The largest pumpkin in the world weighs. How to grow the largest pumpkin in the world on your own

pumpkins. Recently, another record holder was grown in the USA. The giant vegetable weighed 558 kg. To bring a pumpkin to an agricultural festival in California, its owner, 55-year-old farmer Joel Holland, needed a small truck and a whole mountain of towels with which he covered the giant from the scorching sun.

From time to time, new records are set in the world for growing the largest pumpkins. Recently, another record holder was grown in the USA. The giant vegetable weighed 558 kg. To bring a pumpkin to an agricultural festival in California, its owner, 55-year-old farmer Joel Holland, needed a small truck and mountain towels with which he covered the giant from the scorching sun.

It is known that everything is most valuable than rich plant, is contained in its very heart - the seed. pumpkins- not an exception. Their seeds give life not only to the largest fruits in the world, but also have the ability to "purify the body and endure disease." Experts call pumpkin seeds a “miniature pharmacy”, because they contain almost the entire table of vitamins and minerals. trace elements and accumulate life-giving solar energy.

Pumpkin seeds also gained special fame thanks to zinc. Pumpkin seeds (especially in the skin) contain almost as much of it as oysters (oysters are the richest source of natural zinc). The role of zinc in the life of the body is simply invaluable. In the absence of this mineral new cells, including immune cells, are simply not formed in the body, and damaged ones are not repaired. With a lack of zinc, adults age faster, and children and adolescents develop worse.

Zinc is the main mineral of the male health and male power. Men need it 6-8 times more than women. Zinc affects the activity of the sex glands and the prostate gland, normalizes the secretion of testosterone and is used to prevent and treat male infertility.

Recently, scientists have made a discovery: zinc is a real sobriety mineral! If the body has enough zinc, then the threat of developing alcoholism is reduced.

Zinc helps the pancreas produce insulin and is able to balance blood sugar.

Excess weight is also associated with a lack of zinc: with its deficiency, glucose is not converted into energy, but into unaesthetic folds on the sides.

With zinc deficiency, there is a violation and suppression of almost all parts of the immune system. Along with B vitamins, it is an important regulator of functions nervous system. Zinc deficiency often leads to delayed development and puberty in children, the formation of acne in adolescents, and increased cholesterol levels.

Pumpkin seeds are also one of the most effective and safest anthelmintics, primarily against tape (flat) and round worms. Helminths “do not like” pumpkin seeds because of the presence of cucurbitin in them, an amino acid that is quite rare in nature. It is very valuable that cucurbitin is an enemy only of uninvited "guests": for human it is absolutely harmless. In terms of the effect on worms, pumpkin seeds are second only to preparations of the male fern, but at the same time they do not have a fern characteristic side effects(do not irritate the intestines, do not cause intoxication). Therefore, pumpkin seeds are actively used to treat children, pregnant women and the elderly.

From the seeds of special varieties of pumpkins with a high content of valuable substances, the "Product from pumpkin seeds SUNNY BERRY" was created. It completely preserves the "primordial" composition of pumpkin seeds and healing properties inherent in these amazing sunny fruits.

"PUMPKIN CAPITAL"

Every year in October in the city of Windsor (New Scotland, Canada) as part of the annual Pumpkin Festival, a fun event takes place - "Pumpkin Regatta". Windsor is the center of West Hampshire's farming communities, so it's no surprise that the city was one day declared the Pumpkin Capital of the World.

Windsor owes such a high-profile title to one of its farmers, Howard Dill, who has been growing huge pumpkins for about two decades (the fruits of his labors fell into the Guinness Book of Records four times as the largest pumpkins in the world). He brought out a variety of pumpkin - a giant Atlantic. And his "Dill Family Farm" has become one of the attractions of Windsor. So it is Dill who is considered the culprit of the fact that the epidemic of pumpkin gigantomania has swept almost the entire world. was even created international organization"The Commonwealth of the Giant Pumpkin", which annually holds a competition for the most big pumpkin in 20 cities North America.

In 1999, Howard Dill's son, Danny, suggested the inclusion of pumpkin races across Lake Pisacquid in the Festival's program. This is how the Annual Pumpkin Regatta was born. The regatta includes competitions for pumpkins of 2 classes: motorized and experimental pumpkins, as well as rowing pumpkins. And in 2001, two events that made Windsor famous (which the press began to call "a small city of big undertakings"), merged into one big "pumpkin" festival.

BY THE WAY

The rounded fruit of the jackfruit, which is the world's largest fruit growing on a tree, can reach almost a meter in length and weigh 35 kg.

Outside, the fruit is green, turning yellow when ripe. Inside, it consists of large edible yellow lobules of banana-like pulp, which contain smooth, oval, light brown seeds. In one fruit there can be from 100 to 500 pieces. The seeds are 2 to 2.5–4 cm long and 1.25 to 2 cm thick, white and rather brittle. Their germination lasts no more than 3-4 days.

In India, jackfruit is called bread for the poor. By the way, jackfruits can be perfectly grown in non-tropical conditions, in a greenhouse. The unripe fruit is cooked like a vegetable, while the ripe fruit is eaten raw. Its taste is similar to melon, mango and papaya (others say something like a mixture of pineapple, pear and artichoke). Its juice is very sweet, yellow, brownish or pink, depending on the maturity of the fruit. A fully ripe fruit smells like rotten onions on the outside, the flesh of a cut fruit smells like banana and pineapple.

It must be a very strange idea to grow a giant pumpkin. No, of course, in Europe and the USA they are grown every year, although, however, not many people do this. In 2016, a total of 1,659 pumpkins were officially weighed, of which 1,200 weighed more than 200 kg. Then a new world record was registered: a pumpkin weighing 1190 kg comes from Belgium. But, nevertheless, in Russia no one has ever done this. This is probably one of the reasons that led me to this experience. Before that, I only grew pumpkins once, a year ago, and then my pumpkin weighed about 80 kg. Pretty modest result, if you look at it now. But then I was very proud of my achievement: after all, she grew up thanks to my care, I felt how she was growing under my sensitive supervision. However, I wanted more, I wanted to see something truly amazing. I was fascinated by the photographs of giant pumpkins. "How did they do it?" - This question interested me very much, and I decided to find an answer to it. Now, looking back, I collect everything that happened in the grains of my memory, according to my notes and photographs taken. What I have written is not a clear scientific article, and the information given is the only correct way, because I have identified a number of errors and I know that other gardeners use different methods to achieve the best results. What you see will only be a description of what I did and my thoughts on it. It will be a story of 5 months, starting with many doubts and ending with an unexpected triumph that fell on me.

Perhaps, before doing something, you need to have an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat to do. Believe me, if you enter the query “how to grow a giant pumpkin” in a search engine, then all the information found will be incorrect. Yes, on the territory of Russia, no one has an idea of ​​how this is done, and therefore I directed my gaze beyond the borders of our large country and began to search in English-language forums. It turns out that growing giant pumpkins is a whole kind of competition, with its own commission and rules. The prize for the world's largest pumpkin exceeds $50,000. Of course, I did not count on such outstanding results, my goal was much more modest - a pumpkin weighing at least 400 kg, that's what I wanted. Good for a first time? After collecting the necessary information, I made a plan of action for myself.

One of the secrets is seeds. Of course, you can't grow a pumpkin without seeds. But what seeds are needed? It was obvious that not every seed could grow into a giant pumpkin, and a variety was needed that was prone to gigantism. I knew it was a variety called Atlantic Giant. But even here everything is not so simple. On the Internet you can find many offers for the sale of seeds of this variety. You can even order them in Russia in some online stores at a price of 50 rubles per pair of seeds. Who knows, maybe the seeds of the same variety will even come to you, however, the giant pumpkin will still not grow, no matter how hard you try. Here you need to understand what genetic potential is. If to speak plain language, then this is the maximum possibility of manifestation of a certain trait under favorable conditions. How do we determine this genetic potential? It turned out that all champion pumpkins have a pedigree. She will help to understand whether there is a chance to grow a truly giant pumpkin. If all the pumpkins in the family were giant and there are champions, then in this case you don’t have to worry: with proper care, your fetus will definitely grow giant.
I wrote to various owners of champion pumpkins, some of them did not answer, some refused to send seeds to Russia. Only Ron Wallace responded to my request. He grew the largest pumpkin in the world 2 times, and he had many years of experience in this business and dozens of giant pumpkins. I knew that pumpkin seeds had a very high germination rate, but I really did not want to order one seed that might not sprout. So, just in case, I ordered 4 seeds. My order, surprisingly, came very quickly: from the USA to Russia in 12 days.

