Message Board - BigPumpkins.com

Grittyville, WA

Congrats! First top 10 finish!

10/11/2026 11:56:31 AM

Nick's Big Pumpkin

Portland, CT

Great job this year Maurice! I think if you improve your early season setup and your soil a bit you can grow a HUGE one next year. Always feel free to email me if you want any help planning for next year or if you want free seeds.

10/11/2026 1:32:08 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Thanks. Next year I'll try getting a better and larger hoop house (7x10'). This year I tried a $20 one that was smaller and it just was impossible to set up. I then made a tiny crapy one then the plant outgrew it, it was open for weeks in the cold until I got a hoop house over it in June but it was too late. I made a bunch of mistakes and underestimated the weeds. Next year I'll try for 1000+ again but I'm not sure as this year I was extremely confident of that and it seems every year something else is out to get you but I'm glad I have a fruit after rotting seeds, then late start on a neglected plant, 4 abortions, the death of 3 of 4 which were in way better spots, N lock up, and cold

10/12/2026 4:32:45 PM

C N Y

My belief is that the year AFteR organic matter is applied (TILLed-in) in large quantity with accompanying Mycorrhizae, the soil has had a chance to allow it to incorporate and become (more) usable to the plant(s). I had a terrible year in '24 (reasonably-aged horse manure applied) and monstrous weeds therein (pigweed, nettles and ragweed, I suppose) and in '25, (no manure applied) I had the 'best' year since 2020. In '26, decreasing levels of everything including ending-sizes/weights and general plant vigor and SF coverage were apparent. All plants lived but one, early-on; In grand total, there were 53 plants, FPs or otherwise, including 16 AGs in a cluster of 17 that were to test prior years' seeds; ONE plant died, early-on. I'd better see about that need for reliable manure acquisition, lol. Chicken manure was 4 times as costly for one patch with 2-940.6 Gerrys and 3 Denali FP plants and 6 Gerry 20 FPs, resulting in 3 beautiful Denali FPs and 2...940.6s that 'almost made pumpkins' and I've yet to even SEE if I have more FPs over there from the 20s; I literally FOUND 2 FPs 2 days ago on a plant elsewhere, hidden from view! ALL plants were eventually able to be Whizzer-sprinklered with H2O and selected ferts, frequently! My nickel's worth - Ooooooooohhh---eric g
ADDED: Yes, an early, mini greenhouse is essential and will skyrocket a plant beyond belief, BUT, I have maybe yet to see a Floating Row Cover GH* be used in higher frequency (apologies to anyone whom DOES use that material) and per in the US, anyway, I know a place where I got it quite reasonably @ $150 for a 100-foot-by-30-foot roll and I cut it in half to 200' X 15', enough for TEN of the 8' X 8' *FRCGHs I still have about 11 of, lol. That material is currently re-usable for next year if I get it packed away very soon. Take care---eg

[Last edit: 10/13/26 1:35:29 AM]

10/13/2026 1:23:15 AM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Are you saying that the year you apply manure weeds are the problem or everything? I'm gonna try to add cow manure either this fall or next spring.
Irt should suppress the weeds. Dealing with 1500 sqft of weeds alone is hard let alone 300 sqft is hard enough. You say you have 16 AGs !!! How much space do you have?

10/13/2026 5:56:15 PM

C N Y

Yes, the year the manure is applied/tilled in is the start of it all and when the weeds 'go to seed' they will perpetuate the horror of 7-10-foot-high 'beanstalks' or similar. SO, the next year is just as bad unless they are wiped out entirely immediately and for ME, tilling them or hand-weeding would be TOTALLY ineffective. I never do it to the max as I COULD with Glyphosate and a RoundUp backpack sprayer, *since right when I'd be killing the weeds, THAT is when I'd be wanting to plant out immediately.* Then, the second, survivalist wave of weeds would start up. YOU CAN go out there with a spray bottle set to 'stream' and kill as many weeds as you want. Gives one a Helluva grip for Life's other chores after awhile, lol. End of story. Everybody thinks that Roundup is the most dreadful thing ever, butt reading up on it, even if it DOES stay in the soil for 6 months to a year, it binds fully to the soil particles and more damage is done to the soil by growing AGs and crops to begin with than any herbicide, IMHO. You'd just hafta get clearance from your parents and wear a COVID mask (for starters) and be vigilant from there-on. DRIZZLING weed killer is not an issue, folks.

