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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 45 Entries.
Monday, April 12 View Page
Alright for a little background I grew a couple "giant" pumpkins in my parents backyard as a kid in the early 2000's in Phoenix AZ. My largest was #230 lbs. Fast forward 15 years and I'm moving out of a house into an apartment this summer and have a spot that has been a compost pile for the last several years and decided it would be fun to give it another go before I'm stuck in an apartment with no backyard. I ordered a pack of 500-700 lb seeds from Hollands Giants and added about 30 percent native soil to the compost pile and planted in mid February. Late for this part of the country but I didn't want to deal with frost protection. We will see how it goes!
 
Tuesday, April 13 View Page
Have 2 plants going. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to let both of them grow or cull 1. Weather has warmed into the 90's and they are starting to grow a little quicker.
 
Thursday, April 15 View Page
First female flowers have appeared and should be opening in about a week. Need to get pumpkins set soon as in my past experience as soon as the temp is consistently over about 100 F pumpkin growth slows dramatically so I have a 30-45 day window left for decent growing conditions.
 
Wednesday, April 21 View Page
Decided to let both plants grow for now Pollinated the first female this morning in the South plant. It's only about 5' out so not ideal but no guarantee how hot the weather will be in a week when the next female opens so I went ahead and pollinated it.
 
Wednesday, April 21 View Page
First female
 
Thursday, April 29 View Page
The patch today.
 
Thursday, April 29 View Page
Haven't been able to get a female flower to open let alone set a pumpkin on the North plant. They are all miniature and shrivel and fall off before maturing. Going to stop fertilizing and give it about 10 days to set a pumpkin before I pull the plant and focus on just the South plant.
 
Thursday, April 29 View Page
Pollinated another pumpkin on the main vine of the South plant today. It's 10 feet out and in a great position so hopefully it takes and this one is a keeper.
 
Thursday, April 29 View Page
Pumpkin on the South plant on day 9. About the size of a softball. Keeping it for now hoping the female pollinated today about 4' beyond it grows quicker and takes it's place.
 
Thursday, April 29 View Page
View of the backyard. Pumpkins are on the right against the fence.
 
Saturday, May 1 View Page
Hit 97 yesterday and quite a bit of the new growth on both plants got burned. The high today is 99 and then cooling back off I to the mid 90s for a few days. Not a good sign for when it's 110 in a month
 
Saturday, May 1 View Page
Put up a sunshade over a good portion of the patch
 
Saturday, May 1 View Page
Pumpkin on the South plant main at 6' out on day 11. Slow growing about 18" diameter. Should know by next week if the pumpkin at 10' took and I can cull this one.
 
Saturday, May 1 View Page
Peaches should be ripe next week. Arizona has the sweetest peaches. There's not much of a commercial crop because the trees only live 5-10 years in the extreme heat but the taste is hard to beat!
 
Thursday, May 6 View Page
The patch today. 1st pumpkin on the South plant aborted a yesterday at about 20" diameter. Was 99 yesterday and 102 today. Of course the hottest day of the year so far is when 3 females decided to open on the North plant.
 
Thursday, May 6 View Page
Here's what the sun does to the older leaves that don't get afternoon shade.
 
Thursday, May 6 View Page
Pumpkin on the South plant at 10' on day 7. Hopefully this one is the keeper as it's in a great spot.
 
Thursday, May 6 View Page
Pumpkin on the North plant at 8' on day 6. This is the only female until the 3 that opened today so hoping it keeps growing and is the keeper.
 
Thursday, May 6 View Page
Tallest leaf I've ever seen must be about 3' tall
 
Monday, May 10 View Page
The patch today. Highs in the mid 90's to low 100's for the next 10 days which although hot is relatively cool for here and should lead to some continued good growing weather.
 
Monday, May 10 View Page
Pumpkin on the South plant day 11, 19" diameter. Shout out to Dave & John for reaching out and telling me to remove the flower to prevent mold.
 
Monday, May 10 View Page
Pumpkin on the North plant day 10, 17" diameter.
 
Wednesday, May 12 View Page
Pumpkin on the North plant day 12, 21"
 
Wednesday, May 12 View Page
Pumpkin on the South plant. Day 13, 23.5"
 
Thursday, May 13 View Page
The patch at night. With the heat this seems to be when most of the growth happens.
 
Friday, May 14 View Page
North plant day 14, 24.5"
 
Friday, May 14 View Page
South plant day 15, 28". Growth is starting to pick up. Hottest day in the 10 day forecast is only 102 so I'm starting to get optimistic this one could get decent sized before it gets too hot.
 
Monday, May 17 View Page
Pumpkin on the North plant 26". Has basically stopped growing so I think this one is aborting but it still looks good for the moment.
 
Monday, May 17 View Page
Pumpkin on a secondary in the North plant. Day 11, 20" circumference.
 
Monday, May 17 View Page
Pumpkin on the South plant. 35" circ.
 
Thursday, May 20 View Page
The patch. Temps have been in the high 90's. Plants are showing alot more heat stress during the day with wilting leaves than they were in the same temps a month ago. I'm not sure if it's because the sun is at a higher angle now, or more energy is going to the pumpkins, or what the difference is. Vine growth has also slowed dramatically.
 
Thursday, May 20 View Page
North plant pumpkin on secondary( the only survivor on this plant) 28" on day 14.
 
Thursday, May 20 View Page
South plant pumpkin. 43" cc on day 21.
 
Sunday, May 23 View Page
Temps have been in the high 80's the last few days and the plants have been loving it. Headed back towards 100 by early in the week. Pinched out growth at the end of all the vines yesterday to try and focus energy on the pumpkins.
 
Sunday, May 23 View Page
South plant 52" on day 24. Had to cut the roots to several leaf axis this morning near the pumpkin as the vine was getting tight.
 
Sunday, May 23 View Page
North plant 36" on day 17. The sun angle is changing and it no longer gets morning shade from the shade cloth so I need to add a shade structure in the next few days.
 
Thursday, May 27 View Page
South plant. Day 21, 47" cc. Pumpkins on both plants are sort of ugly and getting lopsided.
 
Thursday, May 27 View Page
North plant day 28, 61" circ. The blossom end wall feels really thin so not sure this one is going to hold together much longer.
 
Saturday, May 29 View Page
Plants that aren't under the shade cloth are looking pretty rough during the middle of the day now. Pumpkin on the North plant has only grown 2" in the last 2 days and is getting more lopsided so I think it's about done and will pull the plant in a few days. Pumpkin on the South plant is 65" circ. On day 30
 
Thursday, June 3 View Page
The patch. Temps have been running about 105 this week and growth has slowed to a crawl. Lessons learned for next time is to get plants in the ground earlier with some sort of frost protection and to make sure to get seeds from a heat resistant plant.
 
Thursday, June 3 View Page
North plant 54" cc
 
Thursday, June 3 View Page
South plant 70" circ.
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
Came back from a 10 day vacation to the Midwest and the patch is done and the highs for the next 7 days are supposed to range from 115-118 so pulled up the patch before the pumpkins rot. Wasn't the most successful season but harvested 2 pumpkins when they were started too late and not much attention was given to them so I can't complain.
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
Some of the uglier more lopsided pumpkins I've grown and didn't color up at all.
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
North pumpkin finished at 58" circ. and 56lbs. South Pumpkin needed up at 71" circ. and 85 lbs. Both went light of the charts probably due to the extreme late season heat.
 

 

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