This is what the package and seeds looked like:

And here is the most expensive seed that I ordered. It cost as much as $100. True, there are more expensive ones. As far as I know, the most valuable seeds went for $535 from auctions.

As you can see, all seeds are signed. Let's decipher the signatures:
The first number is the year in which the pumpkin grew. In this case, it's 2015. Then comes the name of the person who raised her. After that, the weight of the pumpkin from which the seed was taken is indicated. Weight is in pounds. As you know, one pound is 453 grams, so it turns out that 2230 pounds = 1010 kilograms. Impressive, isn't it? This, by the way, is America's largest pumpkin for 2015. After that comes information about the parent plants. The first number is the weight of the mother gourd, and the second is the weight of the gourd from which the male flower was used for pollination. The mother gourd weighed 910 kg, and the father - 867 kg. In the end, what do we know? I bought a pumpkin seed that weighed 1010 kg, it was grown by Ron Wallace in 2015 from a pumpkin seed that weighed 910 kg, and pollinated with a male pumpkin flower that grew from a pumpkin seed of 867 kg. There is quite a lot of information to understand how this seed is genetically disposed to gigantism. But I have a more detailed pedigree.

I want to note that the 2009 Wallace pumpkin was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest pumpkin in history at that time. So, as you can see, the genetic potential of the ordered seed was all right, and my task was to reveal it. I understood that I had no experience in this matter, and therefore did not expect to grow a pumpkin that would be matched in weight to the world champions. I set myself a goal of 400 kg, because I knew that this is considered an excellent result, even for experienced pumpkin growers. It would be a shame to grow a smaller pumpkin with the effort I planned to put in.

Since we figured out the seeds, now we need to decide what to do with them. My task is to unleash the potential inherent at the genetic level, and for this it is necessary to create the most favorable conditions for the development of pumpkin. In general, it is recommended to prepare the soil in the fall, but I didn’t have anything ready, which means I had to hurry up and plan everything in such a way as to be in time for planting. I planned to plant a pumpkin in early April, because I knew the timing of the plant's development: it was necessary to give from 2 to 7 days for the seed to germinate, then about 14 days for the development of a pumpkin in a pot, and then plant it in a permanent place. Approximately 60 days should elapse from germination to the appearance of the fruit, and another 90 days must be allowed for its growth. So it turns out that it takes only 150 days from the beginning of cultivation to harvest. But I live in Moscow, which means that you should not count on a warm and dry September, which is why I planned to cut the pumpkin before September 10th. However, it was March 12 in the yard, and I went to the dacha to prepare a piece of land. The beginning of March was very warm. During the day the temperature rose to +6, the sun was shining, and everything around was melting. This did not seem strange to me, because even in winter I thought that spring would come early and summer would be warm. Then I thought that everything would be as I expected. I liked these thoughts, they warmed my soul, and I knew that luck would be on my side.

This is what the piece of land on which I planned to plant a pumpkin looked like then. One snow, and only!

I wanted to clear it of snow and cover it with a film so that the earth warms up faster, because already in early April I was going to dig. I worked with a shovel for about two hours - and there is no snow. He scattered stones on the ground and covered, as he wanted, with a film. Under the rays of the sun, the stones will heat up and give off their heat to the earth, and the matter laid out on top will retain it.

This is how I left everything and went back home. Next time I planned to come back in early April.

In the meantime, I bought pumpkin fertilizer. After all, you can not achieve impressive results and at the same time not feed your plant. After a long consideration of various options, I settled on the most convenient for me. So, I bought a three part hydroponic fertilizer kit from Advanced Nutrients. All three components must be applied at all stages of plant development. Three canisters with the names Grow, Bloom, Micro. Why exactly for hydroponics? You need to understand that water does not contain those substances that are needed for full development plants, and therefore hydroponic fertilizers should give him a complete set of all kinds of substances that he may need. To all this, all the elements are in an easily accessible form and do not harm beneficial microorganisms. I didn't set out to grow pumpkin hydroponically, but I wanted to give it the best of both worlds. I bought a set for the main fertilizer: collection of fungi and bacteria from Plant Success called Great White. Here's a list of what's included:
Endomycorrhiza
Glomus aggregatum - 83 colonies per gram
Glomus intraradices - 83 colonies per gram
Glomus mosseae - 83 colonies per gram
Glomus etunicatum - 83 colonies per gram
Glomus clarum - 11 colonies per gram
Glomus monosporum - 11 colonies per gram
Paraglomus brazilianum - 11 colonies per gram
Glomus deserticola - 11 colonies per gram
Gigaspora margarita - 11 colonies per gram
Ectomy corrhiza
Pisolithus tinctorious - 187,875 colonies per gram
Rhizopogon luteolus - 5,219 colonies per gram
Rhizopogon fulvigleba - 5,219 colonies per gram
Rhizopogon villosullus - 5,219 colonies per gram
Rhizopogon amylopogon - 5,219 props per gram
Scleroderma citrinum - 5,219 colonies per gram
Scleroderma cepa - 5,219 colonies per gram
bacteria
Azotobacter chroococcum - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Bacillus subtilis - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Bacillus licheniformis - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Bacillus azotoformans - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Bacillus megaterium - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Bacillus coagulans - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Bacillus pumilus - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Bacillus thuringiensis - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Paenibacillus durum - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Paenibacillus polymyxa - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Pseudomonas aureofaciens - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Pseudomonas fluorescens - 525,000 CFU's per gram
Trichoderma koningii - 187,875 CFU's per gram
Trichoderma harzianum - 125,250 CFU's per gram

All this was necessary for the best development of my pumpkin. Fungi enter into symbiosis with roots, forming mycorrhiza. They grow and thereby increase the area of ​​​​absorption of the roots, bringing more and more water and nutrients to the plant. This is perhaps one of the main secrets of growing giant pumpkins. Each giant pumpkin is grown with mycorrhiza mushrooms. I also bought Carboload from Advanced Nutrients. It has glucose, arabinose and xylose along with folic acid. All this stimulates the development of beneficial bacteria and fungi. To top it all off, I bought MEGAFOL. MEGAFOL consists of a complex of vitamins, amino acids, proteins, betaine and other growth stimulants. It is needed in order to help the plant get out of a stressful state, it must be sprayed on the leaves. Then I also bought some regular all-purpose fertilizer from a garden store, since I didn’t have enough hydroponic fertilizer for the whole season, and watered once with Power Roots root growth stimulator. It contains humic acids, myo-inositol, seaweed extract, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), amino acids, thiamine (vitamin B), alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E).

That's basically all I watered my pumpkin. But I want to point out that there are various options top dressing. Ron Wallace, for example, uses exclusively organic supplements. Breeds seaweed powder, makes compost tea, uses fungi and bacteria (where without them!). I chose this combination because for me it was the most convenient. This does not mean that using something simpler will not give a good result.

And so I gradually got to the important point - planting seeds. This process needs to be approached very carefully and not to make the same mistakes that I made. But first things first.
To do this, I prepared 4 containers of 500 ml each. Op! Mistake! I don't know how I could make such a mistake, but what's done is done. If you plan to plant a pumpkin in the ground 7 days after germination, then 500 ml is fine, but this should be done if you live in the southern regions. For the inhabitants of the middle lane, I recommend planting 14 days after germination, and for this you need a container with a volume of 3-5 liters. The pumpkin's root system will grow very quickly and should not be overwhelmed by a small space. In general, like this. I prepared half-liter containers and bought ground for cucumbers in the store. I took 4 parts of the earth and 1 part of agroperlite, mixed it all up and filled the milk bags. I took milk bags not by chance, because in the future it will be necessary to plant a pumpkin in the ground, and this must be done in such a way as not to damage the roots. So, cardboard bags are easy to cut. I soaked the seeds themselves in potassium permanganate for 20 minutes, then put them in cups with warm water and put it on the battery, where they warmed up for 12 hours. But it is better, of course, to soak them not in plain water, but in water with humic acids.

