Finally some warm weather and sun. It is still pale but hopefully it will take off soon
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The sunshine has really helped, the pumpkin finally started to vine just a little right of where I wanted it to grow. I took a small stick and gently moved it into the correct position with the stick poked into the dirt to hold it in place, never ever try to reposition the vine in the morning, it will be brittle from the cool night, it always bends better in the evening when it is soft from the heat of the day,
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It just needed some heat and sun.
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I think you are right, if it will grow a bit more I can start burying the vine so it all can root. That should help the whole plant take off
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It continues to stretch out, hopefully soon it will start a couple of laterals and I can start to bury the vine so it can root and help protect it from the wind.
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Four inches of rain since Thursday but there has been some sun and warm weather, the pumpkin grew noticeably the last four days and has one really nice full sized leaf,
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I buried about three feet of vine today with compost. This should help anchor it as each leaf node will now root down into the straw, leaves and dirt in the patch.
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I know nothing of growing giant pumpkins and regret the naive questions, but why is anchoring important and rooting a preferable use of the vine over photosynthesis? Thanks.
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The big leaves catch lots of wind so it is important to help anchor the vine down. By burying the vine you end up with a root system that will draw moisture and nutrients from the entire bed instead of just the little hill where the seed was planted. I don’t think you sacrifice much photosynthesis when the vine is buried, the leaves shade the vine anyway.
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Thanks. I was interpreting your earlier post to mean that you buried the whole vine, i.e., including the leaves, but now understand what you did. I may give that a try with some melons that I have growing in poor soil.
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The vine is really growing now. A few male flowers have opened and one small pumpkin the size of a shooter marble has formed. I am trying to stay ahead of the vine with a thick layer of old hay and yard clippings . I have buried the vine as I could with composted manure and pine bark that I bought. The vine seems to like it. Here are some photos
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Jason,
Can you save us some seeds.
Tony
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I will do my best Tony, the last one I grew ( the one in my avitar) was sterile. I hope I can get a pumpkin growing, it is amazing how many pounds they can gain in a day,
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The female flower opened today, looks like it has five lobes so the fruit should have five corresponding seed chambers. You want a fruit with four or more chambers. I went ahead and pollinated it with two male flowers from the same vine. The next female flower is showing at the end of the main vine , it is more in the right zone of the vine for a giant pumpkin.
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I’ve been enjoying this thread. Can you write a little more about the spacing of female flowers for biggest size? This is the first I’m hearing about it. Thanks.
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Thanks for the interest, I know this type of thing is not really this sights main focus so I think I hesitated to go into to great of depth and again I am speaking from one seasons experience mixed with many hours of lurking on a pumpkin forum.
The plant has only one main vine much like the central leader on an apple tree. It also has laterals that emerge from the main vine like scaffolds. If I left every female flower alone each would produce a pumpkin, two or three per lateral and maybe more on the main.
Pumpkins grown on the laterals don’t have the potential for size that a pumpkin on the main vine does. I have not removed any pumpkins yet but I will. Each one could be potentially the one I end up trying to grow. The main vine will have to be manipulated in a way that gives the pumpkin room to grow. Doing this is very tricky and you can very easily break it and ruin you best spot on the vine to grow your giant. This vine is extremely brittle, much worse than the last one I grew so breakage is a very real possibility. If that happens I will have to try and salvage the season by growing out one of the pumpkins on a lateral. As the fruit sets it grows very quickly, in no time it should have several six or eight pound fruit. Hopefully at that point I can pick the one I want to grow and I will remove all of the rest. All of the vine ends will be pruned and buried so the plant will focus all of its energy into growing one giant fruit.
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