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Madera, CA

Hello everyone. I just joined today and have a number of questions. My biggest issue is that I live just North of Fresno, CA and we have long, hot and dry summers. Days over 100 are common in July and August and we top out at 107-110 most years.

Any tips for growing in these conditions?

Thanks for the help.

Marty

9/19/2010 8:19:34 PM

East Jordan, MI

No tips for you, but Welcome to the madness and GOOD Luck!!!

9/19/2010 9:07:29 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Check out some of the other growers diarys from your area. There are quite a few CA growers.

Good luck.

9/19/2010 9:16:42 PM

Northern California Foothills

Endless Trail should be able to help you out. I have a similar climate but I can't offer you much advice since this is my 1st and made far to many mistakes. Based on the few people on here that grow in hot climates, it's very hard to grow them over 1000lbs.

9/19/2010 10:50:58 PM

Northern California Foothills

All the big time pumpkin growers in California(and many of the California growers on this forum) grow in coastal climates.

9/19/2010 10:57:31 PM

Fresno, CA

It's a challenge growing here in the heat and I'm still struggling to figure it out myself. What I have done so far is get a misting system going and put in shade cloth to keep the plant cool enough that it doesn't get wilt in the middle of the day. That seems to work pretty well. My advice would be to either put in misting and shade cloth or be willing to accept some mediocre jack-o-lanterns for results. One thing that I haven't done yet but should help with the heat next year is having a thick layer of mulch. Mulch will help drop the soil temperature and reduce moisture loss. I don't know where in Madera you are but here in central Fresno I have extremely sandy soils. That means my drainage is excessive and I will need to add a lot of organic matter to grow anything of substantial size. Well drained soils don't retain moisture or nutrients for long. I am still wondering how big someone can grow a pumpkin here. I agree with cucurbits that anything over 1000 pounds in this heat would be very difficult.

9/20/2010 1:05:41 AM

Fresno, CA

I only grew 75 and 94 pound pumpkins up until this year but I was using store bought seeds and not ammending my soil. This year I have one at about 136 pounds that was on my <100 sq ft pollinator plant (that didn't get misting or soil ammendment). I finally used pedigreed seeds. My main plant this year has a fruit over 200 so far but it has stopped growing and there is rot on the blossom end that I am treating and waiting on. There are no records for Fresno or Madera County that I have found for biggest pumpkin grown. However the Fresno County fair blue ribbon two years ago went to a 238 pounder 2 years ago according to a newspaper article. Someone grew a 325 pounder in Kingsburg last year. I heard from one local giant pumpkin grower who works in the ag industry that someone once grew a 600 pounder in the Cantua Creek/Huron area on the West side. Further North in the Sacramento area 2 growers have been in the 1,000 pound realm. I figure that means a 1,000 pounder could be possible in Fresno/Madera because the Sacramento weather is only a couple of degrees lower typically and it sometimes hits the 105-110 level there too. I have heard that certain soil ammendments/nutrients and mycorhizzae will help the plant deal with heat stress so I am hoping to do work on that next year. I am learning there are other giant pumpkin growers in the Central San Joaquin Valley but none of them keep diaries or post much on this website right now.

9/20/2010 1:05:57 AM

Madera, CA

Thanks for the help EndlessTrail. With store bought seeds, wilting almost every afternoon and pretty much not knowing what I am doing my son and I grew a 110 pound pumpkin that won the Madera Fair a couple weeks ago. We are shooting for 250 pounds next year. With everything I had read we did wrong this year I think that is a good goal.

If someone can grow a 600 pounder on the westside we should be able to do it over here. I'll read over your diary. Thanks for your input.

Marty

9/20/2010 10:34:11 AM

Madera, CA

After rereading your post you never mentioned having a diary, sorry.

With our long growing season do you think it is possible to plant too early and therefore have to worry about rot at the end of the season?

I had a real aphid problem this year that stopped my season early.

9/20/2010 10:43:51 AM

Sacramento, Ca

I grow in Sacramento where it also gets very hot. This will be my second year. Last year I had a 309.5 and a 200 (estimate). It gets well over 100 here in the summer, although this summer was mild. The fruit I have now has not been weighed yet but it tapes around 320 to 350 pounds. My problem both years has been downy mildew. As for the heat, lots of water, shade cloth over the pumpkin and a misting system are a must.You may want to try and contact Dick Westervelt of Granite Bay and Ron Root of Citrus Heights. They have both grown fruit over 1000 pounds in the Sacramento heat.

9/20/2010 10:45:08 AM

Madera, CA

On the hot days how long are you guys running the misters?

9/20/2010 1:12:28 PM

South East

Consider a 30% shade net over your patch, next to that use mister, running them from 11 am to 6 pm every 5 minutes for 30 sec/60 sec. Use drip tape for watering and water 2 maybe three times a day.
Make sure you got a good pesticide and fungicide program next to that. The moisture actracts bugs and in combination with the heat invites disease to. Youl be amazed if you put in the effort how big you can grow in a hot climate. Start with a good prepped soil first though, without that youl never grow something really big.

9/20/2010 1:25:32 PM

Fresno, CA

Here's the difference between shade and misters and no shade/no misters..

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=139189
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=139190

9/20/2010 9:00:59 PM

Madera, CA

How early do you plant and do you start inside or go direct to the garden?

Thanks for the help.

9/20/2010 9:33:07 PM

Highland, Ca

mtally, I have the same climate here and I agree with the Cooks post cover your patch with shade cloth and use misters,check out my diary if you like this year I have one on still estimated at 575 pounds and still creeping along,also look at Dusters diary, he is growing very successfully in hot temps and has an estimated 850 pounder going

9/26/2010 1:33:20 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

To any of you Cali guys using shade covers, we had 3 straight weeks of 100 plus heat in July that toasted the plants everyday. If I were to use a 30% shade cover, does that take away 30% of the production by photosybthesis? If so, do you justify it by your plant being that much healthier in the long run? Thanks

9/26/2010 1:53:52 PM

Fresno, CA

Good question Luke. I am assuming that there is some loss of potential growth due to decreased sun light with shadecloth, but heat stress is so severe without shadecloth (and misting) that loss of potential growth would be greater without it. But I don't have evidence to prove it. I don't have enough room in yard to grow muliple plants from same seed with and without shading to compare. I just know that plants I have grown without shadecloth and misting look like they are going to die everyday in the afternoon. The fact that noone has been able to grow a very big pumpkin in our region is probably due to heat.

9/27/2010 4:06:55 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

Thanks, are shade cloths something you leave up 24/7 or do you have to take them down if a storm is coming? We get hail alot here and it seems like that might be great in preventing a plant wipe out. If you all use the 30%, I would probably be fine with the 10 or 15.

9/27/2010 7:06:06 PM

Peoria,illinois

hi, i'm essie and just joined up tonight (this morning?) truthfully, i don't have a clue how to grow much of anything or even understand what you're talking about. i saw a program on pbs and it seemed like it might be interesting to try growing pumpkins, for fun. but how do you get started? essie

10/9/2010 4:26:24 AM

Western Australia

Hi I am growing AG's on the west coast of Australia and we get the heat during Jan and Feb regularly reaching 110. Our soil is sandy and it appears we may face the same problems of you guys in CA. I am irrigating by trickle 4 times a day and by sprinkler/trickle combo twice a day during the hottest days. Will know in a few months how it all goes.(hopefully)

12/17/2010 9:02:19 AM