Growing giant pumpkins can be a fun and exciting hobby. It can even be profitable if you can grow contest-winning fruits for annual fairs. The biggest pumpkins recorded have weighed over 1,000 pounds, and their growers often boast of belonging to the “1000 Club.” You too can grow a giant pumpkin. It will take some time and effort, but will be rewarding and fun. Here are some tips for growing that prize-winning, kid-pleasing giant pumpkin:
Select the right seed variety. Not all pumpkin varieties are the same. Some are bred to be purposely small (such as ‘Small Sugar’ and ‘Spookie’), but others have been developed just for growing giant pumpkins. Giant pumpkin varieties include ‘Big Max,’ ‘Big Tom,’ ‘Howden’s Field,’ and ‘Atlantic Giant.’
Tips to grow a giant pumpkin
This last variety, ‘Atlantic Giant,’ actually holds the world record for all giant pumpkins—over 1,300 pounds! Check your local garden supply store for the varieties best for your area. Your local Cooperative Extension Service can also give you tips on the seed variety best suited for where you live (Look for the Extension Service in the government pages of your phone book.).
Select the right place to grow your pumpkin. Pumpkins grow on large, spreading vines that can quickly take control of your garden. They need lots of growing space. However, they can tolerate a little more shade than most vegetables, so you may be able to find an otherwise unused spot in the garden for them. Still, make sure your pumpkin patch receives at least 6 hours of sunlight each day. Pumpkins especially thrive in open fields or mixed in with corn. You can plant your pumpkin vines between corn rows or along a fence.
Prepare the soil. Pumpkins need rich soil with lots of moisture. To grow a giant pumpkin, you will need to take extra steps in ensuring the quality of your soil. If you are new to gardening or have recently moved and are beginning growing on a new spot of land, you may want to have a soil test taken by the local Extension Service. Tell them you want to grow a giant pumpkin, and they can tell you exactly what to add to your soil and how much of it to add to make your soil just right for giant pumpkin growing. (Soil tests rarely cost more than $5 to $10, and you get free gardening recommendations along with the results).
Before planting your seeds, mix in some commercial fertilizer and rotted manure or compost to the soil. A fertilizer high in potassium will help you grow a giant pumpkin. (Potassium is the “K” in NPK fertilizers).
Planting Pumpkins: To plant your pumpkin seeds, make a hill or mound from the soil about 4 to 6 inches high. Sow five seeds per hill, spacing seeds 6 inches apart. It’s important to wait until all danger of frost is over before you plant your seeds outside. If you live in a northern climate, you may need to start your seeds indoors and transplant outside after the last frost. Pumpkins take 110 to 120 days to reach maturity. They love the hot days of summer and get squeamish at the first sight of cold weather. After the seedlings emerge, thin to just 2 or 3 plants per hill, keeping the healthiest looking ones. Mulch the young plants to retain moisture in the soil. Make sure to keep the soil moist, but never soggy. Some gardeners place a gallon jug (old milk carton) with a hole punched in the bottom and filled with water on each hill to ensure good moisture.
Getting the one giant pumpkin: Your pumpkin plants will produce several fruits per vine. But you want your plants to put as much energy as possible into growing one giant fruit, not lots of little or medium-sized pumpkins. So once the small green fruits emerge, cut off all but 3. Let those grow for a few weeks and then select the best looking one to continue. Cut off the other two. Most pumpkin vines send out secondary shoots. You can leave these to grow, but sidedress fertilize them periodically throughout the growing season.
Protect against pests. The most serious threat to pumpkins is the cucumber beetle. These long beetles are striped or spotted yellow with black marking, and they eat holes in leaves. Spray your plants with rotenone or carbaryl as they grow to provide protection against pests.
And even though you want to give your giant pumpkin as much time as possible to grow, it is very important to harvest it before the threat of frost. Frost will destroy your prize pumpkin. But if you have fertilized well, used a rich soil, and kept close watch over your pumpkin to protect it from pests, you should be able to have a rewarding treat in the early fall. Maybe you too can join the 1000 Club!
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