My first attempt at a big'n

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My first Atlantic finally sprouted! I've had no luck at all with them this year. This is the first time I've tried to grow them. I'll keep my fingers crossed to see if the other 2 grow.

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I think I have 2 more trying to poke their heads out!

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Here they are. I'm going to put in stakes with numbers or names an track their progress.

7-3-11

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Here's the pics from 7-9-11.
As you can see they are growing fast. After these pics, I widened the straw ring another foot around each one.

Click on the pics for a bigger view.

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It's been hot and sunny the past couple of days. I gave each one about a gallon of water this morning.

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I watered them agian this morning. This afternoon we had a little rain and the temp dropped about 20 degrees. It's 75 according to my computer.

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The stem is broke on one of the plants. I don't know if it will make it. Somebody or something had to have broke it. We didn't have any storms or winds last night.

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Looks like I've lost one, maybe 2. The stems are turning to goo near the ground.

This was the biggest.

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I took a pic ot the 2 survivors. One still doesn't look the best. SVB damage. I put a yardstick in the pic so you can get an idea of the size.

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The big one has a runner about 3' on it now. The other is still growing just slowly.

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Here's a pic of each. They seemed to have survived the svb or whatever was wrong with them. I put the yardstick in again for a reference. You can see how much they have grown in 9 days. They are really starting to take off.

Once again, click on pic for a full size view.

[lmehaffey]

A friend and I have decided that we want to try growing a giant pumpkin this next season. He wants to try and break the record for the largest pumpkin in Alabama (the current record is a measly 500-plus pounds); I want three huge pumpkins for my three grandchildren. Unforutnately, I have never even grown small pumpkins, so I have no idea where or how to begin. Any good advice or pointers you can share?