Happy Halloween everybody! I love Halloween for the costumes and candy but also for the pumpkins! People do some really incredible things with this versatile vegetable. They grow them to enormous, monstrous sizes, using all kinds of crazy methods including milk diets, heavy pruning and intense fertilization. People enter them in contests to try to win prizes for the biggest and the best. Check out this video, where they need a forklift to move the contestants around!
I’d like to try growing a giant pumpkin next year, using General Organics humus and fertilizers. I think it would be easy to challenge some past pumpkin champions with a prize-winning GO pumpkin! Has anyone tried growing pumpkins hydroponically? It’s easy enough to do. You just need to have enough space for the long, trailing vines and the large, heavy fruit. Three years ago, Jesse grew this 485lb guy here at GH and entered into the Half Moon Bay Giant Pumpkin contest. It was grown with Flora Nova, Alice’s Garden, Floralicious Plus and SubCulture B. Check out the size of that baby!
Some people are growing them vertically, with the pumpkins hanging in mid-air, as they grow. Check out these awesome photos!
Photo from Discover Hydroponics
Photo from Linneyville
If growing pumpkins isn’t your thing, you can still carve them every year! With the proper tools and motivation, you can get really creative with your designs. Many people use stencils to make it easier but you can free-hand some interesting shapes and faces as well. If you want something to aspire to, check out these amazing sculpted pumpkins! The artist, Ray Villafane, has truly perfected the art of pumpkin carving.
I hope that served as some inspiration for your Halloween weekend! Enjoy, dress up and be safe out there everyone! Happy Halloween from General Hydroponics!