How do you grow the giantest pumpkin?

[Pootle]

This is being posted on behalf of the children (honest!)

Our site is running a giant pumpkin competition and they want to win. We have a plant (Atlantic Giant) and its ready to go in the ground.

Bearing in mind that we haven't had the plot long enough to prepare the ground in advance - what tips can you give us so that we are within shouting distance of a prize?

Thank you!

[bridget mc laughlin]

I use beer from lidle ,a can once every 2 days . It grew me a kin about 102 kg's

[Cloud]

Place a mound of compost where you want to grow the pumpkin and make a dish in the center of it then plant your pumpkin.Keep it well watered and feed it regularly and give it the occasional beer[ale not lager] and you should get a whopper!

[Demeter]

Beer?? Honestly, what with the slugs and the pumpkins there'll be none left for the people!

Seriously - why beer?

[mcsee]

I'm not sure if anyone saw a documentary last year "Lord of the Gourds" which mentioned some of the special tricks these growers got up to. Injecting with milk was mentioned.

PBS Previews | LORDS OF THE GOURD: THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

[Pootle]

I presume I'll have to sample the beer to make sure its suitable?

The things I do for my children

[HeyWayne]

I had some of this the other night: The Beer Store :: Buy Wychwood Goliath Ale (Wychwood Brewery Company Ltd) - Buy Beer Online, Australia

The name seems promising for large pumpkin growth...

In Merka they throw pumpkins (or punkins as they seem to be called)
World Championship PunkinChunkin

[Matt.]

You shouldn't be injecting with milk. That’s akin to taking performance enhancing drugs in sport tut tut tut

The key things are water, fertiliser and weather. Try to make your plant grow in an organised shape. The preferred method is like a tree. The stump is like the base and the main vine runs away in a straight line. All side vines are trained to run perpendicular to this. They can get incredably big up to 25'x25' is not beyond the norm!!

Feed with fertiliser and have a good organic base like horse manure. Blood fish and bone is good but ideally go with specific fertiliser for the different stages of growth. I.e. Phospherous (P) rich for roots early on, Nitrogen (N) rich for leaves then potassium (K) rich when a fruit sets. Try to get a single or maximum two fruits. They should be a few feet from the stump ideally. Make sure when you see the female flower form you provide slack in the vine to allow it to rise as the pumpkin grows. If not you'll get stem stress where the vine meets the fruit and it could snap. You can make as S shape to help. They need lots and lots of water so an automated mains irrigation system is ideal. If not try and get as much water as possible via other means. Also many growers try organic teas as feeds and watering. This is like comfrey tea but I'm not so knowledgeable about the details.

The key thing though is the seed. The true giants come from seeds with proven genes. You can get them from America mainly but there are UK and Europe organisations and individula growers. Its a bit late this year but you can get in early for next years seed. If you are really interested check out BigPumpkins.com Home Page for the real insider info.

By the way I've not grown one before but I have got two plants ready to be planted out. I'll hopefully get them in my plot once the site has dried.

[Pootle]

Thanks Matt - I read about your flooding elsewhere so I appreciate you taking the trouble to pass on such good advice. And thanks for the web address (although it sounds a bit like a porn site!) I'll check it out.

I've been given a big bag of farmyard manure so I thought I'd plant the pumpkin in there...fingers crossed that I don't kill the blessed thing (cue sad children )

[Pootle]

OMG! Apparently there's a 'Giant Pumpkin Community'. Isn't the internet a weird and wonderful place

[momol]

There are several thread about growing giant pumpkin last year, try to seach it, you will find loads of idea including using beer, manure tea, man urine,sugar water, etc.