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Chatham Ontario Canada

I started a couple of pumpkin seeds last week and they are just growing like crazy. I had them in a four inch pot and I looked yesterday and there were roots sticking out all over the place so I put them into a larger pot. I probably started too early.....but I was just raring to go. How long do you think I can keep this up (moving the plant into bigger and bigger pots) before I plant them in the garden.

4/21/2006 12:57:06 PM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

I did that last year when my garden soil arrived later than I had hoped. I started off using 2 litre ice-cream containers. Then I moved to 3-4 gallon pots. When I eventually tried to transplant from the larger pot to the soil, a lot of roots ended up breaking off in the process. When I opened the pot up in the planting hole, the weight of the soil made it impossible to keep the root ball from falling apart.

So, my only advice would be that if you have to transplant, keep the size of the pot manageable, but big enough to contain the plant just long enough to get it in the ground when you want to.

I would guess that transplanting multiple times won't kill the plant. But, each time you do it, there will be a certain degree of transplant shock. So, what I learned last year was that it is really important to know how fast the plant is likely to grow so that you can either start with a bigger pot, or start later in a smaller pot. Actually, probably even more than that, I learned to order your soil/compost/manure early :-)

4/21/2006 5:58:49 PM

Ontario

I would just start new seeds.At the earliest April 25th, matter what part of the province. Common mistake starting too early. Some people are starting early this year to get a earlier pollination time. If your pollination time is much later then 70 days after you start your seeds then there is something wrong in the soil, probably too much nitrogen.

drew St Catharines Ontario

4/21/2006 6:50:29 PM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Listen to Drew. He knows what he's doing.

Starting another seed did cross my mind. I just hope that you didn't plant your only good seed.

4/21/2006 7:32:43 PM

Leamington, Ont.

Hey a grower not too far away! Welcome Gourd, If you need some more seeds shoot me an e-mail. If not set them out next week and provide them with some cover at night to proptect from frost.

Drew, I think the earlier starts are due to the extremely hot July weather and amount of aborts that happened last year. Oh ya, and...I'll be in Niagara in early June for afew days, How 'bout a patch tour? LOL

Savio

4/21/2006 8:32:44 PM

Ontario

No problem Savio give me a call when your coming. Phone number is 905-704-0544

drew

4/22/2006 8:40:11 AM

niagara falls

You don't want to go to Drews house he usually has a real
bad weed problem! what a mess lol ;o)

4/22/2006 4:30:32 PM

Ontario

All depends what happened with the plants last year because of the hot early July we had. If you saw females on the vine and they never develop so that they would blossom then yes I would say it was because of the heat. Problem is easily fixed by using stryofoam coolers and ice on un developed females, Bryan and I did this last year and there was no problems. If there is no females at all then its one of two problems. 1 Too much nitrogen or 2 the plant is still at a young age and not ready to produce females yet. Doesn't matter how old the plant is if you stick in the cold ground too early then its going to sit there until things warm up. So you could have a 20 day old plant and a 10 day old plant and they will grow at the same rate and be the same size come July. So earlier is not better unless you ar prepared to heat the air surrounding the plant and the soil. But all that extra work doesn't matter come July 1st, their all the same size, I have tryed a week early a week later and I always pollinate between the 1st of July to the 7th of July.. And shtick is dyslexic because its his patch not mine, he thinks a cover crop is weeds. lol

drew

4/27/2006 3:45:36 PM

Leamington, Ont.

It was definately the heat that got me! had a lot of aborts. I was talking to Bryan and his Father-inlaw..? at Port Elgin and was telling me about having to use the coolers and ice. I just didn't think about it at the time...Lesson learned for this year.

I'm taking the wife and kids to the new 'Great Wolf Lodge' thats going up in Niagara. I'm booked for June 11 to 13. I'll call you when I'm there. THANKS!!!!!

4/27/2006 11:50:04 PM

Chatham Ontario Canada

Hey everybody thanks for the advice - I do have a couple extra seeds handy just in case my big guys suffer from transplant shock.

5/3/2006 12:36:16 PM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

Gourdgantuan

Welcome to the wonderful world of growing giant pumpkins. I thought I'd let you know about our grower's club here in Ont. known as the Giant Vegetable Growers of Ontario (GVGO). Check out our website at www.gvgo.ca We offer our members a great seed package every year containing seeds (over 20) from our other member's giant vegetables, plus 3 great newsletters per year, soil report discounts, access to the AGGC (pumpkin genetic website), free entry to our Grower's Seminar & Patch Tours, plus more. If your interested in joining, email me at gvgo@sympatico.ca Take care & good luck this season.

Phil Hunt
Pres. GVGO

5/4/2006 6:33:02 AM

Chatham Ontario Canada

Well the transplant wasn't so successful......2 of 3 seem to have survived. Of course the "big guy" didn't make it. Thanks for the advice of starting some extra seeds - I'm still in for a big one

5/11/2006 12:13:59 PM