growing pumpkins?

Question

How do I grow big pumpkins?

Answer 1

It takes 125 to 130 days to grow a huge pumpkin, & it is started indoors in the spring. Start with the right variety. 'Dill's Atlantic Giant' has set many world records. 'Prizewinner', 'Big Max', or 'Big Moon' are also good.

They should be ready for transplanting when the plant is in the three-leaf stage.
Your plants need to be started early, but not too early or the plant may become spindly and have a weak root structure. Also, bear in mind that transplanting can stunt pumpkin seedlings' growth. Even under the best conditions, it may take up to two weeks before a transplant finally root in and starts growing.

Whether you start with seeds or seedlings, give them plenty of room to spread out—25 feet from each other. They are vigorous growers and heavy feeders, and good soil is important. Enrich your planting bed with any type of aged or composted animal manure. Many pumpkin growers prefer cow manure.

Select one or two of the first pumpkins on the vine & remove the others. Pinch off any that form later. During the 1st 60 days, the plant extends itself, flowers begin to appear and the fruit begins to form.

During the second 60 days, the fruit may grow 8 to 20 pounds per day. Feed with manure tea or compost tea after the fruit is set. Weekly feeding is essential for growing giant pumpkins.

Make sure your pumpkin grows at a good steady rate, & do everything you can to protect its leaves. They supply nutrients to the stem of the pumpkin.

Pumpkin leaves need lots of sun, but direct sunlight on the pumpkin itself will harden its outer skin, limiting its growth. You can construct a shade out of burlap or other lightweight material.

Temperature is important, too. Daytime highs around 80 to 90 degrees F are ideal for growing giant pumpkins.
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-164,00.html

Water regularly, daily even.
Feed it: composted cow manure or compost tea, weekly.
If you don't want to grow organic, you can look for a balanced dry fertilizer like 5-10-5. Apply it every two weeks, and thoroughly water it in. Apply liquid fertilizer as a foliar feeding.

Here's a great site with tips on growing giant pumpkins:
http://www.pumpkinnook.com/growing.htm

Good luck! Hope this is helpful.

Answer 2

warm weather, sunny location, plenty of water. Dont water the plant itself, water the soil that it is in. Cut off or remove any moldy leaves. Ive heard of people giving milk to their pumpkins to make them grow bigger. But I think the key is sunshine. I live in Alaska, and the pumpkins here are huge due to the 24 hour sunshine in the summer. This year was a good weather year, so my pumpkins were very pretty and were ready for picking in Sept, planted the seeds in Feb.

Answer 3

First you have to get the right kind of seed for giant pumpkins. They are very avid consumers of nutrients and water, so if you grow them directly on a pile of well rotted manure or compost and water them quite a lot, specially in summer, you should get really big pumpkins.

Answer 4

It takes a multitude of area to develop one pumpkin. So in case you develop a hundred pumpkins that is going to take an surprisingly super area. it would in basic terms be greater handy to purchase the pumpkins, even with the certainty that it would value a brilliant style of money possibly approximately 200 - 3 hundred money.

Answer 5

why this milk wives tale still endures is beyond me

Answer 6

do whatever the top comments say