Giant Pumpkins - 90% Water, 10% Magic

Tell me about this growing season.

Did you do anything different that, that helped you reach that threshold?

Uh, yeah.

So this year for the first time ever, I tried, uh, drip irrigation.

So I had thought about it in the past and I just never got around to setting it up.

I try to do, try to do at least one thing better every year.

And so I got in a 275 gallon IBC tote this year.

I got a sprinkler controller and a pump, so I could actually this year kick off watering from my phone.

And so I watered three to four times a day throughout the season when we weren't getting rain.

So I'd water a little bit each time versus like soaking the plant and having all the water sitting low in the ground.

I would water, say, four times a day throughout.

So in hopes that the water would go down and the plant would take it up as needed.

Hey,

that's a pretty cool use of technology.

Tell me why the water is so important for these giant pumpkins.

Yeah, so these pumpkins, I've been told they're 90% water.

And at least the emcee at the event at Stillwater told the crowd that they're 90% water and 10% magic.

But...

Giving them a lot of water as they're growing is, I don't know, just, I mean, if they're 90% water, you figure that they're going to need the water.

The other part is you want to be consistent with that water because if you don't give them water, so say it's dry for a few days, you're not watering, and then you get a big rain, these plants are so strong that they'll push so much energy to that pumpkin that they'll split open.

So even if I know there's a big rain coming, I will water my plant ahead of that just so it doesn't dry out and then get that big surge.

And if a pumpkin splits or something, does that disqualify it? Does it just make it difficult to use? Tell me about that.

Yeah, so we have rules.

So the rules I govern and the way out that we go to is the GPC.

It stands for the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.

Tell me about this growing season.

Did you do anything different that, that helped you reach that threshold?

Uh, yeah.

So this year for the first time ever, I tried, uh, drip irrigation.

So I had thought about it in the past and I just never got around to setting it up.

I try to do, try to do at least one thing better every year.

And so I got in a 275 gallon IBC tote this year.

I got a sprinkler controller and a pump, so I could actually this year kick off watering from my phone.

And so I watered three to four times a day throughout the season when we weren't getting rain.

So I'd water a little bit each time versus like soaking the plant and having all the water sitting low in the ground.

I would water, say, four times a day throughout.

So in hopes that the water would go down and the plant would take it up as needed.

Hey,

that's a pretty cool use of technology.

Tell me why the water is so important for these giant pumpkins.

Yeah, so these pumpkins, I've been told they're 90% water.

And at least the emcee at the event at Stillwater told the crowd that they're 90% water and 10% magic.

But...

Giving them a lot of water as they're growing is, I don't know, just, I mean, if they're 90% water, you figure that they're going to need the water.

The other part is you want to be consistent with that water because if you don't give them water, so say it's dry for a few days, you're not watering, and then you get a big rain, these plants are so strong that they'll push so much energy to that pumpkin that they'll split open.

So even if I know there's a big rain coming, I will water my plant ahead of that just so it doesn't dry out and then get that big surge.

And if a pumpkin splits or something, does that disqualify it? Does it just make it difficult to use? Tell me about that.

Yeah, so we have rules.

So the rules I govern and the way out that we go to is the GPC.

It stands for the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.