On 9 July, 00:02, wrote:
harry wrote:
I have concluded that outdoors is no good for pumpkins.

I've always grown mine outdoors. *They don't grow huge, but they do grow
decently, and one of them did win a biggest pumpkin competition a few years
back.

Allegedly feeding them with stout or real ale works wonders, but I've never
managed to convince Nick to part with any to try it out. *:-)

One of my plants persistently produces lozenge shaped fruit that stop
growing at quite a small stage. Is this a genetic or cultural
problem? *

Are you 100% sure of the seeds? *I had a batch of butternut squash last year
that sound just like how you're describing. *I think if you have seeds that
you have taken yourself from a pumpkin (or from an unreliable source) they
could be crossed with another fruit - I had a batch that were producing what
/looked/ like a pumpkin/courgette cross one year (with green courgette
pattern near the stalk, then a sudden change to orangey for the rest of the
fruit - they were odd!)
I'm not saying don't use your own seed - the way to get big pumpkins I
believe is to keep your biggest producers fertilising each other so each
year they work up bigger! *Just that you may end up with some rogue plants
if you do.

Another grows in fits and starts. (I have a tape measure
wrapped round it.) It seems to be temperature/watering/feeding
unrelated. It's 1200 mm circumference at the moment. Sometimes it will
grow 40mm/24hrs, sometimes less than 10mm/24hrs. Ditto question.
Any other hints or tips to promote growth?

I can't comment, mine haven't even set fruit yet. *Although they've only
been planted out for a week or two. *In the past I've left them to their own
devices, although occasionally we've thought about picking off the smaller
fruit to put all the energy into the single ones, but we don't often go for
giant fruit.

And WTF do you do with a giant *pumpkin anyway after the competition?
I thought I might donate it to the harvest festival. *:-)

Scrape out the inside and make a giant pumpkin head? *They do last a while
over winter if you don't chop them up. *The inside can then be used for
soup, putting in cakes, making dip, etc.

Ah well we'll see. I think I'm in with a chance at the moment. This
is the first itme I've grown pumpkins. I see already where I've made
some mistakes. Next time...............!?