Since I have committed to growing these pumpkins, I decided to do a little research on how to do it right.
1. Amend the soil - check.
2. Pick your variety - too late.
3. Plant seedlings - planted themselves.
4. Water - All the time
5. Fertilize with nitrogen during vine growth, phosphorus during fruit set, and potassium during fruit growth. Mine are at the fruit set stage, so bone meal will do the trick.
Here is where it gets weird. Apparently, there are a bunch of crazy people who grow pumpkins competitively. They want you to pull all but one baby pumpkin off the vine. Then they want you to force the vine to grow perpendicular to the pumpkin. There was also a pretty complicated set of instructions on pruning pumpkin vines. In order to insure pumpkin bloodlines, these prized pumpkins must practice birth control by putting baggies over the female blooms. The female blooms must then be hand pollinated. No bees allowed, hmmm.
Here is another a few days younger.
Here is an itty bitty baby.
I counted about eight pumpkins on two vines. Should I cull a few of them or let them all live?
live and let live. Its not the kids fault you had more! Name them and see if they act like your 3 monkeys!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Meme on this. I would let them grow & then maybe your kids can have their own pumpkins for Halloween. You can have a pumpkin carving competition for the monkeys. :)
ReplyDeleteYou should cut some if you want to ensure you get even one. Pumpkins are heavy,heavy feeders and supporting all that many pumpkins probably will not be possible, but good luck.
ReplyDeleteIts a punpkin saga!! you know you can grow them all...you are the garden queen!
ReplyDeleteI'd let them grow and see what happens. I mean you aren't planning on entering a contest for the largest pumpkin, are you? FYI I've never grown a pumpkin so my advise isn't all that reliable....
ReplyDeleteOh boy, if you were to ask me what I would do I would probably let them all live as I can't seem to decide the fate of any plant. Hence my problem with thinning seedlings out. Just look at my Cosmos and you will see what I mean. I'm actually probably the wrong person to ask.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the competitive pumpkin growing, I read somewhere about people inserting a sort of make shift i.v. into the pumkin vine to directly feed with plant food. Not that is dedication.
Thanks for your vote of confidence meme.
ReplyDeleteHi pg, I will keep at least three.
Thanks for the advice tina. I hope I can bring myself to cull them.
No cinj, I will not be entering any giant pumpkin contests.
Wow, cindy. I draw the line at medical intevention to grow big pumpkins. Obviously, I have a problem pulling out plants too.
Debbie ... this is just a quick one on the fly .. I still have to take a few days at the very least to visit my favorite blogs again .. love your pumpkin post and wow !! are you using a Calicao kitten as your profile picture ? it is so damn CUTE girl !!!!
ReplyDeleteJoy
Hi Joy, Thanks for stopping by. I dedicate the pumpkin posts to you in light of you love of halloween. Trixie says thank you too.
ReplyDeleteoh geez...you are finally that "cat lady" you always said you would be.
ReplyDeleteI could never grow competitively -- sometimes I grow things in the garden just to watch it grow! One year I didn't eat my artichokes because I wanted to watch them go to blooms and be beautiful. Enjoy your pumpkins YOUR way. My watermelon must have been talking to the pumpkin growers because I only have one lone fruit!
ReplyDeletethis is my first year growing pumpkins. that is the whole reason i started a veggie garden. i have harvested three and have them on display i figured i would start celebrating early and maybe invite the cooler weather to come on in. hehe! i like the idea of doing it your way, just enjoy!
ReplyDeleteMeme, how did I become a cat lady by growing pumpkins?) Is it the picture of Trixie?
ReplyDeleteHi Diana, Middle monkey only got two tiny pumpkins. I am keeping the vines alive in hopes of gettting more. Thanks for the vote on individuality
Marmee, I have tried to grow pumpkins in the past, but squash vine borers got to them. These plants making it this far is a happy accident.
Oh, I don't think I could bring myself to remove any! I'm so interested to see how this turns out. Maybe I'll become a pumpkin grower too. Good luck, blogging friend!
ReplyDeleteBrenda
I would vote to let them all live....but then I can't seem to thin anything...it just seems cruel.
ReplyDeleteHi brenda, this is my first go round. All other vines have died. We will see how it goes. I would love to have pumpkins for fall. thanks for the encouragement.
ReplyDeleteHi babs, I hope they all do well, but if some start to look weak, I am going to take them out. Thanks for stopping by.
Oh the pumpkin growing is very competitive!!!! You can get big ones by taking all but one pumpkin off the vine and letting it grow into a monster!!!(-: I would rather have a lot of pumpkins. My dad did grow on giant one that was about 200 pounds! He had to lift it with the back hoe. I gave it to a neighbor that canned a ton of pumpkin and made homemade pumpkin pies. She shared one with me and it was mighty tastey!!!(-:
ReplyDeleteHi Cindee, I think I would like maybe not a lot of pumpkins, but a few for the kids. At least three. Maybe if we get more than three we can make some pies.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm in agreement with the group too in letting them all live but I don't know much about growing them either. I just know I like a lot of pumpkins around come fall and this seems a way to get that!
ReplyDeleteHi Kathleen. So far they are all intact.
ReplyDelete