Novice aussie pumpkin grower:advice? (pics)

[beginnerbloomer]

Hey fellow growers/plant lovers its my first attempt at growin pumpkins,these seeds were given to me by my uncle who thought they had no chance as they are apparently years old,i started by germin 4/6 successfully and they seem to be goin strong (they're maybe 2 weeks old)
Just want sum advice on where i plan on planting i have about 20cm of basically pure sand which then turns a heavy clay loam,will they be sweet in this soil?
Sum tips on preparing the bed and any other comments much appreciated!
cheers

 

[O4aUsErNaMe]

yes they should do fine in that soil,
they dont need much to grow dig the spot add some organic matter and plant give them lots of sun and lots of water and you will grow some good pumpkins...

 

[beginnerbloomer]

No worries, thanks for the quick reply!

 

[beginnerbloomer]

Can i be using Seasol and power feed already?

 

[O4aUsErNaMe]

Can i be using Seasol and power feed already?

i would give them a week with just water,then start them on some seasol i would not worry about the powerfeed for a few weeks

 

[alexdunaba]

I wish you luck, caterpillars and powdery mildew killed my whole pumpkin patch. Ten plants in all. Damn you Florida, damn you.

 

[beginnerbloomer]

thanks alex,is powdery mildew a temp thing? coz its damn hot over here atm.(its spring).
also should i just turn sum veggie scraps n sum straw into the soil? or is there a specific brand of fert or sumthin thats favoured by pumpkin growers?

 

[O4aUsErNaMe]

you wont have to worry to much about the powdery mildew ,and as to the soil dig in the straw but pumpkins don't really need a super fertile patch to grow in just a lot of water.

i have included a photo of my pumpkin mounds and they are just yellow sand and a bit of sheep shit thrown in.and i just use powerfeed and seasol every 2nd week

 

[jesus420]

are you going to use ff ocean forest and ff tiger bloom for bigger yields?

lol.

 

[beginnerbloomer]

Kool thanks,nice little patch u got,lookin pretty dry round the area where abouts u located if u dont mind me askin?

 

[O4aUsErNaMe]

same place as you under the southern cross but we have had a fair bit of rain here its just dead cause i killed it all with roundup gotta keep the weeds at bay

 

[beginnerbloomer]

ahh i see,yeh discovered ur location after checkin out ur monster attempt thread (lookin very nice by the way,good luck).
i know its the wrong forum n everything but i just was wondering how those early sexed clones went coz i wanna do the same.Is there a point into flowerin that its too late to take clones? p.s thats a good lookin mutt u got there

 

[O4aUsErNaMe]

the clone went ok, no its not to late here in aus,...

 

[beginnerbloomer]

so no matter how developed the buds are u can cut a clone? Will it revert back to veg if its grown outside,should i knock the top off?

 

[beginnerbloomer]

Pumpkins comin along nicely,plan on preparing the bed tomorrow,perfect weather for em here lately so hopefully all goes well.Anyone have much problems with pollination? i figure ill be keepin that clover around come flowerin time,itd be good if it could be done naturally.
(chucked a couple shots of my resident green tree frog in just to make up the numbers)

 

[O4aUsErNaMe]

so no matter how developed the buds are u can cut a clone? Will it revert back to veg if its grown outside,should i knock the top off?

dont know about that i am only just starting on the cloning thing myself.
i know they revert back under 24 hours of continues light,but out doors i just dont know...

 

[O4aUsErNaMe]

Pumpkins comin along nicely,plan on preparing the bed tomorrow,perfect weather for em here lately so hopefully all goes well.Anyone have much problems with pollination? i figure ill be keepin that clover around come flowerin time,itd be good if it could be done naturally.
(chucked a couple shots of my resident green tree frog in just to make up the numbers)

if you are growing outside pollination should not be a problem the bees and insects will do it for you

 

[beginnerbloomer]

If i could just redirect u back to the canna plants for 1sec if u dont mind
Shes been flowerin for bout 27 days now n shes not quite fattenin up how id like her to. Im only feedin wit a bit of fish emulsion atm.
crappy lights only one 65w cool white cfl n one 26w warm white cfl.
Shes only really a tester to help me out 4 my next grow but id still like sumthin smokeable off her.
How long generally does it take u from flower to harvest? Any tips to help me fill out these buds would be nice!
cheers.

 

[beginnerbloomer]

(woops,disregard last drunken post)
Pumpkins are looking very healthy i think they're lovin the fish emulsion,i planned on planting them this weekend but was busy and lazy when i wasnt busy so they'll have to wait a lil while,they'll be right in these pots for another week at most yeh?
cheers.

 

[beginnerbloomer]

Well its been a while,the pumpkins have been transplanted and are growin like crazy,they started flowerin a few days ago,ive only noticed 2 female flowers (1 which withered and died) on the largest plant.Im glad i didnt water for a couple days coz weve had lots of rain here,ill start em on seasol and powerfeed next water,will that be all ill need for the whole cycle and could the female flower have died coz of too much nitrogen in the soil?
cheers.