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Cologne / Germany

I just followed Ben´s (Boily´s) diary today and I thought you just can´t take care about 30 or more AG plants on different patches big enough to provide a whole village with some sort of field crop.
In general I never heard of real big ones coming from growers with more than 3 or 4 plants in one season. Isn´t that enough to look after in case you still have a job to do or something else in your life?
No offense intended here, but maybe others can share their opinions and experience here. Personally I had my best results this year with 2 (down from 4) plants because I tried to keep it simple and practicable and it worked much better.

10/29/2004 6:20:12 PM

Sydney, Australia

Ingo, I have to agree with you on the results side of things. Being stretched thin isn't going to grow a monster. 2 plants is enough to fully occupy me in my very limited spare time. I just love growing these things! 2 seasons of growing, 1st year 950/620 pounds with 3 plants. 2nd year 697 pounds/300-400 with a few and 100 plants. Results speak for themselves.
Its a hobby where success(weight?) is dertemined by so many factors, but as long as your spending your time doing something you enjoy I would call it time well spent. Grow many plants and you may just get lucky! The Castlereagh patch was planted to grow some decent fruit for exhibition at the Eastershow, hopefully big, anything is great. Turning out to be a hard thing to do in a few hours a week. But I do my best...
I work full time, have a wife(with 1st baby expected!), friends, family, sport and have many other hobbies/interests. Growing AG's fits in amongst all these things nicely, and I will most probably grow at least one plant a year for the rest of my life!
Good question Ingo! Hopefully Tom Beachy and Nic Welty and others could chime in....... Ben

10/29/2004 7:25:08 PM

Ohio

Floh,

I started out with 5 plants and ended with 3, and for a first year grower I couldnt keep up. When I would get off work I would be in the patches, and on my days off I would be in the patches ,Only thing I had time to do was cut the grass,lol.
There is alot of stuff I regret I didnt do this year,like spending a little more time with my kids, fishing, riding the four wheeler, softball, ect ect ect,,,, HECK I havnt even been Bow Hunting yet this year or even scouted because im still getting my soil and compost pile ready for next year,lol... Thats not like me at all ether, Bow Hunting Deer to me is like Christmas to my kids. Why Havnt I done this yet? Its because I have the Giant Pumpkin fever! Not Buck Fever!

Next year Im only going to try to grow 3 plants at most so I can have more time to spend with family.You can really get caught up in growing these Giants and not realize what you have been neglecting.

Im hooked for life now to this crazy hobby, and dont think I have ever met a more helpful or nicer Group of people who grows these giants. I have always wondered why is it that 90% of pumpkin growers are so helpful, nice, and giving people. Is it because this is the way Howard Dill treated people when he started, and the tradition continues? Id say so. If it was someone eles who discovered this Giant Pumpkin and they kept there little growing ideas a secret and expected you to fend for yourself,Do you think us as growers would be so helpful today? One never really knows.

Brooks

10/29/2004 7:27:46 PM

Cologne / Germany

Great answers so far, thank you Ben and Brooks! I found myself calming down in my third year of AG growing when I could think to myself yep there´s something you can manage - 2 main plants along with pruning, watering, fertilizing, weeding, pollinating..it was that feeling to have the most important things under control which leads to some sort of balance, and balance is a source of power. Without balance you will be much too nervous about it all. The buddhistic AG growing cycle :)hahaha
Ben, I wish you all the best for your family and your first baby! Brooks, get that balance and find more time for your family. Balanced growers might grow bigger pumpkins? I´m sure that´s the way - "balanced addiction".
Hey growers, chime in and share your balance :)

Ingo

10/29/2004 9:38:34 PM

Whidbey Island

Whatever you do, don't grow at two locations. I had one at home and one at my in-laws place a few years back. They are only ten minutes away, but the driving over there and back, forgetting this tool or that piece of equipment was killing me. When that pumpkin went down at about 150# I was secretely glad, settled down to one at home and ended up with over 600# and a winner at our local contest. I now have two at home, plus a job, wife, kids and that is more than enough. Now after retirement.......

10/30/2004 9:05:22 AM

Long Island,New York

I have a wife that works, two pre-teens, a job, a home patch of two plants and a remote patch 58 miles away with six....had my best year, my wife still loves me, the kids fight just like before,my office appreciates me more now, and Im doing it again next year.

10/30/2004 9:20:01 AM

Saegertown Pa.

Floh
It depends on the person some people can get more done in less amount of time. The last two years I've planted nine plants, it doesn't take me any more time than it did when I planted four. And there have bin some real big pumpkins grown from growers that grow 10 + plants a year, Dave Stelts, Jerry Rose and Jack LaRue just to name a few.

10/30/2004 12:06:02 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

... not to forget yourself, Quinn!!!

10/30/2004 4:08:23 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

Great topic! Thanks for bringing it up Floh. You did well with your two plants.
I grew only one plant, as a first year grower. It didn't seem that time consuming to me. Next year, I plan on four plants. I think that's the most I care to really devote time and space to. I don't want to spread myself to thin, with too many plants. I think it all depends on your particular circumstances, and objectives. This is a hobby where it's easy to carried away. I look forward to more responses.

Doug

10/30/2004 5:12:55 PM

Puyallup, WA

Jack LaRue started with 22 plants, I believe. Let's see.....he had five over 1100# and two more weighed in over 1000# plus more in the patch!!!

10/30/2004 6:37:02 PM

Wichita, KS

7 this year was enough for me, so 7 next year, too. I am resisting the urge to grow 10 acres, although i have written up the business plan... Priorities (time with wife and kid) limit me to 7 plants for now. The good thing about it is that the kid LOVES pumpkins, and the wife likes it that her men have something they enjoy doing together! He's too young to have in the patch while I'm tilling, though.

10/31/2004 1:17:40 AM