Genetic Traits of Different Giant Pumpkin Seeds

The two plants I'm growing this year have fairly different pedigrees.   Because of that, it has been interesting to see the differences in the plants.  The 747 plant seems to be more susceptible to powdery mildew.  The 1685 plant was very resistant.   The 1685 plant is more susceptible to frost damage.   The 747 has very little.   Shape of the pumpkins for the two plants couldn't be more more different.  747 plant was a much more aggressive vine grower.   It is still throwing secondaries right out to the vine tip which has continued to grow fairly quickly.  The 1685 never was very aggressive growing on the main vine, but loved to fill in before the pumpkin.   There are a thousand pieces to growing a giant pumpkin and all of them making this sport interesting.

This evening I did a last foliar spray of kelp on the 747 plant. Won't fertilize it again.   The foliar spray of kelp is being done in the hopes of keeping the leaves from frosting tonight.  We are going to be near freezing according to some websites.  Tomorrows weather looks to be nice, so I'd love to get one more day of those leaves feeding the pumpkin.

The 1685 pumpkin has two more weeks of growing, but either Friday, Saturday or Sunday we'll probably got frosted, so that pumpkin won't have much more growing to do.