On April 2, I planted the seeds in the ground, deepening them with sharp ends down a couple of centimeters. I covered the pots with a bag and put them on the battery. Every day, it was necessary to periodically remove the bags for ventilation, and you also need to make sure that the ground is moist.

April 2, as I remember, was a cold and wet day. The road to the dacha took 2 hours by car, and all this time I spent with anxiety in my heart. I had a lot of work to do that I had to do on my own. To be honest, I spend most of my time in Moscow and therefore I am not particularly used to agricultural work, especially if you need to dig at a daytime temperature of 2-5 degrees. But it was all nonsense, because I knew that I had to cope, it simply could not be otherwise. Let's skip the way I settled down, unloaded things and snacked on a chocolate biscuit that my younger brother baked for me on the road. Let's get down to business right away!

Here's what's in front of me:

As you can see, almost all the snow has melted. And under the film even the grass was green. Of course, I didn’t just come to stand and stare at the damp ground, I had a plan that I wanted to follow. In 7 days, I planned to remove the sod from a 6 by 8 meter site and build a greenhouse. It sounds, probably, very simple, and in 7 days it will be possible to manage completely. By the way, in addition to removing the sod, I needed to add a decent amount of organic fertilizers to the ground. For these purposes, I purchased 300 liters of ready-made humus, this was important, because if fresh manure was introduced into the ground, it would not have had time to rot by the time the pumpkin was planted. I also bought 30 kilograms of bone meal, it is saturated with phosphorus, 20 kilograms of biohumus and 200 liters of agroperlite. It is also recommended to measure the acidity of the soil, it should be at pH 7, but I did not do this, because last year I knew that the pumpkin feels good on my land.

First of all, I outlined the boundaries of the future greenhouse with the help of a beam, they will be its foundation.

Then I began to remove the sod, shake it off the ground and throw it away. To be honest, it turned out to be more difficult than I thought. Every day I spent about 7 hours on this activity. As soon as I freed a decent piece of land from the sod, I began to make compost, bone meal and agroperlite, then I mixed everything with a pitchfork.
I paid special attention to the place where I was going to plant the pumpkin. There I dug a hole, where I added 30 liters of compost, 25 liters of biohumus, 5 liters of bone meal and 25 liters of agroperlite, all this was mixed with the ground properly. The soil is very loose.

There I dug a water canister so that the planting hole was immediately ready, and covered it with a film on top to warm the earth.

In total, I dug for 4 days, between times I ate chocolates that my beloved Katya gave me with me, and warmed myself while drinking tea. But on day 4, I realized that I could no longer dig. I needed another day to finish what I started, but I realized that I was not meeting the deadline, and therefore decided to postpone my digging business for later. Then I began to put the frame of the greenhouse. It wasn't particularly difficult. It was only necessary to fix the beams, drive in the pieces of reinforcement on which I will put the pipes, and all this should be properly fixed. I won’t go into too much into the process of building my greenhouse, but I will say that it turned out to be very flimsy and later I had to make wooden supports due to the fact that it began to sag a lot.

Having finished making the frame, I had to cover it with a film. For this, I had three skeins of it, 10x3 m each. In this form, it was impossible to cover the greenhouse with it, it had to be glued together. Then I realized that I was not able to do it myself, I needed help, but I was alone at the dacha. Alas, I had to return back to Moscow and then subsequently repeat this two more times. The first time I came back with my sister, and we were able to glue the film together during the day. To do this, it was necessary to put two pieces of film overlapping and iron the joints with an iron. By that time, I was already late with the deadlines, because I had to plant a pumpkin, but nothing was ready, and the earth was very cold, and I had to heat it up to 15 degrees. Then I got the idea to buy a heating cable. I arrived two days before the pumpkin was planted at the dacha with my mother. Mom helped me to stretch the film on the greenhouse. As you can understand, pulling a piece of polyethylene measuring 10 by 9 meters is not so easy for one. But, as it turned out, together it is also not very easy. There was a wind that day, and it pretty much interfered with everything. The film was ripped off every now and then, and it was striving somewhere into the sky, but we did not let it fly away, and as a result of several hours of struggle, we managed to fix it. As soon as we fixed the film, the wind died down. After that, I buried the heating cable in the place where I was going to plant the pumpkin.

This is what the finished greenhouse looked like:

On both sides, at the ends, there were curtains that could be rolled up for ventilation and lowered down. True, in order for them to hold on, they had to pretty much throw stones at them, otherwise everything would open from the wind. Not very convenient, but cheap, and it was possible to properly ventilate the greenhouse.

Now back to pumpkins. While I was building a pumpkin house, they were actively growing.
On April 5, the pumpkins sprouted, exactly 3 days after planting.

The first one to come up was a pumpkin from a $100 seed. Immediately after the shoot, they went under the lamps. I used a 36 watt bicolor phytolamp and 6 7 watt LED lights.

Ideally, pumpkin sprouts should be short-stemmed with large, dark green leaves. But already on the 4th day, all the pumpkins began to stretch. It was sad to realize this, because it meant that I could not create the most favorable conditions for growth at home. I thought it was all about temperature. At home it was stable 27 degrees, both during the day and at night. But, as far as I know, temperature drops are needed for good development. At night, the temperature should drop to 17 degrees, and during the day it should be at the level of 25, and then the pumpkin sprouts will be strong and strong.

Although, there was also the possibility that there was not enough light, but this was unlikely, since the new leaves grew quite quickly and looked good.

On day 7, the pumpkins looked like this:

They stretched out a lot, and I had to make props for them so that they would not fall, because their leaves were large and they leaned down a lot. It was then that I realized my mistake regarding the volume of the landing capacity. If I planted them on the 7th day, then half a liter could be enough, but I planned to plant them on the 14th day, which means that they would have outgrown their pots a long time ago and, as a result, they would have slowed down in development.

And here are the pumpkins after 11 days:

Then I began to notice that the leaves were turning yellow. I began to ask why pumpkin seedlings could turn yellow, and I was given many answers. Someone thought that I froze them, and someone said that they did not have enough nutrients. But none of these options came close.

I have identified two possible reasons. One of them is a small capacity for the root system and the second is an unsuitable microclimate. Most likely it was related to temperature regime. I began to ventilate the room often, to lower the temperature, since the film protected the pumpkin from drafts. I also fanned the air towards the seedlings, for better air exchange. But, alas, the leaves turned yellow until I took the pumpkins to the dacha.

On the 13th day, I gave the pumpkins more space, because with their leaves they covered all the peppers. But here's the bad luck: almost 14 days have passed, and I still can't plant pumpkins in the country due to problems with the greenhouse, and they still suffer in their small bags. A decision had to be made. I knew pumpkins were highly discouraged from repotting due to their delicate root systems, but at the same time I didn't want to overwhelm her.

And I still decided to transplant them. For this, I used 6-liter canisters, making a lot of drainage holes on the bottom. I filled them with the same mixture of earth and agroperlite, carefully cut the milk bags and planted them in new containers. At that point, I watered them with Great White. By the way, in order to answer the question of when and how much I watered and at the same time what and in what amount I dissolved, I decided to keep a schedule where I indicated how many liters of water and what I mixed it with. I think everything is clear here.

Here is the breakdown of the abbreviations.
G-GROW
B-BLOOM
M-MICRO
C-CARBOLOAD
MF-MEGAFOL
U - Universal fertilizer

And now, on April 22, it's time to plant a pumpkin in a greenhouse. Unfortunately, I was very late, and the pumpkin grew at home for 17 days instead of the planned two weeks. It was pretty important point. Do not keep pumpkins in pots for more than two weeks and plant them in small containers. Plant your pumpkins in large containers and plant them in the ground on the 14th day, then you will be happy. In general, only on the 17th day of the pumpkin life, I was able to prepare everything for the big migration. I had to take my seedlings from Moscow to Elektrogorsk. Oh, how I worried then. For 2 hours, the pumpkins were shaking in the car and at the end of the trip, their leaves drooped. Arriving at the dacha, I immediately began to prepare a place for landing. To do this, I put a mini-greenhouse in a large greenhouse, installed infrared heater and began to plant a pumpkin. I carefully cut open the canister that contained the gourd, and placing it in the hole, freed it from the shackles of time and released its roots to freedom. Sprinkling the roots with Great White, I covered them with earth, after which I poured water over it, mixing it with the same Grear White. Let's go! Having set the heating to 23 degrees, I began to monitor how the heater copes with its task. All day the temperature at the pumpkin did not rise above 20 degrees with an open mini-greenhouse. Before going to bed, I sprayed the pumpkin with Megafol to relieve its suffering and waited for the next day.

