How to Grow Giant Pumpkins

Grow your Own World Record Atlantic Giant Pumpkin

Follow these steps and you will be pounds ahead of everyone else!

1. Site Selection - This is the first and most important step. Giant pumpkins need full sunshine to promote photosynthesis and to help keep healthy leaves. Full sunshine will keep the leaves dryer and will help prevent disease caused by the morning dew that will be on the leaves. Also, giant pumpkins are also have huge appetites, so make sure you are close to a water source also.
2. Soil Preparation - This is the most crucial step of growing a record breaking pumpkin. Don't wait until spring to start this step. After finding the perfect site to grow your giant pumpkin, place fresh manure, compost and leaves in a large dugout area where you will be planting the pumpkin seeds. Do this in the fall and till this area to help break down the manure and compost that you placed there. Your target pH is 6.5 but a range of 5.5 to 7.5 will be fine also.
   
   In the spring you want to had a fertilizer high in nitrogen, some dry manure and compost. Work this into the soil to help feed your Giant pumpkin!
3. Starting The Seed - The ultimate harvest time for your Atlantic Giant pumpkin should be late September to early October so they can be presented at events to be judged. Atlantic Giant pumpkins need 150 or more days to grow and mature to World Record weights. So start the seeds indoors in late April or early May to achieve the maximum growth time. Plant at your selected site after the last frost. Frost will KILL your Giant Atlantic pumpkin plant, so protect them if a late frost is predicted.
   
   A little about seed selection. While purchasing your seeds at Wal-Mart is ok, you want to obtain your seeds from a proven pumpkin. You can obtain these from experienced growers and they are available on eBay, Amazon or a search on Google.
4. Let It Grow - Now that you have an established pumpkin plant, it is time to let it grow. Ensure that it has plenty of water and nutrients to grow also. As the fruits mature, select the most promising one on plant and remove the others. This will allow the plant to fully feed the one pumpkin for maximum growth.
   
   Become familiar with the diseases and insects that may harm your plant and take the correct plan of action to get rid of them. Also as the pumpkin gets larger you will want to protect it from the sun to prevent the skin from splitting.
5. Harvesting Your Atlantic Giant Pumpkin - This is what it is all about. Time to pick your prize pumpkin and receive all of the deserved accolades and awards! Just remember that the pumpkin is huge and heavy, so make sure you have the proper equipment to pick up and transport your pumpkin to your selected event!
   
   After your event, awards ceremonies and TV interviews are done, you will want to gut the pumpkin and save the seeds to grow for next year. If it is a World Record, you can charge a premium price for the seeds due to the genetics in the seeds alone.
   
   Now just repeat these steps for the next year. Good Luck!!!