Thanks for the info Oldballs. I've grown many things but never any of these giant fruits and veg. I can see the appeal of it :)

>>36368 That sounds like a great job for retirement ;)

Are these giants just for show or can you use them for food?

>>36367 most genetics of these giants can be traced back to Howard Dill's Atlantic Giants. A breed that he developed in the 70's.

A good read, if you're interested, is "Backyard Giants"

JC, I found a grower in your area you may need to check out. Has a blog on bigpumpkins.com http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryView.asp?season=2020&grower=66025&action=L

>>36367 This is brilliance! I have never seen that episode. Thanks for sharing.

In my experience, the two primary keys to a large pumpkin are:
1) Pinching the vines and culling the fruit. As the vine grows you will want to train or shape the pumpkin from the root out like a triangle. Widest at the root and narrowing as you go out. When the vine starts bearing fruit, you want to select one or two near the tip of the triangle to keep, and then cull any buds that grow elsewhere on the vine. This allows all of the food and energy to be focused into the ones at the end. Think of it this way, if a full plant makes enough energy to make ten pumpkins, then reducing that fruit to one, allows that energy and food to be funneled into just that one, making it larger/better fed.
Key 2: Genetics. Simply put, there are pumpkin growers that select and breed hoping for the best traits of pumpkins (size/color/health). I tend to leave it up to mother nature when it comes to pollination, but there are those that aid there pumpkins pollination. They cover the flowers to prevent natural pollination, and then using a fine brush, collect pollen from the male stamen and lightly brush it on to the female flower's stigma.

15 in your yard alone? Niiice. And possible more in the neighborhood?
Btw, what did you have to do to make the pumpkin that big?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PhkfFzWzPY

Nice! I really hope you discover lots of pumpkins around the neighbourhood later in the year :)

Here's a flashback from 2007! >>>