The second day was cloudy, outside the temperature was at 8 degrees, and inside the large greenhouse only a little more. Every now and then I went to check the temperature of the pumpkin. If you open her mini-greenhouse, then the temperature drops sharply, and if you close it, then high humidity forms inside. Therefore, I tried to periodically open and close it in order to maintain a balance between temperature and humidity. But in the afternoon the sun came out, and I was able to open the pumpkin to properly ventilate it. I also found that if you clog a mini-greenhouse, the temperature will be only 12 degrees more than outside, in the absence of sunlight. Frosts were promised at night, and this bothered me, because I did not want the temperature to drop below 12 degrees, and in general I expected to keep the night temperature at 15-17 degrees, but, alas, the heater could not cope with such a task. After sunset, I illuminated the pumpkin for 3 hours. This was very beautiful. Even though the temperature was below freezing, but looking at this pink glow, I involuntarily began to feel warm.

There, inside, hidden from human eyes, a certain sacrament takes place. Outside, almost 0 degrees and only a thin film keeps a wonderful world under it.

Despite all the experiences, the pumpkin, to my surprise, began to grow. To be honest, I thought that it would only start growing in a week, but as it turned out, pumpkins are much stronger than they might seem. Or is it just that my efforts weren't in vain? Anyway, I pinned the gourd to the ground with chopsticks to point it in the right direction and secure it.

I also finally finished my agricultural work. It was a pleasure to look at the dug up earth.

On April 26, the strongest wind blew all day. My heart sank as I looked at the greenhouse. It turned out that I had built complete rubbish, and from gusts of wind it caved in almost to the ground. And at one point, in general, one side vomited along with the timber. Oh, how excited I was then. It was very sad to realize that my greenhouse is so weak and unable to cope with strong winds, which are not uncommon in our area.

But there was nothing to do, I began to repair my greenhouse and strengthened it with additional props, which I built from birch sticks. Thus she remained until the very end.

April was full of rains, which fell for several days in a row and turned everything into a swamp.

But heating and additional lighting paid off, and the pumpkin grew every day. It was hard not to notice, because every morning it increased noticeably. Here she was on April 27th.

She was stretching up, and I did not pin her to the ground in time. This is important, you need to pin all pumpkin lashes to the ground so that they do not pull up, otherwise they may break. I was lucky, and the pumpkin is not completely broken, but only slightly broken. This fact upset me, but I knew that the pumpkin wound would heal.

The first days of May were quite hot. During the day, the temperature reached 23 degrees, and out of habit, the leaves of the pumpkin began to droop. This is normal, but in order to make the pumpkin feel better, I decided to point a fan at it.

But the warm days did not last long, and the weather forecast was relentless. Again, night frosts and daytime temperatures at 5 degrees. Yes, then I realized that all my hopes for a warm spring were in vain. There were many hard and cold days ahead.

On May 7th it snowed. Light snow in May. Hm. Quite an unusual occurrence. The sun is hiding behind a thick layer of clouds, it's cold outside, and it's also snowing. This time I illuminated the pumpkin throughout the day. But it wasn't so scary yet.

On May 8, the snow intensified. And how! Flakes fell in a single stream, falling asleep all around. My greenhouse was not designed for this, and so I had to knock snow off it. To do this, I went inside and hit the ceiling with a mop. It poured on me cold condensate but it was impossible to stop. Who knows, maybe I tried in vain, and my greenhouse would have withstood such a load, but I did not want to check this and therefore knocked down the snow as soon as it began to fill it up with a thick layer. I had to get up at 5 am for these unpleasant procedures.

Meanwhile, the pumpkin has grown to the end of its mini-greenhouse. I thought that by the time this happens, the weather will already be more or less warm. But it was not so, cold weather was promised for many more days. There were still frosts at night, in the mornings everything was covered in a layer of ice. So I had no choice but to extend her shelter.

But now, unfortunately, the temperature near the pumpkin was only 4 degrees higher than the temperature outside the shelter. Well, at least something is not so bad.

By the way, the fracture site began to heal. I sprinkled it with ashes so that it would not rot.

On May 15, on the 41st day of pumpkin life, its main stem reached a length of 210 cm. But for some reason, the side stems developed rather poorly. And, as you can see in the photo, the pumpkin stalk was sprinkled with earth. This is a very important point, because in this way the growth of additional roots is stimulated. Strength in the roots!

Meanwhile, new misfortunes overtook the pumpkin. In addition to the constant cold, I found something very unpleasant: traces of underground activity.

Perhaps the issue of pests is very relevant, because they will attack the pumpkin throughout the season. Therefore, it is worth stocking up with all kinds of means against them. There were a lot of bears, and therefore I very often cultivated the land with Medvetoks until the traces of their activity reached a minimum. Aphids are also quite often affected by pumpkin. But I was lucky, the aphid appeared only at the end of the season, and therefore I processed the leaves from it only once. There were a lot of slugs that are not averse to feasting on pumpkin leaves, and against them I scattered the slug eater. But most main problem there were either mice or moles: I still do not understand who it was. Every day, when I woke up, I went to the greenhouse, and it was very painful for me to see what was happening inside. A pile of earthen mounds testified to underground inhabitants. They were right under the pumpkin, and its roots were sticking out. This is war! Initially, I thought it was moles, so I bought a mole repeller. The manufacturer promised that the moles would leave in 10 days.

But time passed, and underground holes became more and more. You could put your foot on the ground and be sure that the foot would fail. Then I began to use every possible way that I could find. I set up iron sticks with bottles, blew up firecrackers in holes, and even buried a column underground, where music was playing loudly. But nothing helped. Then I decided to set traps. First I read the easy way. It was necessary to bury a bottle or other container at a level below the hole, and, in theory, the mole should have failed there.

I buried a lot of things: buckets, bottles, canisters, but every day it was the same - the traps were covered, buried. Then I even bought a trap, which I installed. Funny, an embankment formed right under him, but he didn't work. And so it was many times. Then I decided that only one thing would help me. I took a cat from Moscow.

After that, underground activity came to naught. Although at the end of the summer holes appeared again, but then it was no longer so scary. For about a month, I actively fought against invisible pests. Maybe they were mice, not moles, but that probably doesn't matter anymore. By the way, I installed an ultrasonic rodent repeller in the greenhouse so that they do not encroach on my pumpkin, because they love to eat it.

Now let's get back to the pumpkin. On May 19, she no longer fit into the shelter, and I removed it. Then the pumpkin began to grow every day by 10 cm in length. True, there were days when it did not grow due to adverse weather.

It was still very cold then, especially at night. Therefore, I hung an infrared heater on top, and at night I hung curtains made of covering material along the pumpkin. Of course, all this added no more than a couple of degrees at night, but still better than nothing.

Thus, the pumpkin grew throughout May: we had to make efforts to keep warm. During the day, when the temperature was at 15 degrees, I had to open and close the greenhouse frequently, depending on whether the sun was shining or hidden behind the clouds. All season I tried to keep the temperature above 20 degrees and below 30.

As you can see, boards are laid out along the pumpkin on all sides. They are not just there, but perform a certain function. They are for walking on. This is very important, I think there is no need to explain what will happen if you step on loose earth with your foot. But here the concern is not about the legs, but about the pumpkin.

Here's what's under the boards.

All the ground around the pumpkin is filled with its roots. They grow every day, every minute. I know that pumpkin roots can be up to 5 meters long. And there are many such roots. If you walk around a pumpkin on the ground, then you can destroy its roots, but this is absolutely not necessary. I fought for every root and therefore sprinkled every internode with earth for the development of new roots. Need more roots, lots of roots!

I also changed the sticks every day to keep the pumpkin lashes from growing upwards. Due to the fact that I did not do this in time, a couple of lashes broke off.

At the same time, at the end of May, I discovered a new nuisance. The pumpkin leaves are turning yellow. I knew it was inevitable, but I didn't think they would start turning yellow until the end of July. And then June has not yet come, and they are already turning yellow. I started looking for the reason. I had several options: cold weather, the wrong soil composition, or illness.