10/14/2026 3:20:27 AM

C N Y

Adding cow manure in the Fall - NOW would be the best thing for everything. Tilling it in with Myco and MOST amendments, then cover-cropping would be teriffic! Time is all the soil needs to incorporate the additional Organic Matter and for the worms and such to digest it and expel it as now-usable waste. I'm one to talk and yet, my manure spreader needs a new bed to be 'installed'; If I had worked on it this past summer, I'd be advertising out that I NEED manure!
I planted 17 AG seedlings in a square, 4 feet by 4 feet - Think of 16 guests at a picnic table and one Server.
The stress killed the Server, lol.
The 16 remaining were allowed to grow all they wanted, with a Whizzer sprinkler in the center and watered as though ONE plant. 3-4 plants all had about a 20-foot vine and ONE had a super-orangie on it, about 20 pounds.
THAT is the main one I need to determine the cross of and one other with HUGE leaves and I will determine the origins of the rest once I yank the plants away anyway. If anything is not understandable, please read it again. Congratulations on your interesting season! Eric Gerry (*_^)

10/14/2026 3:20:34 AM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

The past years horse manure containing seeds was tilled in. Now I'll try cow manure because seeds are destroyed. IRT should suppress weeds. All the weed roots are being pulled out

10/14/2026 8:09:03 PM

big moon

Bethlehem CT

Congratulations on getting it to the finish line. With the improvemnents to your patch i think you will make a big jump in what your pumpkin weighs next year

10/15/2026 7:26:35 AM

C N Y

Weeds are insidious, meaning that their only goal is to survive, in our case. Some of them have many evasive tactics such as survivalist underground roots that remain and thrive, some called rhizomes and such. 'No root, no weed, no problem' is SOME trademark of some weed killer; Seeds do not necessarily all get destroyed by tilling them in, as they can survive for YEARS underground, which surprised even me not long ago. Going out on a limb, but I believe cows chew their food more repeatedly than horses, thereby deactivating most seeds more completely, but I had 3 manure spreaders' worth of chicken manure tilled into an area that had never had the monster weeds mentioned and that area, already not being trod-into because of the chicken manure, ewww!, had even taller weeds than I've ever seen - 10-footers, I swear. Anyway, don't assume that anything mechanical will kill them as much as you'd like. Remember the simple spray bottle method. One year, I did all 5 patches with one and it improved my grip - but not on reality, lol---eric g

10/15/2026 5:26:39 PM

Grittyville, WA

I treat each weed species as it's own problem. There's no single solution when avoiding chemicals. Some are easy to hoe, others can be smothered, others can be solarized. Some can be pulled easily. Each has its weakness.

10/15/2026 5:43:21 PM

Grittyville, WA

But pigweed and wild kale have no weakness so I just dont tolerate any of them. My most common perennial weed was morning glory/ bindweed but it turns out sheep really like them so they wont be a major problem anymore.

You'll figure it out as you go.

[Last edit: 10/15/26 5:51:28 PM]

10/15/2026 5:48:27 PM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

Well the farmer who gave me the patch said he hoed the roots out and there were way less weeds the next year. Also I put landscaping fabric down on one area and no weeds came up. I seem to have partially pigweed but nothing grows over 3.5'

10/15/2026 6:52:35 PM

C N Y

Okay, all good info here and about the 3.5', once you fertilize the AGs and FPs, the weeds are getting the same treatment, so, if the pumpkin plants go nuts, so too will the weeds - Little Catch Up has indicated elsewhere that the weeds are an indicator of the environment. In any event, my OWN goal is to replace the weeds with a cover crop, but it is an uphill battle; Rotating one patch out each year would allow me to erase all weed activity, thereby providing a 'clean slate'. eric g

10/16/2026 1:36:05 AM

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Quebec, Canada

I hope the irt stops the weeds and the hoe hoes the roots out this fall

10/16/2026 6:42:18 PM

Grittyville, WA

Some agronomists would say that growing big weeds means something is "off" in the soil. I have no opinion about it because I dont understand it but @ pumpkinpal if you did the Langley soil balancing on half your ground
and then noted bigger pumpkins and smaller weeds in that area, that would be both trippy and noteworthy. I do suppose that excess nitrate (and potassium?) relative to calcium could be a recipe to grow bigger weeds but smaller fruits. Hmm.

Grow a big marrow next year Maurice!

10/17/2026 11:45:35 PM