Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 18 Entries. Tuesday, October 15 View Page Hi everyone. My name is Nick and I love growing giant pumpkins. I will be doing a much more thorough grower diary next year but I thought I would give a very brief summary of my history with growing.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page At the age of 19 I moved to San Diego, California with my good friend Eli to take a "Break from life". We lived there from September until the following February just having fun and working part time jobs. It was an awesome place to live for a while but I really missed the fall vibes of my home in New England.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page So When I returned home to Connecticut to attend college full time, I decided I would grow some pumpkins to make up for the fall that I missed. And of course why not grow giant ones. I didn't know anything about competitive growing at this point so I just got "Giant Pumpkin Seeds" from home depot and grew a few of these. probably around 60lbs. At that point I was hooked on the most powerful drug known to man. Giant Pumpkineering. I needed more.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page The next year(2020) I devoted 400sqf to a pumpkin patch and grew this 411lb birdbath. I don't think I fertilized once. I still knew basically nothing about giant pumpkin growing but at least this time I used real giant pumpkin seeds from Holland's Land of Giant. And unfortunately, that remains my PR to this day. Get ready for a series of tragic events.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page In 2021, all of my seedling were mysteriously snapped in the night. I started with three and each night another one would get snapped. They were fully protected with a mini greenhouse so it couldn't have been wind or critters. Still a mystery to this day.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page In 2022, I once again grew Hollands seeds and this time I decided to give it a bit more effort. I expanded the patch to 800sqf, learned about burying vines and fertilizing and many other things. But alas, my pumpkin succumbed to some sort of internal rot early on. That wrinkly spot would eventually liquify and cave in. I also started making youtube videos that year. Feel free to check out the youtube channel "Nicks Big Pumpkin". You might like it!   Tuesday, October 15 View Page In 2023 I decided to give the patch a rest and went on a 64 day road trip all around the country instead of growing. There's a 20 part series on my channel documenting that entire trip if you're into that sorta stuff.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page In 2024, I decided to start taking growing seriously. I spent hours researching and learning and formulating a plan. I purchased seeds with a pedigree (1908 Connolly and 1907 Wallace) and got a soil test and amended accordingly. I then proceeded to fry those seeds by putting espoma plant tone into my seed starting potting mix. The chicken manure was too hot. Lesson learned.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page At that point I was dejected. I can't believe I ruined the season that quickly. I reached out to Steve Connolly for help. I had seen his name a few times and I was growing his seeds so I had to assume he knew his stuff and could help me out of this situation. Not only did Steve invite me to see his patch, he also gave me some free top tier seeds and if that wasn't enough...   Tuesday, October 15 View Page He also reached out to Ron Wallace who then gave me two of his backup plants. Both his 2344.5. Thank you Ron and Steve. I owe both of you big time! He also gave me the contact info of a gentleman by the name of Matt Debacco who we will get to in a moment...   Tuesday, October 15 View Page The weather this summer in central CT was horrendous. 92 was the new normal. It rained 4 days a week. Unsurprisingly, one of my plants rotted out before i could even get a pumpkin set on it.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page I was able to get a late pollination after the heat waves subsided slightly and I named her Shirley. The pumpkin that would surely die. While her plant did succumb to rot at DAP 25, Shirley did survive until the Woodstock Fair where she weighed in at 230lbs. I was just happy to go to a weigh off with a pumpkin and meet Steve Sperry, Joe Jutras, Gene Lariviere, Ken D and Henry the Giant Pumpkin Grower amongst others.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page It turned out that i lived 15 minutes away from a grower named Matt Debacco. Steve said he was pretty knowledgable so I reached out and he invited me to come see his greenhouse. I was in shock. You guys have seen it in his grower diary but its 10x more shocking in real life. The first time I went in there I just started laughing. His leaves were all 3ft wide and 4ft tall, perhaps due to his CO2 supplementation. To make a long story short. Matt helped me out constantly throughout the season and even was featured in a youtube video on my channel where we do a patch walkthrough. Matt took my level of understanding from a 1/10 to a 6/10 or maybe higher. All I have to do now is apply it next year and grow the giant that I know I can. Here we are taping Steve Connolly's 150sqf challenge pumpkin. Thanks Matt!   Tuesday, October 15 View Page In terms of results this was an underwhelming season but I learned more than I could ever imagine. I also met so many great people. I sincerely believe that this is the best community in the world. My plan for next year is 5 pages of solid writing and isn't even done yet. We'll see what happens. I can honestly say that i don't care that much about the outcome. I just really like growing giant pumpkins.   Thursday, October 17 View Page Here is my soil test from February of this year. Before you look at my PH you might want a barf bucket nearby. I amended it per the recommendations of Matt D and John Taberna and now we're working with...   Thursday, October 17 View Page This! Literally everything has moved in the right direction. All i put down this fall was another 80lbs of lime over 3000 square feet (Spoiler for next years patch size) so hopefully things continue to shift in the right direction as my PH rises.   Saturday, November 9 View Page 4 yards of shredded leaves and grass for composting. Approximately 1 yard of this will go...   Saturday, November 9 View Page Here! My 150sqf plot for 2025. It also got a bag of powdered dolomitic lime to start bumping my ph up (If it ever rains again in CT). Im so excited to do this challenge next year and I have a VERY special seed in mind. A real gem!