In the end, I still leaned towards illness, and therefore measures were taken to combat the misfortune. Alas, it is impossible to completely cure a plant of fungal diseases, you can only slow down their spread. Therefore, I sprayed pumpkin leaves every week, alternating Hom, Fitosporin and Bordeaux mixture. The effect was, and the leaves began to turn yellow more slowly, but nevertheless, they turned yellow, and I was afraid that all the leaves would dry out before September.

But there was also good news. On May 30, a female flower appeared. Yes, here it is, the future pumpkin, is already on the way. If a female flower appeared, then you can roughly calculate when it will bloom. Usually it is 10-12 days after the appearance.

It was very exciting, because everything for which it was started was so close. I didn't know what to expect and it was probably like a lottery for me. Will it work or not, that is the question. I think when you do something for the first time, there is always a chance that it will not work, which is why I was full of doubts. But what you start always needs to be completed, and I made a promise to myself that I would finish everything.

By the way, in addition to the female flower on the main stem, they began to appear on the side shoots. But they are completely unnecessary, and therefore I ruthlessly cut them off. Although, for fun, you can leave one and even pollinate it, but pick it off after 10-15 days so that it does not interfere with the main pumpkin.

Since the pumpkin was already planned, it was necessary to start preparing for its appearance. First of all, I began to bend the stem like this:

As soon as the pumpkin is on permanent place, the stem must be bent in the opposite direction. This is done so that the pumpkin does not rest against its stem. You need to understand that the pumpkin grows in all directions, and therefore, if this is not done, the pumpkin will quickly begin to pull the whip back. Because of this, some problems associated with pumpkin stalk breaks can occur. For clarity, I drew my masterpiece in the genre of minimalism. The painting is called "The Sun over the Mountain, or the Pumpkin over the Tops". I think it is clear here how to direct the whip in relation to the pumpkin.


But overall, things didn't go very well. The leaves turned yellow, someone crawled under the pumpkin, destroying its roots, and the weather forecast was disappointing.

I didn’t prepare for this either, but the weather dictated its conditions, and I just had to adapt to them. I put additional heaters to the pumpkin and still curtained it with covering material. To my surprise, the pumpkin continued to grow, even though at night the temperature in the greenhouse dropped to 1 degree. It must be very cold. I read a lot where that at temperatures below 12 degrees, the pumpkin will not grow. But it was not there: she grew as she grew. Every day at night I put a stick at the end of its stem, and in the morning I saw that it grew by 10 centimeters. This surprised and delighted me. I thought that my pumpkin could overcome any adversity. So I continued to do everything for her well-being.

In the area where the fruit will grow, I began to trample the ground. I also decided that it would be nice to add a little more space to it, and therefore I prepared an additional piece of land outside the greenhouse measuring 3x2 meters. I wanted to put her side shoots under the greenhouse.

And time passed, and day X was getting closer. It fell on June 11th. Since I was not there on June 10, and I could only return at night, I had to do the preparatory procedures at night. The fact is that my pumpkin is not simple, but thoroughbred, and it would be foolish not to preserve its genetics. Therefore, in without fail you need to prevent the flower from opening in the morning. It is very easy to understand when a flower is about to bloom. Here is a photo of a flower that will bloom the next day:

The photo shows a flower of another pumpkin for clarity.

In addition to the female flower, it is necessary to prevent the male flower from blooming.

I covered them with a clothespin. But you can, for example, tie a bag on them or put on a cup. This is done so that insects do not fly into the flowers and pollinate the pumpkin before you. Since insects fly through all the flowers, the probability of pollination from another pumpkin or even a zucchini is very high. Unwanted genes will spoil all seeds. After pollination, the flower must be closed again.

I filmed the whole process of pollination on video:

I pollinated with a flower from the same pumpkin. Initially, I wanted to pollinate with a flower from another thoroughbred pumpkin, but they grew without shelter, because of this they were very slow, and on June 11 there was not one male flower. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this. As can be seen in the pedigree, some generations also had self-pollination. So the genes will be all right.

Under the pumpkin, I laid polyethylene and poured sand. Thus, the pumpkin will grow in a dry place, and thanks to the sand, oxygen will penetrate under it. This is necessary to prevent decay. Although this will not be a guarantee, it will increase the chances of success. These gourds are highly susceptible to rotting and so you need to keep an eye on this and take action at the first sign, such as disinfecting problem areas, or, for example, directing a fan to a disturbing place. But you cannot see what is happening under the pumpkin, and therefore it will remain a mystery until the very end.

The next day, you need to cut off all the petals, otherwise they will become moldy. My pumpkin, unfortunately, turned out to be awkwardly positioned in relation to the vine. Over time, the fruit will increase and gradually sink to the ground, but my pumpkin would lie along the stem. It is very important to correctly position the pumpkin in relation to the vine. There should be a 90 degree angle between the stem and the lash. Therefore, the pumpkin must be gradually moved in the right direction. Since my pumpkin was very far from the desired angle, I had to reject it from the very beginning. In principle, if, for example, a pumpkin lies at an angle of 45 degrees, then you can wait until it is the size of a soccer ball, and move it a little every day. You need to move the pumpkin in the morning, as at this time it is most plastic. I did it at 6 am. It is also important to know that at this time the pumpkin peel will be very tender, and after sloppy movements, wounds will appear on it. However, they will live on. But still, it’s better not to injure her once again and touch her in some kind of silk gloves.

Meanwhile, the pumpkin lashes continued to grow. Alas, I did not drip irrigation, and therefore I had to water the whole plant from a watering can. Water had to be distributed over the entire area, but pumpkin leaves gradually filled the entire space, thereby blocking access for irrigation. That is why I decided to put bridges along the pumpkin. Thus, I could reach almost any area for watering. I watered, by the way, only with warm water. But there was very little sun, and the water did not heat up during the day. What can we say about a barrel of 220 liters. Therefore, I heated the water with a boiler, bringing it to a temperature above 25 degrees. I watered in the morning, usually it took about 2 hours to water. But this was at a time when more than 300 liters were used for irrigation.

This is what the weather was like in June. Now I understand that it was not so cold.

Due to the abundance of rain, the humidity inside the greenhouse was very high, and there was always a lot of condensation on the film in the morning, which dripped onto the pumpkin during the day. Maybe that's what caused the pumpkin to hurt. Its leaves turned yellow and then died. I started cutting out diseased leaves to slow down the spread of the disease. I then thought it was false powdery mildew and I still think so. I'm not good at identifying diseases.

But new leaves grew, compensating for the loss of old ones.

A pumpkin forest reigned above the earth. Powerful leaves blocked Sun rays, displacing almost all weeds. There is no weed that can suppress this green mass.

June 21st was 10 days post-pollination and the pumpkin was such a modest size. In fact, this is the norm, and the first 10 days the pumpkin grows very slowly. But by day 20, she should add well. Then I counted on 40 kg.

Due to the fact that I unwrapped the pumpkin too much every day, its stem cracked. I knew that it would grow, but it was still annoying to realize it. I had to deploy it two more times, and I was afraid that the crack might completely disperse. Although, this too would not be critical.

Anyway, I turned the pumpkin to the degree I needed.

Every day its stem rose more and more above the ground. To take the load off the stalk, I put props under it.

Still need to monitor the tension of the stem. To do this, I periodically raised it. When it was noticed that it was no longer able to climb, it was necessary to cut off the nearest additional roots to loosen the tension and allow the gourd to raise its vine even higher.

Meanwhile, side shoots began to crawl out from under the greenhouse. To do this, I specially dug ditches and manually directed them there. Later I buried them.

A new shoot began to grow near the root, and I decided to direct it to the area in which I cut out the leaves.

Here general form on a pumpkin in the last days of June:

I made a shelter from the sun over the pumpkin. This is necessary so that it does not overheat, otherwise it may crack. But this does not guarantee that the pumpkin will not crack. It may crack at any moment, or it may not. Here, as luck would have it. Maybe the crack will not be critical, and over time it will heal, or maybe the pumpkin will simply burst, and all efforts will come to naught. Shelter only reduces the likelihood of a tragic outcome.

At 21 days after pollination, the calculated weight of the pumpkin was 26 kg. It was a rather modest result, and then I still had doubts about achieving my goal of 400 kg. The weather continued to make things worse. I did not believe that under such weather conditions she was able to gain the required number of kilograms per day to achieve my goal.

