OK, finally an update.
I should (or maybe shouldn't) mention the Farmer's Market weighoff. Unfortunately, it was a non-event. On several levels. Oh well.
I cut the 423 orange fair fruit and the 617 yesterday. Each was thick and had lots of seeds. I'm saving all of the 423 seeds, even though they are "open" pollinations. A lot of people have asked about them, and they are perfect for beginning growers.
Now, really is busy time. I need to do everything possible to add organic matter. Last year I was really held back by my soil. Next year I'm returning to the "good side" of the garden, and I want to add everything possible to it. I'm starting in on collecting Starbucks coffee waste.
3 comments:
I don't understand why the open pollination is such an issue with pumpkins? I hear about it, but I don't understand. Can you help me or point me in a direction please? Last year my largest was 171lb. This year the weather in Boston was RAIN RAIN. I had about 6 inches of meat but only 150lb. These seeds are from the Topsfield fair 2006 winner.
Jim McManus
jdmcmanus@msn.com
Open pollination means that the bees or something else in nature performed the pollination, as opposed to the grower doing it. The only drawback to this, is that we don't know the genetic background of the father. The effect is only in the seeds of this fruit. That is, the fruit grows based solely on the genetics of it's mother plant, the 1392 Bresnick. But the seeds have some other genetic makeup.
So the only issue is that if someone wanted to grow this seed, they would not know what it was crossed with. I'm thinking that the odds are very good that it was crossed with 1392 male pollen, but we simply don't know for sure. So, putting it another way, when someone is going to spend six to eight months of their life devoted to a particular giant pumpkin plant, we want to know as much as possible about it before we decide which seed to plant.
I'm a total novice here, and growing in a totally weird way. I live in Fl. the Tampa area. I realize this is not the best place to grow giants, but I like challenges. To make it even more different I'm growing it from a series of pots.(I hate the Fl soil.) Today July 14th she has reached the 100 lb mark. So far I'm relying on all organic methods I learned from Don Langevins book. My question is, what besides water, great soil amendments and TLC should I be feeding her? She averages 3-9 Lbs. a day depending on the rain, which in FL we get a lot of this time of year. Debbie
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