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Bay City Michigan

I keep seeing growers with 30 to 50 lb or more avg. daily weight gains and was wondering what the heck you have to do to get gains up? Fertilizer, water, stopping secondaries, or something else.

8/1/2012 7:35:53 PM

Bristol R.I. USA

Baycity, i've see what your saying. What I can ay I most heavy hitters are on top of things like soil prep, soil test, reasearch, and expirience. Trial and error. All of these growers put their time in the patch and work hard. If I could define it with one word it would be dilligence.....total focus and hard work. The old aying is true" you reap what you sow"

8/1/2012 8:18:42 PM

Bristol R.I. USA

Baycity, i've see what your saying. What I can ay I most heavy hitters are on top of things like soil prep, soil test, reasearch, and expirience. Trial and error. All of these growers put their time in the patch and work hard. If I could define it with one word it would be dilligence.....total focus and hard work. The old aying is true" you reap what you sow"

8/1/2012 8:18:44 PM

South East

most of those experienced growers will also tell you that slow and steady wins the race.....

8/1/2012 9:04:39 PM

Muddy Waters

There are factors like drip tape giving uniform coverage,How are you watering?How much?How often?Im no Heavy hitter & I'm getting big gains,but like Frank & Tina said She may blow any day now,then its all over but the crying.

8/1/2012 10:03:00 PM

Bay City Michigan

I have a drip line system that puts out 1 gph at each node and they are about 12 to 15 inches apart and spaced about every 3 ft or so on the plants

8/1/2012 11:13:12 PM

Salem, Oregon

About what it takes to grow a giant pumpkin......I think my favorite quote is out of Worl Class Giant Pumpkin Vol. III "A good grower should have balls of stone" Dave Stelts

8/2/2012 12:12:21 AM

Muddy Waters

12 inch spacing should be 2 feet apart,I have heard people doing 18inches apart.I like the 2 foot To wet can be bad,although I have found 1/2 of water a day works well in my soil on HoTT! days.You also have to consider clouds & wind on how much to water.I run mine 45 minutes to 1 hr & 15 minutes depending on these factors.But I aint grown anything big yet,so you may not want to follow me.

8/2/2012 6:38:34 AM

Muddy Waters

Thats 1/2 inch

8/2/2012 6:39:21 AM

Wi

I think the days of slow and steady winning races are gone. Unless 35# a day for several weeks is slow and steady.

50# / day pumpkins RARELY make the end and if they do they are generally quite light.

8/2/2012 9:42:52 AM

Bay City Michigan

I would consider slow and steady to be 35 to 40 lbs per day but I am not even close to that right now and dont know what to do to get to that point or higher. At the pace I am going I wont make my 1000 lb goal.

8/2/2012 12:57:52 PM

Cincinnati,OH

To make it to 1000 you need at least few weeks in the mid to upper 20s. Still working on that 30+ per day goal. A few years ago I had a pumpkin taping 647 on day 40 make it to 1000.

8/2/2012 4:20:12 PM

Rhode Island

its not just getting a fruit that should max out at 35+ per day?
quite often its more about how long your pumpkin can hold that peak growth coupled with how slow (or fast )the daily averages drop from mid to late aug into and throughout september.(this is when soil and plant health continues to play a big roll)
thats the real difference between a contender or a pretender.
a good pumpkin will give you peak (steady)daily growth avgs for three weeks before tapering down. a great pumpkin? four.
pap

8/2/2012 5:09:15 PM

Muddy Waters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1oJuwkXr0E LOL! I remember Gary Burke being one of the first to say slow & steady wins the race when he grew the 1092 the first to beat the 1061.

8/2/2012 6:20:22 PM

Connecticut

If someone can average 25 a day for 40 days say days 20-60 that is 1000lbs.. Slow and steady to me is 25 to 35. Anything above that is fast. For a record kin you need some fast days.

8/2/2012 6:24:49 PM

Ohio

I cant get one to grow past 30 days Pap! So it looks like next year im going to need atleast 67 lbs a day to break 2000 lbs before day 30 comes around.

Maybe ill just do what everyone else does and use a syringe and some 2% milk and shoot that into the stem everyday. I heard alot of growers are doing this secret . Don Young uses whole milk and look how big his pumpkins has been in the past. Im going to use 2% milk because i dont really want that big of pumpkin due to hauling and lifting issues.

8/3/2012 12:03:27 AM

Ohio

Plus smaller pumpkins look alot prettier then them ugly heavy stupid and misshaped Pumpkins, who needs them kind to haul around to a weigh off or to sit on your porch for decoration that could very well cave it clean in! who wants their front porch caved in on halloween , and where you going to get 4 or 5 guys to help you move it ? That would just be a pain in the rear! Aint that right Wiz? Just sayin!

8/3/2012 12:15:55 AM

Ohio

Bay,
sorry for getting of track here, i get excited sometimes.

8/3/2012 12:17:03 AM

Muddy Waters

Yeah! They also have that big flat side.Do you roll those huge kins so they dont have a flat side?LOL!Wasn't dissing you Pap,just thought the song fit in good with what you were saying.Plus with my disease pressure theirs about a 90% chance I don't make it to the finish line with the kins.

8/3/2012 6:19:56 AM