Douglas, congratulations on your success. Can't wait for those pictures ! Are you going to make a giant Jack O'Lantern out of it ? that would be pretty cool. I hear that AG pumpkins are pretty tasty when it comes to pumpkin pies. Let us know what you do.

That must have been pretty exciting to go to a weigh off. Sounds like you're getting ambitious for next year. When are you going to start prepping your soil ?

Raysoh,
What did your pumpkin end up weighing?
Thanks for your offer of posting pictures for me.
I may take you up on it, if it still stands. The pics are on a partially used film, so it may be a little while yet, before they are developed.

Maxpower,
Going heavy was a pleasant surprise:-)

Wayne,
The pumpkin is out near the front of the house, with a scarecrow, and a few smaller pumpkins, as a display. The local paper has it pictured this week. I may carve it just before Halloween, we'll see.
I don't think we'll cook pies with it, as we have small "pie pumpkins" and buttercup squash we can use instead.
Thanks for everone's interest and patience, in my getting pics posted.

Douglas

My pumpkin ended weighing 559.4. It was heavy enough to get me third place in our local first annual weigh-off.

I processed my smaller one (200+) for pumpkin pies. (Our patch was chemical free this year. A.G.s make tasty pies, with the added benefit of being easy to process. I've baked four pies so far - gave away two of them, because I'll have plenty!

If you decide that want your pics posted for the other readers, just let me know via email or post here and I'll get them uploaded for you.

Here are the results of our weigh-off- you would have been a winner in our contest. www.growgiants.com My daughter is the one in the dark green DARE Tshirt.

The family is going to make our first trip to the Circleville OH Pumpkin festival this weekend. It's Ohio's largest festival and it's been held for over 90 years. Lot's of giants, so if I see anything really interesting, I'll post a pic later.

I am going to go start a thread about giant cushaws, if you guys know anything about them, please visit my thread.

Wayne- the offer is the same for you- if you want some pictures up on the web, just let me know. I have plenty of web space available. Those picture pages like the one on growgiants take less than five minutes to create once I have the digital images ready to go.

wow! I am so impressed with this thread, I did three seperate plantings this year and all three times the mother root seemed to develop a slimy surface, almost like oozing jelly at the root ground level to about one foot above, would anyone know what this could be?

Ray, I just may take you up on that offer. I've registered a website name but haven't yet had the time to get an ISP or create any pages yet. I hope to get it all going by the end of the year. thank you

Barb: My guess would be bugs - squash vine borers or cucumber beetles?

If you guys do decide that you want pics put up, just post here or email me.

I went to the Circleville Pumpkin Festival - 400,000 people in 4 days. Not a bad turnout for a town of 12,000. The festival is just fifteen miles from the home base of the Southern Ohio Giant Pumpkin Growers, so they get a good bunch of giant pumpkins and the guys manning the display are very knowledgeable and helpful. Bob Ligett had a 1,200+ pounder for the First place finisher and a 1,069 that took third. I saw lot of interesting gourds and squash that I had never seen before. I bought a 15 lb super warty tan cheese pumpkin to get the seeds, and I looked at a peanut squash. It appears that I will have to order those seeds from France.

I also saw one of those human head shaped pumpkins that is grown inside an aluminum mold. Someone mentioned seeing those molds in the back of a seed catalogue. Does anyone know what I am talking about- I would love to buy one, but I haven't checked the catalogues yet. Barb, I saw your thread on vegeforms which is why I added this thought to this thread instead of starting a new one on another forum -forgive me for getting a bit off topic.

Hi Douglas: one question I have for you is that I haven't seen much in the way of how much it costs to grow a giant pumpkin. Would you be able to provide a number, neglecting the cost of the seeds and water ? Approximately how much did you spend to nurture your plant ?

Good question Wayne.
I'm sure this will vary in different parts of the country, and depending on your growing methods/objectives.
For me and my one plant, I'll list what I remember buying.

6" plastic pot for starting indoors ~ $0.20

Neptune's Harvest fish and seaweed fertilizer(5 gal.) I used only about two gallons of it for foliar feeding and soil drench. Price varies--I'll let you look it up if you want to.

3 gallons of feed grade molasses for around $8 (I used only a pint, at most, of it)
I purchased about 8 40lb. bags of manure/compost at garden centers, as I didn't have much time for soil prep. (these were under $3 a bag). I hope to get some horse manure from a local farm for next year.

I didn't need to spray for any insects or disease here.
I watered about 4 times all year, using hoses that I had.

