Team-Pumpkin

Everyone should grow a giant pumpkin and Team Pumpkin wants to help.

Here are some photos from this years Durham Fair where Team Pumpkin members competed with the fruits of their labor.  Several of these pumpkins are the result of our mentoring and seed starting party earlier this spring on the Durham Fair grounds.  If you would like more information about Team-Pumpkin and growing giant pumpkins contact us by email at team-pumpkin@earthlink.net.

NOW is the time to start the preparation of your pumpkin patch for next year. Don't let all those leaves go to waste.  They are a great addition to your patch.  Grind them up if you can and till them in to your soil.  Maple leaves can be added directly now but nut trees and oaks are better if they are composed for a year before they go into the patch.  Fresh manure can go in this fall as well but spring additions should be composted manure.  When you smell manure close your eyes and think big pumpkin, it's a whole new experience.

Who are we .... 
Team-Pumpkin is a small group of growers dedicated to sharing the joy of growing giant pumpkins and bringing them to the Durham Fair.  We want to help you grow a giant pumpkin.  Some of you are returning ‘team-pumpkin’ growers and others are new first time growers.  We will try to provide tips and information to help you succeed.  We have a great deal of experience in most aspects of growing giant pumpkins so please feel free to email us with any questions or concerns you have.

What to expect ....
Returning growers already know it takes a giant plant to grow a giant pumpkin.  The main vine on these plants will grow 50 feet if you let it but most of us limit its length.  How big is a giant plant?  Plan for your plant to be 400 to 750 square feet.  That means a space 25 x 30 feet with as much sunlight as possible. 

What to do ....
Believe it or not next years pumpkin starts now with fall patch preparation.  Giant pumpkins are heavy feeders so we want to provide them with as much ‘food’ as possible.  Rototill or turn over the soil in your pumpkin patch now and add some good organic matter.   Cow manure is good to add now and till it into the soil.  Also its leaf time soon but don’t let them go to waste.  Leaves are a good source of organics for your patch and you need to put them somewhere anyway.  I use Maple leaves in my patch,  lots and lots…all I can get.  I grind them up into a confetti like state before tilling into the soil.  I avoid oak or nut tree leaves.  You can use them but its probably best to compost them for a year first.  Pine needles are not recommended either because they don’t break down quickly and also lower the Ph (not good). 

Winter projects....
Winter is the time to work on the things you will need to start your pumpkin season.  In order to get your plants outside early enough you will need to protect them from early season frost which is fatal.  These cold dark months are a fine time to build your hoop houses and perfect your seed germination methods.  Each of these problems have several solutions.  Its also a good time to consult some more in depth resources to help you learn how to recognise problems and care for your plants.

Planning ahead....
We all want to grow a huge pumpkin but did you ever stop to think about how you're going to get it to the weigh off?   The more successful you become the bigger the pumpkin gets.  It's great fun to gather your friends at the end of the season and harvest your prize.   With pumpkins up to around 500 pounds it's not to hard to gather your friends and use a tarp to lift you pumpkin and get it loaded.   As we get older and the pumpkins get bigger a better alternative is to use heavy equipment or a tripod to do the heavy work.   We can't help you with the heavy equipment but we can show you how to build a pumpkin lifting tripod.   This design was used by a Team-Pumpkin grower to load the current Conneticut State Record Pumpkin weighing 1171 pounds.    A short on-line video of the tripod in action lifting the pumpkin can be viewed here.   There are also some pictures of the tripod details in the photo section referenced at the top of this page.

"THE" question everyone wants to know about, (Milk and Pumpkins) ....
There are endless questions about the use of milk and pumpkins and now there is real scientific data to answer the questions.   Team-Pumpkins own Matt Debacco has collected data showing the affects of milk, compost tea and fungicides on powdery mildew. His data was presented on a poster at "The 10th Annual Giant Vegetable Growers International Convention 2008" in Niagara, Canada. You can see a slide presentation of it here (use your arrow keys to advance slides). This is his scientific poster as a pdf file.

