So far, so good!
In my quest for the 1000 pound pumpkin, it would appear that I've made great strides this season based on the health and size of the plants and the fact that I had a pollinated pumpkin much earlier than previous seasons. July 8th is the earliest date I've ever had a baby pumpkin that was left to grow. This season I pollinated one on June 17th on the 1990 Marintzer plant. However, that particular pumpkin had been growing at a much slower rate that even the 595 pounder I grew last year. BTW, that one had a really good chance of reaching 1000 pounds had it not been for a split stem, that I was not aware of until the end of the season. Anyway, this current growing pumpkin has really started to put on weight this past few days. As of this afternoon (4th) it was taped at an approximate weight of 72 pounds. What is encouraging to me is that it's on a main vine and the plant itself is extremely vigorous and healthy. Barring any setbacks, I think it could be putting on 20 po