I bought a hose end fertilizer dispenser for about $10.
I bought a 1 gallon manual hand sprayer for about $12(for foliar feeding of Neptunes Harvest and molasses)

I bought several bags of black dirt(Walmart), for burying my vines(about $1/bag). I may try burying vines with garden soil next year, we'll see.

This is all I can recall. Oh yeah, two of Don Langevin's books as well.

Douglas

Hi Douglas: thanks. Doesn't sound like a big investment, fortunately. When I was reading Don's books, some of those growers just go bananas. Some of those pictures show guys with front-end loaders moving manure and fertilizer around.... I was really concerned that one would have to spend megabucks per pumpkin.

I'm definitely planting one or two plants next year, come hell or high water. I just missed out on that action this year, although your thread here allowed many of us to experience AG growing vicariously. Thanks a million !

well, once you get into it, you'll find it's addictive! i've been growing them for over 16 years now, and it's a full time hobby! the garden prep starts as soon as you havest them in the fall, i have already picked up several loads of cow manure and leaf compost, i really don't think of the cost, i mean if i can't afford it i don't buy it! but some things are necessary.

This forum has really slowed down!
I thought I better post something, so it won't get shut down.
I haven't forgot about getting a pumpkin picture posted(or having Ray do it). I just haven't got the film developed yet.
I keep changing my mind on what A.G. seed I want to grow next year. I'm leaning toward seed that has a good chance of producing shiny, orange pumpkins. I've got plenty of time to decide.
I hope you all are doing well.

Douglas

hanging in there douglas, winter doldrums ya know.

I've been reading up on How to Grow Giant Pumpkins III.

Douglas, we never did see a picture of your pumpkin. Any progress on that front ?

I'm debating the pumpkin for next year. What I'd really like to do is grow a large, but really round, orange one, rather than some of the mutant misshapen ones we've all seen. Of course genetics play a very important role there.

Douglas and Maxpower, what seeds are you growing out next year ?

Wayne: i will be growing seeds from a Rose 1370 Atlantic Giant. and my own 1011.4 lber also A.G. had a nice orange color but was long and wide as opposed to round.

Maxpower,
I too am leaning towards the 1370 Rose. I have a few seeds of it. I saw a pic of your 1011.4 on that other website. Impressive! What was your PB before this yr.? A man from Italy grew an excellently shaped pumpkin from the 1370 Rose.

Wayne,
I ordered a number of seeds from Howard Dill's website recently, picking mostly those that should be good color producers. I think shape tends to be less predictable, unfortunately.
The pics of my pumpkin are still in my dad's camera. I'll have to ask him if the film is soon to be filled up, so they can be developed.
I'm trying to track down a few seeds from a particular pumpkin that is known to produce great color and shape. I hope I can find a few before spring.
I'm no expert Wayne, but I could give you some suggestions on seeds that may give you pumpkins with good shape and color, if you want.

Douglas

Hi Douglas: I'd appreciate the suggestions. Still can't wait to see those pictures !

Maxpower, thanks for the seed specs.

I'm still in the planning stages for this year. Basically, I've got to cordon off a section of my (sloped) backyard for the pumpkin plants (probably two plants), and also for several rows of corn. I need to protect against deer, raccoons, and squirrels, with an electric fence. Also need to vastly improve the soil (it's hard clay) and also provide irrigation. Currently in talks with the wife about "how much this is all going to cost". She's supportive though. Just have to figure it out.

Wayne,
Do you currently have any A.G. seeds? If so, if you list which they are, I may be able to comment on them.
Howard Dill's site has some nice color crosses, in the 2005 premium seeds section. I purchased a number of these. The shape is generally much harder to predict.
I may be making another order with the Dill's, and could order you some seeds if you'd like.
If you need any advice, feel free to ask.
BigPumpkins.com is a great resource.
My email is: dw447@fastmail.fm

Doug

Wow, I thought I emailed the above post to you Wayne.
Don't know what happened there.

Doug

Hi Douglas: sorry, I haven't looked at the Giants forum for a long time. The seeds I have say on the package "lbs 500/700" "7 seeds". They were packed for 2004. I think for 2005 I'll use these seeds and see how I do, but I heartily thank you for the seed offer...maybe next year we'll swap seeds.

My problem with the pumpkins is that my land is on a 20 degree slope. There's a house at the bottom. I can just imagine those neighbors watching this giant pumpkin growing, wondering when it's going to break free and crash through their living room window !!!!! I laugh hysterically when I think of that. It'll really be moving too because there's about a 50 foot drop vertically.

I've been trying to convince a friend of mine who owns a 60 acre horse ranch (he supplies me with manure each season) to grow some of these. He's got alot of flat land and all the right equipment for moving these babies. He also books the ranch out for kids' parties for BBQ, so I thought some AG pumpkins would be a good novelty item for the kids. I've offered to tend to the plants. Don't know how it's going to go.

