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Oxfordshire, uk

Hi i have just started growing giant pumpkins in a local comp. and i followed the main general rules and now as of the 4th aug in ( uk ) i have about 10 pumpkins all setting about size of orange. ( im guessing its a bit late ) even tho i planted them on the 8th april.
They are pretty healthy but im just stuck as to what to do next to get a biggesh one for the comp.
I have 4 plants in total all are about 18 ft long from stem and i feed regular with 13-40-13 , seaweed and 20-20-20 mirical grow.
Im sure they wont be big but im thinking i need to pick a few good ones now but which ones?
thanks

8/4/2011 4:51:09 PM

Lancashire, UK

Hi,

It will be hard to tell if the pumpkins have actually set at an orange size. They still may abort so don't assume you have a keeper just yet.

In general, a pumpkin set on the main vine would be prefered over a secondary vine set.

Also, distance from the stump. In general, the further from the stump the better.

Some of your pumpkins you may be able to remove if they look to be at a bad angle or deformed etc.

Just a few tips that I thought might help a little.

good luck

8/4/2011 5:31:21 PM

Oxfordshire, uk

HI Thanks for that i have started my diary with pictures just waiting to be excepted and then will post all 4 plants look great and i did some slight trimming other day and with the last few days of nice weather we had they seem to be doing well. Will keep you posted

8/4/2011 5:52:43 PM

Germany

Hi, just had a look at your diary entries...and it looks as if there´s at least a tiny one of the general rules which you didn´t follow: Have secondary vines! Heaps of! (Check out the diaries of many many growers who have done nice documentation on how to grow the AG plant in a X-mas tree shape or related fashion.) To be honest, I´ve made the same little mistake in my first year, due to lack of space. My plants had some branches, but most of them was a long main vine and a pumpkin. Still managed to get at least 200 pounds grow per plant (and your advantage might be a good tap root system, whereas my mains of the first year were just running across the lawn). Also, my first year´s AGs had set fruit somewhen end of July, something like orange sized or water melon sized (the ordinary water melons, of course!) at the beginning of August. Thus, you should still be able to grow something impressive for a little local competition...200-300 pounds aren´t impossible. As SMT mentioned, you can´t be sure about the keeper when at orange size. You will need to wait for another couple of days to find out which one of them wants to grow. (The ones at the long end of the vine should be favorable, but if they abort you should have kept a spare pumpkin.) As to the yellow leaves: Did this appear much earlier this year? Might result from (i) particular nutrient deficiency at this plant spot, and as soon as the plant got hold of other sites of the patch with its tap roots or as soon as you started fertilizing it was capable of growing green leaves. (ii) cold soil when you gou your plant out into the patch (iii) problem with the main root system of that particular plant...and as in (i), as soon as the tap roots of the leaf nodes could provide support, the plant did not suffer the nutrient deficiencies any longer. Good luck!

8/5/2011 1:52:56 AM