But after 5 days, on July 7, the pumpkin weighed 46 kilograms. This indicated that the fetus began to gain 4 kg per day, despite the weather conditions. I was very happy then, but I wanted more. The pumpkin should have gained more.

Foam rubber had to be placed between the stem and the pumpkin. If this is not done, then the stem will crash into the pumpkin.

On July 11, exactly one month after pollination, the pumpkin reached a weight of 67 kg. Her average daily rate increased to 5.25 kg per day. It was already better, and I began to believe that she would reach the desired weight. Although the weather was still overcast, it couldn't go on like this forever, and sooner or later the sun would come out, and then, I thought, she would gain 10 kg a day.

After another 5 days, on July 16, the pumpkin reached 108 kg. It was incredible, she broke the milestone of a hundred kilograms and reached the speed of 8.2 kg per day, and there were many warm days ahead that promised to support her speed. For me, this was a very important mark, because I had never seen a pumpkin of such size. And now, looking at the pumpkin every day, I knew that I had never seen such a pumpkin, because every new day it was much larger than yesterday.

And then the warm days began. Pumpkin began to gain 10 kg per day, and it was just fine. I didn't even believe it, is it even possible? On July 26, she overcame a new weight limit, and her estimated weight was 206 kg. Wow!

And now I will tell you how I found out her weight. I was asked this question all the time, and I did not answer it, I wanted to reveal the secret at the very end. But in fact there is no secret, I used an application on my phone called GPC weight estimator to calculate the weight. It calculated the weight of the pumpkin from its volume. I made a video of how it happens:

The stalk of the pumpkin was thick, and it was impossible to clasp it with your hand.

I sprinkled the main stem at the base with ash, and covered it with a piece of film on top so that water would not drip on it. I did this because I noticed softening on it. I didn't want it to rot, so I kept it dry.

At the end of July, the pumpkin filled the entire greenhouse with its green mass, and there was nowhere for it to grow further. Now only the resources that are available are at her disposal. It was both good and bad. I was glad that I no longer had to dig in the internodes every day, but I was worried general state plants. The leaves turned yellow, and there could no longer be new ones.

The scourges outside the greenhouse also grew quite large.

The largest leaves were 60 cm wide.

The once cracked stem is overgrown.

But what happens if you do not cover the pumpkin from the sun:

August has come, and this month turned out to be surprisingly warm. It foreshadowed the last part of my super-growing, although there were still many days ahead and the pumpkin needed to recover a lot. But my heart was calm, I was sure that something was waiting for me ahead, and this something would come soon.

On August 6, the pumpkin weighed 312 kg. That day a photographer from the Moscow Vechernyaya newspaper came to see me. It was the first newspaper where they published an article about my pumpkin. Then she caused a lot of controversy on the Internet, and, basically, the main question of all people was not understanding what to do with her. But I knew what to do with her. I contacted the Pharmaceutical Garden of Moscow State University and invited them to submit my pumpkin for inclusion in the Russian Book of Records. They agreed, of course.

A lot of scars began to appear on the pumpkin. They appear due to the fact that its peel hardens, but the pumpkin continues to grow. Because of this, many small cracks appear on it, which overgrow.

Some leaves began to fall, and I decided to tie them to sticks so that they would not lie.

But the pumpkin began to slow down, on August 19 it weighed 385 kilograms. It started to worry me because last days she got almost nothing. What is the reason? Well, I knew that a pumpkin can't grow forever, and at some point it will stop doing so. I thought that this time had not yet come, and she simply had to add more. Fortunately, there was enough time, and I knew that she could.

At the end of August, everything reached its vegetative peak: sunflowers were blooming, corn was bearing fruit, peppers were turning red. August 23 I last time watered the gourd with fertilizer. On the same day, she reached a weight of 415 kg. My joy knew no bounds. I got what I wanted. Of course, I understood that her real weight would be known after weighing, and it would differ from the calculated one.

September has come. The export of the pumpkin was scheduled for September 5, and on the same day, at 16:00, it was supposed to be presented in the Pharmaceutical Garden of Moscow State University for weighing. At that time, this event had already been announced. They began to show me in the news, write about the pumpkin in the newspapers. Every day journalists called and asked the same questions, to which I gave the same answers. Although no, somewhere the information was not entirely accurate, somewhere I deliberately kept silent, because I wanted to tell the whole truth in this work.

Dark spots around her scars began to appear on the pumpkin. This was especially pronounced near the stem. So I put in a fan that blew over the pumpkin to reduce the risk of rotting. All summer, by the way, there were two fans in the greenhouse, which I turned on when the weather allowed only one half of the greenhouse to be opened.

In addition to the largest pumpkin, I have grown others, smaller ones. They, alas, did not get to the exhibition, and I just took their seeds.

Pumpkin 160 kg:

Pumpkin 110 kg:

Pumpkin 90 kg:

It can be seen that all pumpkins different shapes and different colors. This is a characteristic of this variety. A pumpkin can grow in absolutely any shape: from the most correct to completely crooked. The same thing happens with color: it can be completely orange, or maybe almost white.

On September 4, I began to dismantle the greenhouse. After all, in the morning of the next day a car will come for her, and there will be no time for this. It was so strange. Solemn and sad. Everything that I created, I begin to break. The greenhouse, the pumpkin patches, everything will be destroyed. But that was the end, and in the middle of the garden stood a pearl I had grown. I knew that she would not leave this place so easily.

Most of the leaves are withered or broken.

I also made a short video where I show what I have grown this year. In fact, not so much, and I mainly spent all my strength on a pumpkin.

Well, and here, actually, I and a pumpkin. Before leaving, her estimated weight was 430 kg.

And then this day came. On September 5, 153 days have passed since the pumpkin germinated and 86 days since the fruit was pollinated. At night I slept peacefully, but in the morning there was a slight excitement. They were supposed to come to me from the channel "Russia 1" and a truck on which you need to load a pumpkin. I discussed in advance what needs to be brought for the successful lifting of the pumpkin. But, alas, they brought not quite the same. It's about the gourd grip straps, they had to be different, and because of this, there were some problems with lifting the gourd.

A truck arrived at 11 am. It was much larger than I imagined, and for this reason there were problems with the check-in at the gate. Because of the narrow street, there was little room to maneuver, and so the driver had to contrive to drive through the gate. But he did it. However, real difficulties lay ahead. It rained that day and the ground became wet. As soon as the car moved, its wheels began to sink into the ground. She dug holes for herself. It was necessary to act urgently, and therefore I brought all the boards and stones that were. All this was thrown into the pits, and we tried to push the car. She backed up, and her crane could not reach the pumpkin, and it was completely impossible to drive through that land. Therefore, I had to push the car back, after which it turned around and began to drive in front. I had to constantly rearrange the boards and pour stones so that the car would not fall into the pits, and I had to constantly push it. With grief in half, she again reached the previous point, and now her arrow could reach the pumpkin. It was necessary to tie her with belts. However, because it was not what I was talking about, difficulties arose. These belts had to be passed under the pumpkin with a cross and thus capture it. It was not so easy, and therefore I had to tinker a lot. During this process, the pumpkin became very dirty, and its peel was damaged, and the stalk also fell off. Yes, it was painful for me to look at all this, and my heart sank every time when the pumpkin began to come off the ground. What if it falls? What if it cracks? All these thoughts have been bothering me all this time. After the pumpkin was loaded into the car, it was necessary to push it back, which we did again. It was the most difficult jump. I had to sweat a lot. The neighbors came to the rescue, for which many thanks to them, because without them nothing would have happened. At 15 o'clock the car with the pumpkin set off, and we followed it. Yes, we loaded the pumpkin for 4 hours. I admit, it was hard both physically and psychologically.

By 16 o'clock we did not have time to go to the Pharmaceutical Garden, and as a result we arrived only at 17 o'clock. The car was immediately surrounded by dozens of people who were waiting for the pumpkin despite the rain. I stepped aside to my friends and girlfriend, who were waiting for me. The pumpkin was weighed, and its weight was 437 kg. To do this, first it was weighed together with the belts, and then the belts separately. Yes, my goal was achieved, and I was very happy about it. After the weigh-in, I was interviewed and photographed a lot. The pumpkin was taken to a closed greenhouse, where it was exhibited on September 9 at the exhibition. She will be there until October 15th. You can also come and look at it in the Pharmaceutical Garden of Moscow State University. As it turned out later, no one had a full video where the weighing with belts and separately weighing the belts were recorded, and therefore the next day she was weighed again, but in a calm atmosphere, and her weight was 432 kg. It was this weight that got into the Russian book of records. Today it is an officially registered record.