Are you growing giant watermelons too ? What would really be cool would be to get some seeds from prizewinning Carolina Cross melons. I just bought mine from Reimer's seeds last year. I dug a 3x3x3 foot hole and filled it with manure and good soil. I put in two vines and got two melons, one 47 pounds and one 37 pounds. This year I'm only planting one vine in that spot and amending heavily. Hope to do better but genetics plays a big role. I've decided to procure some "premium" seeds for this year. Unfortunately Dill is all sold out on his website (I missed out last year too).

Don't know where to get the "best" seeds from at this time. I found a couple of links:

http://www.pandpseed.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=pandpseed&Product_Code=CC200%2B&Category_Code=watermelon

http://www.giantwatermelons.com/orderform.htm

Again, I am not sure if these are the "best" places to get seeds. Would you know of any place that would be selling prizewinner seeds ? Thanks in advance.

PS: Are you going to be publishing an AG Pumpkin Update this year too ? Take care.

Wayne,
I may do another update this year.
I've got some nice seeds, that should produce beautiful looking pumpkins.
I'm not planning on growing any watermelons this year.
I'll see if I can find a good source for "prizewinner" watermelon seeds for you.
I still intend on getting a picture of my pumpkin on this forum. Sorry it's taking so long.

Douglas

Hi Douglas: no problem, again, really looking forward to seeing those pictures. You had some great success last year. Aside from the seed selection, what else are you doing to improve your pumpkin experience this year ? I'll be growing the AG's myself, one or possibly two vines. My friend who owns the ranch decided not to grow them as he has alot of trouble with deer and other pests.

As for the watermelon seeds, I also posted in the Vegetable Gardening section and got someone responding who said that genetics didn't matter. I don't believe that one iota. If I don't get an alternate source this week, I'll be ordering on Friday from one of the two sources I mentioned above. Hopefully I'll get another source.

Garden keeps expanding to take over more and more of our backyard. Debating with the wife about making space for 6 varieties of corn. Boy, I love homegrown corn !!!! Take care.

Just stumbled upon this thread. Wish my Brother had a computer... he'd love these postings. He has been growing giant pumpkin for the lst 4 or 5 years now. His biggest so far was in 2002, weighing in at the Windsor NS competition near where Howard Dill lives at 1,092 lbs.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/bloomorelse/GiantPumpsin2002001.jpg

Nice picture!
Now that's one orange, and large A.G.

Douglas

I second Douglas' comments. Beautiful pumpkin. Is he offering seeds, which we could have, by any chance ? That pumpkin looks fantastic !

I think Howard Dill actually bought the pumpkin from him to sell the seeds himself.

I think I saw that pumpkin in the 3rd edition of Don Langevin's "How to Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins". If it's the one I'm thinking of, it was grown from an 810 Dill seed. That seed is becoming scarce, and can sell quite high at seed auctions(used to support giant pumpkin growing organizations, to fund weighoffs, etc.). I purchased a few seeds from Howard Dill this year, that had the 810 Dill as one of the parents in the cross.

Douglas

Hope you have a great growing season. Have you decided which seeds you will be growing yet? Decisions, decisions.

I keep changing my mind on the seeds I plan on growing.
I plan on growing 3 or 4 plants. I'm leaning towards nice, orange color producers.
Seeds in the running, are:

940 Mombert 00
782.5 Stucker
901 Hebb
945.5 Sherwood
and a few others.

Are you growing any A.G.s bloomorelse?

I will be growing giant pumpkins for the first time this year, but I'm unsure which seeds to plant. I obtained seeds from two growers, with reasonably good genitics it seems.

280 Inzero (squash): (771 Stellpflug X open)
194 Inzero (544 Wilbers X open)
240 Inzero (771 Fortin X self)
269 Reiss (810 Dill X 1016 Daletas)
312 Reiss (845 Bobier X 801.5 Stelts)
333 Reiss (582 Hester X 801.5 Stelts)
495 Reiss (801.5 Stelts X self)

I have already germinated the 495 Reiss, which I wish to grow because of its 801.5 Stelts genetics. However, the seedling isn't doing very well; a "prizewinner" plant I germinated along with it is now larger, although Prizewinner isn't as large a variety as the Atlantic Giant. I am thinking of germinating another seed at waiting to see if it overtakes the 495 Reiss. I was thinking of perhaps the 810 Dill X 1016 Daletas? I have another 801.5 Stelts X self seed, but I'm reluctant to grow it as I was saving it for next year. What do you think is the best choice?

