2003 6:01:12 AM

derry n.h u.s.a.

O.k FROM ONE ROOFER TO ANOTHER:
yes that was the right thing to do if you want a big pumpkin,lots of growers go for 1 pumpkin per plant,set on the main vine about 10 ft or further out.i would suggest against growing or pollinating another at this point,unless you have problems one the big one!,animal bites,soft spots ,splits etc,a good thing to do now to pick up some good weight(we still have a month of good weather)leave the vine beyond the pumpkin,unless the vines touching the pumpkin making for stem stress on your fruit,which i wouldent think would be the case at 50" or so circ!you should deadhead your whole plant at this point in time its getting late.meaning cut the ends of your secondary vines and stop the vines from growing in length at this point,bury the ends in some dirt,you should have ony main vines and secondarys now,if you have vines growing off the secondarys prune them.

8/21/2003 8:34:49 AM

derry n.h u.s.a.

but don't cut all the vines in 1 day,do 1 or 2 vines everyother day so you dont break your pumpkin from massive growth spruts.remove any real bad looking leafs,and now would be a good time to spray the plant with a fungicide,mildew season is arriving,if you dont already have it,take the time to avoid getting it,Daclinal is a good detorent for mildew.Hope this helped,also get the books by Don Langiven "how to grow world class giant pumpkins" 1 is a good book,2 is very informative and gives tons of clues and hints on how to get monsters,there worth the investment.Best of luck.John

8/21/2003 8:41:05 AM

Taber, Alberta

This is my first year as well. I had my first pumpkin pollinated on the 19th of July at 9 1/2 feet out. I had another about 4 feet after which pollinated about 10 days later when I was on vacation. I cut this one off in early August. I am thinking this was a mistake and I should have kept the second one. My plant was much bigger and stronger and would have grown a lot faster. Now my first one is at 73 inches around and growing very slowly.
With your second question, I had a second pumpkin pollinate on it's own about the 10th of August and is on the same pace as the first. I think it depends where you are and how cold your nights get. I'm hoping to get my #2 up to the size of the #1 by the time things get cold (which is coming up fast). There is less sun, but my plant is much bigger (I've let the vines grow since my first one stopped growing) We'll see if I am right.

Good luck and happy growing.
Alan

8/28/2003 9:56:09 PM