Growing Award Winning Pumpkins

By Christopher Casacci

With every customer that walks through our door we learn little bits of information that help all of our store employees become expert gardeners. This year we had a large influx of expert pumpkin growers that were kind enough to share some trade secrets that we will, of course, pass down to you, the reader. It all started in early spring when we found ourselves special ordering large quantities of Cal-Mag, Liquified Seaweed, and Earthworm castings for a select few growers. Later we found out these growers were tackling the King of all Fruit; Altantic Giants. For those of you that are not aware, pumpkins are officially considered fruits because they contains seeds, unlike vegetables.

To begin, lets cover the basics associated with growing 1,000+ lb. pumpkins.

1. Excellent Seeds: Good genetics are a must. Don’t expect a 1000+ lb. pumpkin off a 20lb. parent.
2. Water: When watering pumpkins of this size keep in mind you’ll often dump 200-400 gallons of water a day to keep them growing properly.
3. Proper Nutrients: Pumpkins are very finicky when it comes to nutrients. Often if you add just a hair too much, your pumpkin will stop growing and you’ll never get over 200 lbs. That is why expert growers use very weak nutrients.

If you use concentrated granules your almost guaranteed to stunt the growth of the oversized giants. This is also why there hasn’t been much success with hydroponic pumpkins of extraordinary size, since small changes in nutrient content have huge effects on pumpkin growth. We are working on perfecting a hydroponic based method of growing Atlantic Giants, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

4.) A strong outer shell: Often when pumpkins reach extraordinary size their outer shells crack or even burst. To counter this effect growers place towels soaked in Cal-mag or Milk on the outside of the pumpkins. The pumpkins’ cell walls actually absorb the calcium and magnesium, strengthening the cell walls and helping to prevent bursting.

Now there are a lot of other tips that I’m not going to go into, as this article is meant to be kept relatively brief. For more information on growing Atlantic Giants do a google search, and if you’re looking for seeds check out www.bigseeds.com.

The pictures associated with this article came from our local “Great Pumpkin Farm” event in Clarence, NY. Thousands of WNY residents gather to watch the giant pumpkin weigh ins, along with all sorts of carnival-type attractions. As a sponsor for this years event, we showed our support with free samples and prize baskets for winners.

Christopher Casacci

Sunlight Solutions Hydroponics

Niagara Falls, NY USA