atlantic giant pumpkin

[Andrew in Cardiff]

is anyone growing one this year? hows it doing?
i'm having a problem with my giant fruit pushing out at the main vine its attached too which could eventually cause the main vine to break. the neck on the pumpkin is only about an inch thick and i'm afraid that it could snap if i try and move the pumpkin. i have read that moving it slightly everyday for about a week to get it at a 90 degree angle from the vine is the thing to do, but i feel that this may not make much difference anyway. i've tried pulling the main vine away from the pumpkin but found this very difficult because the vines are now huge and have long side shoots also, all of which are now growing within other veggies on the plot.

by the way the pumpkin was self pollinated at the beginning of july and one month later it is now at least the size of two basket balls.

also, is it worth putting anything under the pumpkin(whilst i still can) to protect it from the moist soil underneath it? and up until now i've used miracle grow liquid fertilizer which is 15-30-15 which stresses phosphorous but i now need one which stresses potassium(15-11-29), does anyone know a brand of liquid feed that has this???

/B]some growing stats...

planted seedling beginning of april
dug large trench, filled it with a whole large bag of horse poo and planted out
surrounded it with glass and sprinkled chicken poo pellets in the area
began liquid fertilizing with miracle grow once a week
two main vines grew rapidly and female flowers appeared near end of june
tried self pollinating several pumpkins with only one success at the beginning of july
continued to sprinkle chicken poo along the main vines
restricted plant to one fruit only during july (the fruit if about 6 or 7 ft from main plant/root system)
as the pumpkin grew i cut the roots on the main vine attaching it to the soil so the vine could move upwards with the pumpkin growth
two weeks ago i nipped off the main vine when itwas about 12ft long(past the pumpkin) and nipped out the side shoots when they reached 8ft.
i have now began covering the the pumkin with tarpaulin to keep direct sunlight off it so the skin does not harden and restrict growth and continue to pick off any small pumpkins still appearing, and continue to use liquid fertilizer and chicken poo.
there are now three months left before it is picked for the annual allotment pumpkin competition!!

cheers, Andrew.

[NSB]

I'm trying pumpkins of the first time and all I have are male flowers, I did have a tiny pumpkin on the only female flower but it died!!

Well done though I envy you

[Snadger]

The high pottasium feed you require is basically a tomato feed such as Tomorite!
I am growing Atlantic Giant but mine didn't set a pumpkin until the end of July. It's growing well nevertheless and is currently size of small football, but coming on leaps and bounds now we have a bit of sunshine and the rain has abated. One of the guys who unfortunately is in the show I am in has a one about 18" round in his greenhouse and the foliage is making a take over bid inside.

Hopefully if we have a decent, warm month I won't be embarrassed too much!

[Andrew in Cardiff]

thanks for the reply. i'll try and get a photo up with the pumpkin in.
i also found it hard to self pollinate the flowers. i tried about 5 or 6 different females and only one took.
snadger; thanks for the info on potassium, i'll nip out tomorrow to get some. my pumpkin was the size of a small football only about two weeks ago, believe me they grow at an alarming rate, its like a very large beach ball now. i'm strting to get very worried about the position of the pumpkin to the main vine.

[Sirius]

Growing pumpkin after cheating the system and giving pollination a helping hand with the sole female flower we had. The pumpkin is getting pretty big, but suddenly the stem seems like it's starting to die, from the bottom upwards it's getting discoloured and hard - I'm not holding out much hope that the pumpkin will survive, but does anyone have any ideas what's wrong?

[terrier]

Hi Sirius and welcome to the 'Vine'. You sound as if you're having a hard time with your failing pumpkin plant and flowerless strawbs. Don't think that you're alone with problems. Just about everyone has had some sort of disaster this year with one crop or another due to the strange weather conditions. I've got two pumpkin plants growing and although they look healthy enough, the fruits only get to about tennis ball size and then they just rot in the damp conditions. My strawb plants look great... as long as you like green strawberries! Don't wory about the failures, you sound as if you've got a greenhouse full of promise.

[momol]

Growing pumpkin after cheating the system and giving pollination a helping hand with the sole female flower we had. The pumpkin is getting pretty big, but suddenly the stem seems like it's starting to die, from the bottom upwards it's getting discoloured and hard - I'm not holding out much hope that the pumpkin will survive, but does anyone have any ideas what's wrong?

Hi Sirius,

I haven't grow any pumpkin before, but have been growing other type of winter squashes ( red kuri, yokohama, pomme d'or ).
Do you grow your pumpkin ourside ? if yes, make sure they have some sort of wind protections ( if you continuosly having strong/ cold wind ). lot's of flowers will come if the weather is warm, warmth will also encourage lot's of blooming, you can always help their pollination ( I do that ).
As for your vine dying, did you check the root ( it could be rot due to plenty of water and less sun/ warmth ) it could also be eaten by slugs and then starts to rot. Knowing all this won't help your pumpkin ... sorry, but it is usefull for your future pumpkin growing. We are learning, don't be dispaired,

Momol

[seasprout]

My Atlantic Giant is the size of a tennis ball. So don't take the MICK OK..!!! Bit sensitive about the size. Which is not everything apparently.

[Snadger]

My Atlantic Giant is the size of a tennis ball. So don't take the MICK OK..!!! Bit sensitive about the size. Which is not everything apparently.

Size matters!

[Sirius]

Hi Sirius and welcome to the 'Vine'. Don't wory about the failures, you sound as if you've got a greenhouse full of promise.

Hi terrier, thanks for the confidence boost! I'm not losing sleep over the pumpkin, but it's always nice to hear someone say you can't win them all!

[Sirius]

Hi Sirius,

We are learning, don't be dispaired,

Momol

Hi Momol, thanks for your words of advice. The pumpkin has been in the greenhouse all 'summer', sharing space with my cucumbers which are flourishing....... not to worry, I'll put it down to experience!

[Andrew in Cardiff]

finally got around to measuring the atlantic giant i'm growing. it currently has a 64" girth around it's waist and a 59" girth around the stem/blossom circumference.
there are 3 measurements that can be used/combined and then multiplied by 1.9 to give an estimation of weight. i'll hopefully try this soon and report back. i hope to get a piccy up soon (when i remember to take my camera phone up the lotty). As for my original dilema of having the pumpkin pressing against it's vine causing tension, i have lifted the vines off the ground and have put bricks underneath them. this seems(for now) to have created some space between the pumpkin and the vine.

[Hazel at the Hill]

finally got around to measuring the atlantic giant i'm growing. it currently has a 64" girth around it's waist and a 59" girth around the stem/blossom circumference.
there are 3 measurements that can be used/combined and then multiplied by 1.9 to give an estimation of weight. i'll hopefully try this soon and report back. i hope to get a piccy up soon (when i remember to take my camera phone up the lotty).

Didn't know that, Andrew - very useful - tho' I think my Prize Pumpkin is smaller than yours - will measure it tomorrow!

[Andrew in Cardiff]

the 3 measurements you need are.........

Measure the circumference of your pumpkin first parallel to the ground around the entire pumpkin, from blossom end to stem. Next, measure over the top in both directions: from ground to ground along the axis from stem to blossom end, then perpendicular to the stem-blossom-end axis. Add these three measurements together, then multiply by 1.9 to give an estimate of the pumpkin's weight.

hope this makes sense, it took a while for me to get my head around it

[Hazel at the Hill]

Are those measurements - cm, m or inches? and is the result in kg or lbs?