Also, is it OK to use well composted manure for burying vines? I've heard to use normal soil, but wouldn't the manure boost the plant's growth?

Thanks,
Oliver

How much are you guys paying for them there seeds ?

Oliver,
I don't know anything about the genetics of those Inzero seeds. I can commment on the Reiss seeds. They all should have decent to great color. The 333 Riess is an interesting cross. The 582 Hester offspring I've seen have been a medium orange(maybe lighter than medium), with pronounced ribbing. The 801.5 Stelts should give it a darker, and maybe shinier color. It may lessen the degree of ribbing.
The 495 Reiss will likely produce red/orange color. The shape is hard to guess. I think Mr. Reiss' 801.5 Stelts pumpkins were long and tapering towards the blossom end(seems typical of the 801.5)
The 269 Reiss should produce a nice orange color, and hopefully a nice rounded shape.
The 312 Reiss- The 845 Bobier isn't known as a very colorful pumpkin producer. Usually greyish to light orange. But if I remeber from Mr. Reiss's diary, his 845 Bobier pumpkin was unusually orange for that seed. So this could be a fine color producer.
It's hard to recommend one over the other. What I've speculated on is just an educated guess, and sometimes A.G. crosses can surprise us, with unexpected results.
The first 3 Reiss seeds should have very good size potential

Wayne,
I have paid some money for seeds at seed auctions and seed sales. The most I paid for one seed is $60. I traded that seed for the 940 Mombert 00 listed above. If you contact the growers, most will send you their seeds for free. Normally you just send a SAS bubblepack. For harder to find seeds(or more valuable ones), you may have to trade, or buy them at a seed auction or a seed sale.

Douglas

I don't grow them,it is my Brother who does. I will ask him what he plans to grow this year. He only live a couple of blocks from me so will try to get him over to have a look at your choices, as they don't mean much to me, although I've heard him mention some of these names. He can talk a person's ear off when he gets on this subject. LOL

Thanks Douglas. What are your goals for this year? Myself, I'm just considering this a "starter" year, much like you had last year. If I had to choose for next year, I'd just want a nice very round, very orange 400 pounder. That would be awesome !

I've started two of the Dill AG seeds indoors and the first true leaf is starting to form. I'm kinda worried because I've been experiencing some damping off on other seedlings and hope that these don't get hit. I've got to buy appropriate supplies to foil that pathogen tomorrow.

Douglas: that mombert 940 has a nice genectic cross 567.5 mombert x 801.5 stelts. nice orange color, it still hasn't grown any offspring over 800 lbs.
but still has produced some nice deep orange pumpkins.

Max,
I saw a couple of beautifully colored, and shaped pumpkins that Bob Troy grew from the 940 Mombert 00 seed. I would love to grow a similar one. His were both around 650 lbs.
I realize the shape and color can be variable, so there's no guarantees.
I'm torn, between choosing for size, or for looks. I'll likely only grow three A.G. plants, and want to make some good color crosses. The 1370 Rose still may get a shot. It has good size and color potential. I've seen pictures of the pumpkin you grew off it(on that other website), and it was definitely large, with a nice shiny orange color.
Maybe a 1370 Rose X 940 Mombert would be interesting?

Douglas

Hey revilo, I looked up some info on the Inzero seeds.
I hope this helps.
280 Inzero (771 Stellpflug x open) The 771 has great green genetics 895 Hester x 611 Stellpflug, too bad its an open pollination
194 Inzero (544 Wibers x open) The 544 is a 705 Stelts remake, lots of potential, good orange color again the open cross makes it unpredictable
240 Inzero (771 Fortin x self)The 771 Fortin was 621 Fortin x 935 Lloyd. The 621 Fortin was 1006 Greer x 825 Shymanski. This might be a really good untried seed!
I believe the color will be creme
My choice for orange color are the 269 and 495 Reiss

Thanks for the advice on the seeds, Douglas and uncron1. I think I'll settle with the 333. I took a look at Mr. Reiss' dairy on Bigpumpkins.com; it seems the 582 Hester fruit has decent color and shape, and I especially wanted to grow a plant with those excellent 801.5 Stelts genes.

I don't have room for all these plants, though, so I'll cull the 333 if the 495 already planted starts doing better. I was hoping to get a selfed fruit on the 495. I was thinking of making this a long term project, selfing this seed over many generations to obtain an isolated 801.5 Stelts lineage. Would you reccomend doing this, does it sound like a good idea?

