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North dakota

I am new here. I am from North Dakota. I started a Wallace pumpkin on April 20th. I am intrigued at all of the methods used to start as early as possible . Does anybody know the approximate maturity of some of these larger contenders .It seems as though there is no such thing as starting too early.

7/28/2023 12:53:07 AM

Syracuse, NY

I relate most things in giant pumpkin growing to Top Fuel drag racing - You CAN start too early, but knowing what yields YOUR best time to start anything in life is key to YOU and just a few others. No answer is all-answering but I can tell you that I am in central NY and I always feel that April 25th is just a little too late so I try to start other growers' seeds by April 20th for a little more time to get them situated and paid attention to before starting EVERY intended seed and perhaps being a little too fixated on them all by April 25-30, lol. Best timeline for me is start a seed on April 20th, plant its plant out the first weekend in May and pollinate it on July 4th.
That would be my .0000 reaction time. Okay, you would think, perfect...
(Of course, even Googling THAT showed BS details I didn't know of - OMG...)
Has not happened yet, and even when it may, there'll be some other issue, but the fewer the better - Good Luck---eg

7/28/2023 6:41:59 AM

North dakota

Thank you for your reply.

7/28/2023 7:50:51 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

Personally, I work backward from the date of our weighoff to determine planting date. I need 3-5 days to germinate, then 60 days to pollination, then I like 100 days to grow the fruit. Harvest date - 165 days = starting date. It doesn't always work out this way; this year I pretty much hit the target with 99 days post-pollination to harvest date.

That said, I don't deal with frost issues which impacts many growers. My issue with planting any sooner is a lack of sunlight in early April. My house is in the way LOL.

7/28/2023 8:18:36 PM

Grittyville, WA

Early is fine, just make sure you have backup plants. And, after all that effort, you may still have to wait for the weather to settle down before setting a worthy pumpkin. I try to start early because our first weigh off is Sept 1... I figure a couple extra weeks on the vine will make a difference.
A later start ought to be perfectly fine for an October weigh off... But in North Dakota, you might want to have a way to protect against an early frost.

7/29/2023 1:06:09 AM