Posted by Ryan Monroe LA Pumpkins are definately not well adapted to the southeast. Not that they can't be grown here, but the climate is far from optimal. I gave it a try this year and the bugs absolutely demolished the plants. The same goes for gourds and squash-- the only cucurbits that really appear well-adapted here are watermelons.
on 10/31/2009, 11:50 am, in reply to "Pumpkins in Salinas CA (I'm on topic because theres a Washie in the photo)"
76.107.66.220 | Message modified by user Ryan Monroe LA 10/31/2009, 11:58 am
When I first got into gardening as a kid it was growing giant pumpkins. Back then the world record was 800-something pounds and everyone was wondering weather 1000 lbs would ever be broken. Hard to believe the new world record set this year in Ohio is now 1725 lbs. Conan O'brian braizenly claimed to have smashed the world record pumpkin on his show last night with a monster trunk, but that one was not the record holder at only 1658 lbs.
The best I ever grew was a 564 lbs, but that was pretty good for a kid with no access to irrigation or chemical fertilizers (manure worked better anyways). Today's pumpkins don't appear all that much larger on the outside and I'm guessing the weight has mostly been increased through selectively breeding for thicker walls.
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