The Internet is full of photos and videos from the place of those events, but I have almost nothing, since I was not up to it.

For me it was an amazing experiment that ended in success. They wrote about me in newspapers and the Internet, they showed me on the news. I set the first Russian record in this category. Yes, in theory, I could take a 100 kg pumpkin, and it would also be a record, but it would not be interesting. Now a lot of people are interested in this, and they are waiting for the seeds. I am also waiting for them, but they will be only after October 15th. In the meantime, here is my finished work for your consideration.

Huge fruits are a gift of nature for an attentive gardener. In order to collect an impressive harvest and discover the full potential of the variety, every farmer must know the requirements of cultivated vegetables. Giant pumpkin, how to grow it? Detailed information about the popular plant in a brief overview, as well as simple tips and the rules will help to get a good harvest.

Variety Goliath gives huge fruits under 100 kg

reference Information

The countries of South America are the birthplace of culture. In the pre-Columbian era, the pumpkin vegetable was bred by the Indians of Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay. At the beginning of the XVIII century, the plant gained popularity among the colonists of New England, and then gradually spread throughout the world. Now the vegetable is found in national dishes many countries. Large-fruited pumpkin is an annual plant that is distinguished by long, powerful shoots and creeping tendrils. Huge leaves are located on large petioles. The flowers of the culture are bright, fragrant with petals turned inside out. Fruits are a real decoration.

Varietal variety of pumpkins

Depending on the variety, they delight the gardener with unusual colors: orange or gray, green or red.

The shape is oval or perfectly round. Huge pumpkins are covered with a hard crust, the surface of which can be either ribbed or smooth. From other varieties, the giant variety is distinguished by a soft stalk that does not penetrate deep inside. Depending on the variety and care, from 30 to 500 kg are removed from one bush. The pulp is not as fragrant as that of nutmeg counterparts, but pleases with a huge sugar content - up to 15%, which is higher than that of watermelons.

Features of cultivation

It is impossible to grow a large pumpkin without special soil preparation. The more attention the gardener pays at the beginning of the season, the better the return awaits at the end of the care.

Pumpkin seedlings allow you to get an early harvest

• Autumn preparation. The land cleared of plant residues is carefully dug up and fertilized with organic matter - compost or rotted manure.
• Crop rotation. So that the plant does not hurt, follow the rules for successive crop changes. It is impossible to plant a vegetable in areas after "related" species (zucchini, watermelons, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins).
• Spring digging.
• The sun. Giant fruits will not ripen without light. To get the full return of the variety, it is recommended to choose the brightest place on the site.
• Fertilizer in the hole. Pumpkin "love" top dressing, so experienced gardeners, when planting, organize a special "pillow" of humus or mineral preparations. Between the plant and the substances is a thin layer of soil.

Pumpkin whips can reach several meters

• Free space. For the effective development of the plant and the ripening of fruits, a lot of space is needed. Large pumpkin vegetables cannot be grown if the distance between the bushes is less than 1.5 or 2 m.

There should be at least 1 m between pumpkin bushes

In order for the vegetable to ripen in the domestic climate, experienced gardeners recommend using seedling cultivation.

Seeds are sown in peat pots in mid-March. AT open ground planted in May, when the threat of night frost has passed. If the spring is cold, then the young are covered with a film or agrofiber.

Care

To grow large pumpkin fruits, you need to remember the needs of the American guest. A sufficient amount of moisture is the key to full development without disease and stress. The huge roots of the culture draw fluid around them. In hot weather, we recommend watering each bush abundantly.

On a bush of giant pumpkins, 2-3 ovaries should be left

Remember: before irrigating, be sure to check if the soil has dried out. Excess water will lead to rotting of vegetable tissues, and the crop will be poorly stored.

During the vegetative period, the plant is fed twice. Cushions of fertilizers in the hole, the pumpkin is enough to build up the green mass after planting in open ground. Before flowering, the first procedure for introducing nutrients is carried out, and after the appearance of the ovaries, the second.

Young pumpkin bush requires constant watering

To grow a huge pumpkin, you need to properly form the lashes of the plant. Even the largest-fruited variety will not show its potential without a minimum procedure. Many small fruits and greens suck out nutrients, which slows down ripening. When the trunk grows one meter in length, in order to exclude gusts, it is sprinkled with soil:

1. One stem. Lateral processes and extra ovaries are removed after they appear. No more than 3 fruits and 4 leaves are left on the vine. To reduce the expenditure of forces on the growth of green mass, it is recommended to pinch the top.
2. Two stalks. Two pumpkins are left on the main lash, and one on the side. Don't forget to remove the growing point.

Growing pumpkins in a high garden

A board or plywood on bricks is placed under each fruit to avoid contact with the ground. Regularly carry out the removal of weeds and loosening the soil.

In early October 2015, the largest pumpkin was a vegetable that a farmer from California managed to grow. The weight of the fetus reached a little, did not reach 900 kg, and did not break the world record. During the original festival in the city of Half Moon Bay, they not only evaluate the mass of vegetables, but also hold a beauty contest for culture.

pumpkin festival in usa

The largest pumpkin in the world was grown in California in 2014. The weight of the giant fruit exceeded a ton and amounted to 1053 kg.

The weighing procedure was carefully controlled by the judges, because the winner was waiting for a prize of 30 thousand dollars. Farmers from all over the country gather annually in the fall to show off their hefty harvest. A similar event was held in Moldova in 2016, but the record holder did not reach the American level - only 285 kg.

Pumpkin champion weighing 907 kg

To grow a giant pumpkin, breeders recommend paying attention to specialized varieties:

• "Hundred pound". Huge orange fruits with minimal care reach 20 kg. Creamy pulp with large quantity vitamins and sugar.
• "Big Max". Late-ripening variety with large pumpkins up to 40 kg. Excellent taste qualities.
• "Yellow from Paris". Farmers received giant fruits up to 70 kg.
• "Goliath". A popular variety, the weight of pumpkins of which exceeds 50 kg. Excellent lightness and taste characteristics.
• "Titanium". The largest variety vegetable crop, the weight of the fruits of which reached 100 kg.

The 100-pound variety has been around for over 100 years.

To grow a huge pumpkin in domestic conditions, you need to know the needs of a popular vegetable. Farmers recommend not to abuse chemical dressings, but to rely completely on natural ingredients. Minimal care and compliance with the rules of cultivation will allow you to get giant fruits.

In the American city of Half Moon Bay (California) every year the world championship is held to determine the largest pumpkin. This year Super Bowl of Weigh-Offs championship passed for the 40th time! Vegetable growers were happy to show their giant specimens. But, of course, everyone was struck by the winning pumpkin. Its weight was almost a ton - 900 kilograms!

Weighing procedures were carried out by a strict jury. All three prizes were awarded to heavyweights from California.

The largest pumpkin is a vegetable submitted to the competition by farmer Harry Miller from Napa. The giant pumpkin weighed 900 kilograms. The farmer stubbornly cared for the record holder for 100 days, and as a result, the gardener got a reward of $ 11,910.

The total prize fund awarded for the first three places traditionally amounted to 25 thousand dollars.

The homeland of pumpkin is South and North America, so in modern California this vegetable is very popular. Pumpkin in these vast expanses began to grow the Indians 5 thousand years ago.

It was customary for early American settlers to carve the top of the pumpkin, remove the seeds, fill the inside with milk, honey, and spices, and then bake the pumpkin in the ashes. The Indians, on the other hand, preferred to fry pumpkin slices over a fire, and dried pumpkin strips were used to create rugs.

In addition, today pumpkin is also very popular in many countries: it is boiled, baked, fried, salads, side dishes, juices, jams, jams, candied fruits and the like are made. Despite the fact that 90% of the pumpkin is water, in general, the vegetable is an excellent source of carotene and other vitamins, which is useful for many diseases.

