HOW BIG IS BIG!!!!!

A little quiz for a little fun. Do you know how big pumpkins are capable of growing? Pumpkins are only capable of growing to the size that is within that varieties genetics. Obviously a Jack-be-Little is only capable of growing to a very small size.

What variety that is capable of growing world records?

A) Howden Biggie
B) Dill's Atlantic Giant
C) Expert
D) Champion

What is the world record?

A) 200 - 500 lbs
B) 501 - 1000 lbs
C) 1001 - 2000 lbs
D) 2001 - 3000 lbs

How many pounds can a giant pumpkin put on each day during its prime growing time and conditions?

A) 1 - 5 lbs
B) 6 - 10 lbs
C) 11-15 lbs
D) 16 - 20+ lbs

Pumpkin History and a Recipe

Did you know that pumpkins are native to the americas. For those of you familiar with the Lewis and Clark expedition, some of the tribes they came across while traveling up the Missouri river what is now the North Dakota area, grew what they call the three sisters (corn, beans, squash). Most people think that the native americans were mostly hunter/gatherers. The Hidatsa and Mandan tribes that Lewis and Clark met on the Missouri however, were agricultural based and used the flooded lands next to the river as their agricultural lands. If you want to read more about the native pumpkins of America, here is a link that I found interesting.
http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/1075/hidatsa-pumpkin-food-diary



Also here is a recipe for what would have been a typical dish for these indians.

1 4-poundSugar pumpkin; (up to 5-pounds)

1 Mediumonion; chopped

1 tsdried sage; Crushed

1/4 tsPepper

1/2 tsDry mustard

1 cwild rice; Cooked

3 Eggs; beaten

2 tsSalt

1 lbGround buffalo; venison

2 tbRendered fat

Hidatsa Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove strings and seeds. Reserve seeds for another use. Prick the cavity with a fork and rub with 1 teaspoon salt and the mustard. Heat fat in a large skillet, add meat and onion and saute over medium-high heat until browned. Off the heat, stir in wild rice, eggs, remaining salt, sage and pepper. Stuff pumpkin with the meat mixture. Place 1/2" water in the bottom of a shallow baking pan. Put pumpkin in the pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Add more water to the pan as neccessary to avoid sticking. To serve, cut pumpkin into wedges, giving each person pumpkin and stuffing. Source: Spirit of the Harvest

Late Summer Pumpkin Growing

Female Flower

Male Flower (Notice Buried Vine)

There are a lot of you out there growing your own pumpkins. Because of our love and passion for pumpkins we also would like to inform you of things you can be doing to increase your chances of a good harvest this fall.
Our pointer today is managing your babies in the patch. They need to be treated as such. Any mothers out there understands, your babies while in the womb needed plenty of nourishment. Respectively this is the stage your pumpkins should be in. Hopefully by now you should have some pumpkins on the vine or, your  babies umbilical cord. If not, they will need to set fruit very soon depending on the variety. If you haven't set fruit yet, you may be discouraged because you see so many flowers but not enough pumpkins attached to those flowers. Pumpkins are what are called monoecious plants. The term monoecious means that the plant will have two types of flower, male and female. The male will carry the anthers with the pollen. The female, the fruit. A dioecious plant carries both male and female parts in the same flower, or a complete flower. If there isn't a small fruit attached to the base of the flower, it is a male flower, so don't be discouraged when each flower isn't producing a pumpkin. 

Pinched Vine Tip

Pollinating Female with Male Flower

Buried Vine(primary vine with some secondaries)

Your vine though, should have conceived its little babies by now. You should now start feeding your babies, and part of that feeding is making sure the food is being sent to the baby and not the mommy. Do not be afraid to fertilize. Pumpkins love fertilizer. Once a week is not asking to much. For the giant pumpkin growers, once a day is recommended to apply a foliar spray to the leaves. Granular base fertilizers usually last 6-8 weeks. To insure that your feeding is going to feed your fruit, your vine will need some attention. Pruning the vine will stimulate the plant into thinking that it is in survival mode. Survival to a plant means offspring, and offspring means seeds. Most pumpkins will have a primary vine and at the base of each leaf on that primary vine a secondary vine may commence growing. These vines are good. Any vine that grows from the secondary vine should be terminated. A simple pinch of the tip of the vine with the fingers will do this. Also, at some point you can terminate even your secondary vines and primary vine in the same manner once the fruit has set. As I said this will direct the food to your fruit rather than the vine. Another item of business if you wish to indulge is burying the vine. At the base of each leaf on the vine a root will grow from the underside of the vine. Burying the vine slightly will help quicken the root growth. The more roots, the more nutrients the plant can take in and the bigger your pumpkin will grow. Here are some pictures to illustrate our types for today. Please comment on the post with any questions.