Revilo,
I know little about breeding A.G.s. But it maybe a good project. Maybe you could stabilize that reddish-orange color. If you grew more than one plant of the selfed, or (next year's)double selfed 801.5's, you could choose to use the seeds from the pumpkin/plant that best exhibits the characteristics you are looking for(darkest-colored pumpkin, best shaped pumpkin, etc.).
I'm thinking of eventually doing a similar project. I may sibb cross the 940 Mombert 00, and then do some color and shape selection, to refine the strain.
I most likely will cross the 940 Mombert 00 into the 901 Hebb this year. Both of these seeds seem to produce nicely shaped and colored pumpkins. Although I've seen quite a bit of variance in shape and color, on pumpkins grown from these seeds. I'm hoping the offspring of this cross will consistantly yield nicely-shaped, shiny orange pumpkins. Time will tell.
I still haven't settled on what A.G.s I'm growing yet though. I have many tempting seeds. I'll keep you posted.
My pictures(of the 615 lber. I grew last year) should be posted pretty soon here. I sent them to someone from GW, who can scan them.

Douglas

I'm only growing dull and everyday pumpkins but I just love this thread. I think you passion is great and really fun to read about your work!!

Thanks thandiwe2!
I think "dull and everyday pumpkins" are fun too.
It's fun looking through the pumpkin patch to see the different shapes and sizes.
With A.G.s there's the thrill of watching your pumpkin grow over 100 pounds in a week. I've also heard of fast growing A.G.s spitting or exploding. I guess the highs and lows with A.G.s are more extreme.
I hope to start my A.G. germination early this week.

Douglas

Douglas,
Have you germinated your seeds yet? Which seeds have you settled on growing this year?

Right now my two plants just about to start vining; they have been outside for about one month. These plants are quite amazing to me, as I've only grown normal sized pumpkins up till now. The fifth true leaf is allready 18" wide, larger than I've ever seen on a mature pumpkin plant! The vine is easily 2-3 times as wide as those of varieties I have previously grown!

This will be much of an experimental year for me, I don't really expect to get a fruit much over 300 pounds. I will make crosses to work with in coming years, though. I'll self the 495 Reiss and also use it to polliniate the prizewinner; hopefully the offspring from this cross will be intermediately sized and regular in shape.

Revilo,
I started germinating my seeds a couple days ago. I filed the seed edges(except the tip of course), and soaked them in 3% hydrogen peroxide for 6 hrs. Then I put them in moist paper towels covered by a baggie. I provided heat with a heating mat.
Results so far:

945.5 Sherwood 03 -- it sprouted and I planted it in a pot.
901 Hebb 02 --ditto
953 Langevin X 1260 Weir(a Connolly cross that I grew my 615 lber. from last year)--ditto
940 Mombert 00-- one is in the process of sprouting, and one hasn't shown signs of sprouting yet.

My tentative cross plans are(I stress tentative):

945.5 Sherwood X 940 Mombert 00(or 901 Hebb)
940 Mombert sibbed both ways.
901 Hebb X 940 Mombert 00
Connolly cross X 940 Mombert

The 945.5 Sherwood will likely get the best growing spot.

I look forward to hearing how you do this year Rivilo. I'm rooting for you. I hope you have a lot of fun in the process.

Douglas

Best of luck to you too, Douglas!

doing the 1370 rose again looking good 5 leaf stage hope the weather improves.

Sounds good Maxpower.
I'll probably regret not growing the 1370 this yr.
I should have gotten my plants planted earlier this week. Now it's cold and rainy. Saturday looks to be the earliest I'll get them in.

Things are starting to get interesting now. The main vine of my 495 Reiss is about 6 feet long, and growth has picked up, at about 5-6" a day. The plant was germinated quite early, so I'm hoping to get a fruit set by mid June. Hopefully the pumpkin will last till October (:

weather here is terrible cold and coldy 3 frosts so far this may, pumpkins are warm and toasty in their heated hoop houses, i see your growing martin's seeds from germany.

I pollinated a female flower 10' out on the 495 Reiss a few days ago (I self pollinated it). Hopefully it will take; it looks like it did, but it's too early to tell for sure.

Sounds great Revilo.
If you want to track the size of your pumpkin, I'd write down the pollination date. Many growers do circumference measurements each day, to observe growth, and compare to other pumpkins on the same vine. You may want to pollinate the next couple pumpkins on the main vine, and eventually keep only the fastest grower. The 20 day circumference reading seems to be a common benchmark. I think the 20 day circumference on my 615 lber. last yr., was 50.5", which is on the small side. From reading other grower's measurements, 65" and over, at 20 days, seems to be nice pumpkin growth. If you measure circumference, do so at the point of largest circumference around the pumpkin.
Please keep us posted.
My four A.G. plants are growing very slowly, with the cold weather we've been having. I hope June is warm/hot.

Douglas