Dill's Giant Atlantic pumpkin diary

[MarkRainbolt]

Well as the saying goes there is always next year. Congratulations on the 55 and 75 pounder’s!!! You did a lot better than me.
Mark

 

[R2elk]

Well as the saying goes there is always next year. Congratulations on the 55 and 75 pounder’s!!! You did a lot better than me.
Mark

It was a bad year, too cold at night for good growth. I normally get 90 lb.+ pumpkins from the Big Moose. Everything seemed to be running about a month behind.

 

[MarkRainbolt]

Just out of curiosity what do you do with the big pumpkins? I usually just feed the chickens and deer my pumpkins.
Mark

 

[R2elk]

Just out of curiosity what do you do with the big pumpkins? I usually just feed the chickens and deer my pumpkins.
Mark

They say the Dill's Giant are really good cooking pumpkins. The Big Moose are by far the sweetest pumpkins that I have grown. I have made excellent pumpkin pies from them along with my pumpkin muffins. I have so much frozen pumpkin puree in the freezer that I won't bother making any this year.

I give most of the pumpkins away. The chickens and turkeys get some. One woman feeds them to her horses. Most of them end up becoming carved pumpkins by kids.

 

[MarkRainbolt]

Well that sounds like some good stuff right there!!!! My grandkids get their pick first and then the animals get what’s left. We are just not very big pumpkin eaters, we usually have a couple around Thanksgiving and Christmas and that’s about it. Next year I plan on selling the bigger ones if I can get them to grow properly to businesses to draw customers to their stores.
Mark

 

[R2elk]

Found this today which points out how important the source of the seeds is.

" Atlantic Giant seeds from seed companies typically have genetic ceilings at about 300lbs."

The outfit making this claim sells seeds from actual monster sized pumpkins with the top one being $150 for 5 seeds from 2000 lb. pumpkins.

 

[NanaK]

Found this today which points out how important the source of the seeds is.

" Atlantic Giant seeds from seed companies typically have genetic ceilings at about 300lbs."

The outfit making this claim sells seeds from actual monster sized pumpkins with the top one being $150 for 5 seeds from 2000 lb. pumpkins.

$150 for 5 seeds is outrageous!

Over all I do believe seed selection is important.

I used to grow big watermelons. Took a lot of garden space. Chose a large variety, seems it was called Rattlesnake or something similar. Used lots of compost and some 10-10-10. Each year I thinned the fruit to only 1-2 on each plant. Saved seeds off the largest 2 melons to replant. Continued this for several years. Ended up with some huge watermelons.

I don't grow huge watermelons anymore. Was fun but takes up a lot of space and they are heavy! I now just grow a few Sugar Babies or Crimson Sweet.

I've read by continuing to save seed you can end up with a landrace that has acclimated to your soil and growing conditions. I believe this too. Might be something for you to experiment with pumpkins.

I have been growing and saving seed of Carolina Sieva Pole Butterbeans for a lot of years now. It always grows well with very little foliar or bug issues. I don't know if saving seed has truly made a difference but I like to think so. We love to eat them anyway!

 

[R2elk]

$150 for 5 seeds is outrageous!

Is cheap compared to what some of the others want for one or two seeds. At the top of this list is one seed for $199.00.

Giant Pumpkin seeds

I've read by continuing to save seed you can end up with a land race that has acclimated to your soil and growing conditions. I believe this too. Might be something for you to experiment with pumpkins.

Saving seeds from an F1 hybrid gives you seeds that you have no idea what they will produce. Saving seeds from an open pollinated non hybrid variety works well if you keep the source separated to prevent hybridization.

I save seeds from my open pollinated Gold Nugget tomatoes. They are wonderful.

I don't grow huge watermelons anymore. Was fun but takes up a lot of space and they are heavy! I now just grow a few Sugar Babies or Crimson Sweet.

I save seeds from store bought seedless watermelons. It is not uncommon to find a couple of seeds from each melon. In my experience they typically produce a nice size, short season watermelon that is ripe by the first week of September here in my short growing season. Saving their seeds produces all kinds of short season watermelons that can range from pink to red and round to oval.

 

[R2elk]

I did have some volunteer pumpkins that came up in the garden last year. They survived two spring frosts without any help from me. I saved seed from one which is what I grew my pie pumpkins from this year.

 

[NanaK]

Saving seeds from an F1 hybrid gives you seeds that you have no idea what they will produce.

Yes, I done this with a few hybrid tomatoes and some flowers. Never know what you will get but I got some really nice surprises too. If you continue they seem to vary even more.

The butterbean I grow is a very old heirloom and the only butterbean I grow.

I don't know much about pumpkin varieties. Are there still old large varieties that are OP? I would still be tempted to attempt one of the hybrids but I love an experiment. Of course time and space is a factor.