Uncut pumpkins have the ability to keep for a long time, so they are often harvested for future use and used in winter and autumn.

In order to grow a giant pumpkin fruit, several conditions must be met.

One of the first things to do is to choose the right variety, in which the formation of large fruits is laid down by genetics. They mainly belong to the species of large-fruited pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima).

In the last century, the largest pumpkins in our country grew grades Hundred-pound (8-12 kg). Today she is overtaken Big Max (up to 18 kg), Mother-in-law (15-20 kg), Tradeswoman (35-55 kg), BigMax and Titan (up to 50 kg), Atlant (60-70 kg). The leader in terms of fruit size - variety Centner, which, with intensive care and favorable conditions, produces orange segmented oval fruits weighing up to 100 kg.

By the way, the world record was set by the Swiss farmer Beni Mayer, who grew a pumpkin weighing 1053.6 kg in 2014.

More representative fruits give varieties of the species Cucurbita maxima, zoned in Peru, Bolivia, the southern states of the USA and India.

That is, for the formation of large fruits, the pumpkin requires heat and an abundance of moisture. In addition, the pumpkin loves loose fertile soil - its roots are weak and grow not deep, but wide. To feed the plant, they must easily and quickly occupy a vast territory.

Therefore, pumpkins grow best in a bed generously filled with manure, or on a compost heap.

The listed varieties are medium and medium late (120-130 days). Therefore, even in the south of the country, they do not have time to fully realize their potential before the cold weather.

The way out is to prepare seedlings on the windowsill in individual cups, or in early April, under additional shelter, sow a pumpkin in a greenhouse (greenhouse), and with the advent of steady heat, release its stems into the street.

So, by the way, it is easier to water and feed the plant: the pumpkin does not like when its leaves are pulled. This should be done regularly - at least once a week, alternating clean water with infusions of manure, herbs, ash and solutions of complex fertilizers.

The listed varieties of large-fruited pumpkin form long lashes. They need to be evenly distributed so that the parts of the plant do not obscure each other.

To improve the nutrition of the lashes, the nodes of the internodes (with an interval of 1-1.5 m) are sprinkled with compost or steamed sawdust - adventitious roots grow under them. If you want to grow a very large fruit, only one ovary is left on the plant. The rest are removed.

Giant fruits are good for making juice (up to 40 liters) and candied fruits (up to 25 kg from a pumpkin that has gained 80 kg).

But they are inconvenient to use in cooking, and it is problematic to find a place to store them. In addition, too large fruits do not differ in taste, as they are poor in sugars and vitamins. And if you need pumpkins for food, and not for participating in the Hampshire Swim, the Pumpkin Growers Championship or making a carriage for Cinderella, grow pumpkins with fruits weighing up to 5 kg.

Record-breaking pumpkins: 10 secrets from Bulgaria

Vegetables of huge size usually raise the suspicion that they are genetically modified or overfed with nitrates. But this is always the case, says Hristo HRISTOV, a well-known gardener and seed grower in Bulgaria, who has been growing gigamp pumpkins for many years.

He raised the first giants in 2005 - 235 kg each. But do not think that everything is due to the Bulgarian climate. Just the same in Russia and middle lane the climate is more favorable for growing giant pumpkins. They do not like it when the temperature stays high for a long time: optimally - no more than +30 degrees, in our summer it is usually above +33 degrees.

By the way, the largest pumpkins (up to 500 kg and heavier!) Are obtained in southern Canada, northern Europe and the USA.

And although the summer of 2007 was hot in Bulgaria (it reached +39.3 degrees!), I watered the pumpkins well and set a country record - the largest one weighed 270 kg!

To get giant pumpkins, you need a sunny large area - no penumbra and thickening! Only for the fetus I provide a place of 1-1.5 sq.m. And in total, a plant needs 20-30 sq.m.

1. I grow pumpkins from seedlings. I plant it in the garden with the first true leaf. A month before planting, I fill holes with a depth of 40 cm with the extracted top layer of soil, mixed 1: 1 with semi-rotted manure or compost.
2. Usually the stem grows in the opposite direction to the first leaf. Knowing this, I plant the seedlings so that the stem is oriented in the direction I need (where there is room).
3. Knots on the stems for the growth of additional roots spud with moist soil. Pumpkins are pollinated by hand, wiping the female flowers with two or three male ones of the same variety. The most suitable time for pollination of flowers is from June 15 to July 15.

1. After pollination, I measure small fruitlets daily to determine which grows faster. I remove all other ovaries, i.e. I leave only one on the bush.
2. Bushes must be formed according to the Christmas tree type. I leave the main stem and side lashes on the plant, which I lay perpendicularly (to facilitate care). Shoots of the second order are removed when they reach a length of 2-3 cm. I pinch the main stem when, after the fruit, it grows by 4-6 m (see fig.
3. In pumpkins, the stalk usually grows at an acute angle to the stem, and the fruit can crush it. Therefore, when the pumpkin reaches the size of a soccer ball, I move it a little every day at noon (by 2-3 cm) until the stalk is at right angles to the stem.
4. Watering is essential for maximum results. I rarely water the seedlings for the first three weeks. Further (especially in the heat) - more often, while watering not only under the root, but the entire area under the plant. Norm - 30-40 liters of water per week per 1 sq.m.
5. If the soil is fertile, you can do without top dressing. If not, the scheme is as follows:

• before flowering - with a solution of mineral fertilizers in the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium 1:3:1;
• after flowering - with a solution of mineral fertilizers in the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium 3:1:3;
• after leaving one fetus - with the same solution in a ratio of 2: 1: 4.

5 Secrets to Growing a Giant Pumpkin

He started his garden not so long ago - about seven years ago. During this time I learned a lot and continue to experiment with pleasure. I once read about "pumpkin dad" Benny Mayer, who managed to grow the world's largest pumpkin weighing 1056 kg! I also decided to show off my pumpkin giant in the garden. I was satisfied with the result - my orange miracle weighed 200 kg!

1. warm bed

I have been preparing a landing site since autumn. Under the bed, he singled out a sunny, wind-protected area measuring 6 × 6 m. In the center of the site, he dug a square depression (1.5 × 1.5 m) 25-30 cm deep. He laid humus at the bottom, mixed in half with fallen leaves and healthy plant leftovers from the garden. Sprinkled with earth, slightly dug. It turned out a bed filled with organic matter about 25 cm high. I watered it and left it until spring. When the snow melted, covered with a black film.

1. Sandpaper for seeds

At the end of April, the edges of the pumpkin seeds of the Titan variety were carefully cut off sandpaper and soaked for 5 hours in a solution of potassium humate (according to instructions). I put wet moss on the bottom of the bowl, seeds on it, covered it with a thin layer of the same moss and put it in a warm, bright place for germination. Periodically sprayed with warm water. At the bottom of pots for seedlings with a diameter of 12-15 cm, I laid a strip of film along the bottom, brought the edges out.

I filled the containers with garden soil, poured abundantly with warm water. I sowed the germinated seeds to a depth of 2.5 cm. When the sprouts appeared, I fed the seedlings for the first time with complex mineral fertilizer according to the instructions, and the second time I fed the plants in the same way a couple of days before planting. In the second half of May, when the earth warmed up well and the threat of return frosts passed, I watered the seedlings abundantly.

I dug holes along the depth of the seedling containers, spilled them with a solution of complex mineral fertilizer (according to the instructions). The seedlings, together with the soil clod, were carefully pulled out over the edges of the film. On the prepared warm bed, I planted only one - the strongest plant. The rest were planted elsewhere.

1. Mandatory "haircut"

Caring for a giant pumpkin is no more difficult than for any other representatives of pumpkin. The main thing is to feed on time, protect from diseases and pests, and more importantly, to properly form the whips.

I released the main lash of the record holder pumpkin at 7.5 m (3 m after the formation of the fetus). After that, I cut off the top and dug it with earth. The bush itself was formed in the form of a triangle, the base of which is the root of the plant.

The first secondary whips were released by 3-3.5 meters. Each subsequent lash was made shorter than the previous one by 1-1.5 m.

All the third lashes that grew from the sinuses of the secondary lashes were immediately cut off.

When 3 fruits were formed on the main lash, all the other ovaries were immediately removed.

And when the pumpkins reached the size of a soccer ball, he left one, the most even and fastest growing. Cut off the rest.

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