Learn How to Grow a Giant Pumpkin. Competition Giant Pumpkin Seeds, Fertilizers & Growing Tips from Jamie 'The Pumpkin Man'. The Most Read Extreme Gardening, Pumpkin Blog in the World.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Giant Pumpkin Growth
For the last three days my pumpkin is adding about 3 1/2-4 inches per day in circumference growth. Prior to that it was putting on a very consistent 5 inches per day. The pumpkin is 25 days old now so at this point of the season the pumpkin should be putting on about 4-4 1/2 inches per day in order for it to hit 1,200 pounds at the end of the season. Not that the charts mean much, but my pumpkin prior to a few days ago had been consistently on the charts for hitting 1,200 pounds at the end of the season. Because of the current growth pattern I decided to give the plant around 1/8 cup of Neptune's Fish & Seaweed (2-3-1). I don't like to give the plant much if any fertilizer when it is around the rapid growth stage (day 28 to day 40) for fear of blowing a pumpkin up but it seemed like a reasonable risk looking at the future weather forecast and how the plant has been growing. Slow and steady wins the race but pushing the pumpkin a little from time to time isn't a bad idea either.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hey Jamie,
Why is there such a huge difference in rapid growth numbers? Some say rapid growth starts between day 20-28 and you say day 28-40? I'm curious as usual.
Thank You
Jim
My experience is that the pumpkin tends to take off around 28 days on average. If you look at the pumpkin pacer chart located here http://www.greatpumpkincommonwealth.com/PDF/PUMPKIN%20PACER%201200.2.0.xls you will see that at day 21 the average pumpkin will be doing about 17 pounds a day on day 25 it will be doing about 22 pounds a day, on day 28 it will be doing 29 pounds a day and on day 30 it will be doing 33 pounds a day. There is a big difference between day 20 and day 30. Some pumpkins will be different but on day 20 the pumpkins start to ramp up but it isn't until around days 28-30 that they really start cranking.
Post a Comment