More info ....
There are several places on the internet with lots of good information about growing giant pumpkins.  One of the most popular is a free, family friendly site at www.bigpumpkins.com  We at Team-Pumpkin will try to provide a condensed version of the high points for new and developing growers on our web site.  You can always email us at   team-pumpkin@earthlink.net. 

Past, Present and Future ....
Last year we engaged hundreds of potential new growers and enthusiast at the Durham fair.  We distributed short ‘how to grow timelines’ and giant pumpkin seeds.  This was followed in early spring by a ‘seed starting party’ on the Durham Fair grounds where we gave an overview presentation of a growing season.  Most of the attendees were expecting to receive great seeds to grow for the season.  There were lots of free seeds to grow and to the surprise of everyone we also had seedlings ready to plant for all.  Not just any old seed but prize winning seeds.  The same seeds were grown by experienced growers to more than 1300 pounds this year.  Several of our new growers were successful at growing giant pumpkins and presenting them at the fair.  We answered lots of email questions and phone calls and even made personal patch visits when requested to offer advice.  This year as you know we were at the Durham Fair again talking to pumpkin enthusiast and giving away more seeds. 

Spring 2008 ....
To help speed up the learning curve, there will be two "Growing a Giant Pumpkin" seminars presented by Team-Pumpkin and held on the Durham Fairgrounds.

"So, you want to grow a Giant Pumpkin"... On Saturday, March 15th, at 1pm

We strongly encourage you and any other growers you know to attend. We are going to go over the basics of growing a giant pumpkin. The goal of this presentation is to give you an idea of the life cycle of a pumpkin plant and what you can do to maximize your chances of growing a truly giant pumpkin. How to select a growing area, do a proper soil test, germinate pumpkin seeds, and fertilize a growing pumpkin plant are just a few of the topics that will be explained.

UPDATE The March 15th seminar was well attended by eagar new growers and the slides are now available for review here. (use your arrow keys to advance the slides)

"Free Giant Pumpkin seedlings and advice giveaway" ... On Sunday May 4th, at 1pm

This seminar will contain the main points of the first seminar, but will go into some more details. Specifically, how to complete an isolated pollination so that you can produce your own pure-breed giant pumpkin seeds. Novice and advanced growers are encouraged to attend. Plan on doing some garden work when you get home! Team-Pumpkin has champion quality seedlings ready for homes......be there and get yours!! Did we say FREE GIANT PUMPKIN SEEDLINGS.

The May 4th Seminar was an outstanding success with 45 new giant pumpkin growers in attendance. Team-Pumpkin was able to provide more than 60 seedlings to the growers to help get them off to a good start. Team-Pumpkin is impressed with the quality of the questions these new growers ask showing their preparation is well underway for the season. The slides from the presentation are now available for review here. (use your arrow keys to advance the slides).

Both seminars will be held on the Durham Fairgrounds, in the Medical Building. ( It is on Canfield Rd. just off of Town House Rd. in Durham. If you have been to the fair, the Medical Building is basically where the Dodge car and truck display usually is.)

Team-Pumpkin thanks the Durham Fair Foundation as sponsor of these seminars for new growers.

"Giant Pumpkin Growing Basics"

April 26th, 2pm

This seminar will be put on by Team-Pumpkin, a local organization dedicated to sharing the joy of growing giant pumpkins and bringing them to the Durham Fair. Our goal is to help you understand what to expect from these plants and how you can best maximize each step. In our slide show we have some very important topics, which include: early season frost protection, just how big a giant pumpkin plant can get, and also how to prune, fertilize and harvest your pumpkin.

We hope to see you both at the seminar and then at the Durham Fair in September!!

This seminar is hosted by Smith's Acres. Please check their website for directions.

Smith's Acres
4 West Main St.
Niantic, CT 06357
web-site www.smithsacres.com

We all dream of growing the biggest pumpkin at the fair.  There is only one 'first place' but a giant pumpkin of any size is something to be proud of.  All of the growers may not have gotten that prized ribbon but everyone did receive a high quality certificate to reward their efforts.  It was a terrific learning experience for all and we expect to see everyone back again with bigger pumpkins. 

Lets all grow a big one (or 2) this year and bring it to the fair.