Giving it another go!

Last year ended up being my best giant pumpkin growing season ever! Click here to read about the results that I posted last fall. To recap - the largest weighed 1,187 pounds but had a crack in it so I couldn't take it to the Kansas State Fair.  Another smaller pumpkin was taken instead and it came it at 822 pounds and took 2nd place.  The bigger one would have taken first and would have been a record for the fair.

This season started out earlier than any previous growing season.  However, I've never encountered such brutal weather!  It's been ridiculous.  Going from near freezing to 100 degrees and then back to cold.  Hardly any rain has fallen with severe drought conditions continuing.  Then there is the wind; the friggin wind. It's been AWFUL and has beat the pee-wad out of the plants and I have lost one plant already. In May alone there were 19 days with 40 MPH or higher winds and 6 days above 50 MPH!

The plants...

During the winter I bid on specific seeds on 2 on-line auctions (Iowa and Utah).  The bidding can get out of control.  The world record pumpkin (2,703 pounds) grown in Italy last season produced seeds that were fetching from $200 to $300 a seed - yes just one seed!   I was successful in winning on several (not the from the world record) and had to pay ~$40 each.

On April 15 I started 12 seeds under the grow light.  My goal was to have 8 plants to choose from once they had grown for a while.  I still have two plots with the plan to have 2 plants in each of those plots.  I planted 4 plants in each plot with 2 growing east and 2 growing west and ultimately removing one on each side.  Last year I placed the pumpkins in the growing area on May 6th.  This year it was much earlier on April 28.  They were covered by  a "mini greenhouse".  But then the cold and the heat and the cold and the wind and the heat and then cold, etc.  It's been stupid weather-wise.  

So what I started...

3 of my own seeds from the 1,187 but only one germinated

3 of my own 822 and all 3 germinated

2 of my own 485 and all germinated

The new seeds I acquired and all have tremendous genetics and potential!

1 - 2,092 Noel grown from the 2,183.7 Mendi crossed with the 2,058.5 Noel

1 - 1,787.5 Wolf grown from the 2,163 Patton crossed with the 2,174 Daletas

1 1,631 Ceja grown from the 1,957 Ceja crossed with the 2,551.9 Mendi 

1 - 1,957 Ceja grown from the 2,145.5 McMullen crossed with the 2,005 Haist 

As luck would have it, the 1,631 was destroyed during one of the high wind events. As of today I culled several of the plants leaving just one going east and one going west x 2 plots.

So, what is growing as of June 3 is the 1,957 Ceja, the 1,187 Hutton, 2,092 Noel, and the 485 Hutton.  I had the 1,787.5 growing next to the 485 and both plants looked really good.  But the 485 was showing much more vigorous growth.  That 485 was the result of a cross from the 450 Clementz crossed with the 1989.5 Daletas (highly sought after).  This should produce a lot of orange in this years pumpkin.

Here are the 2 plots (with 2 plants on each side soon to be just one plant)...

I need to get the drip irrigation system laid down and going.  Once the main vine and secondary vines start to root, then the heat won't be as much of a problem (but will still hurt the end result if it's too hot).  Last year the 1187 pumpkin was the result of a June 17 pollination.  Since this years plants are recovering from the brutal May weather, I'm not confident that I'll get a pumpkin pollinated that early this season. Given the circumstances this year, I would expect the first pollinated pumpkin to be around June 22.

My original goal of growing giants was 500 pounds, which was met.  My next goal was to grow a 1,000 pounder, which was met.  This year the goal is to at least match that 1,187.  Weather will play a big role in that goal.