Re: Intro and Question
- To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: Intro and Question
- From: b*@pacific.pacific.net (brocfarm)
- Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 13:13:08 -0800
>Hi all,
>I was happy to hear of this list from another South African subscriber as
>my husband has become mildly obsessed with the idea of growing a record
>sized pumpkin since I foolishly brought home a packet of Big Max seeds a
>few years ago. Luckily we live on a large property outside of Johannesburg
>and have the space for this hobby (otherwise I suspect that I wouldn't have
>any garden at all apart from the pumpkin patch!). We produced a few big
>pumpkins from seed obtained from Bernard Lavery last year. I have no idea
>what they weighed, but they were significantly larger than the Big Max's
>grown the previous year and took four healthy guys to lift onto the back of
>a truck using a tarpaulin. I would guess at 100KG plus for each.
>This wasn't enough for the man in my life however, so late last year I
>contacted Howard Dill and bought two packets of Dills 700lb+ seeds as a
>present for my him. Our summer is just starting, so we have planted the
>precious seeds in the same way as in previous years. Each seed in a 6 inch
>pot filled with a sand and compost mixture placed on a heating mat to
>germinate. So far only ONE seed out of the fourteen has germinated and this
>is 9 days after planting. Have we done something wrong? I've never had such
>poor (or slow) germination before. Are Dills seeds bad germinators? Should
>I rush out and buy some Big Max seeds (the only ones that can be bought
>commercially here in SA) so that we have at least some big pumpkins this
>summer? Please help a pair of beginners in the Atlantic Giant growing game.
>Cheers
>Sue
>
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Sue,
Welcome !!.............Germination can be tricky.......moisture and warmth
are key ....but tooo wet is bad and to dry doesn't work.........same with
temp...........should be a constant 80degrees..................I germinate
seed the following way sand edges......soak in warm water 2 hours.....then
roll them up in a rag that is damp ...wetted then all the water squeezed
out then put this in a zip-lock plastic bag and on a mat set at 80... check
in 30 hour and so forth..........you should see a little white root
emerging........then place that in your pot................good luck
Get seed from mike S....should be faster!!.........brock
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