Giant Pumpkins NZ - Picking the Best
To grow a giant pumpkin you want to pick the best on early on, cull out the rest, and let all the nutrients go to the better fruit.
Some information on this suggests you measure each pumpkin on a daily or weekly basis and see which one is growing the fastest, this may seem like a good idea, but seriously who wants to measure each one all the time. I can't be bothered with that myself, so what I do is check them as they are growing, and just look at which ones seem to be doing better then the rest.
It is also a good idea to figure out if you are going for size, or if you are going for a nice shape.
This year due to the smaller garden I will be taking a good look at where the pumpkins start growing, and their relationship to where the vine is, also what pumpkin is growing into the best shape.
Once I have worked out what the best fruit is, I will be taking off all the other pumpkins, allowing the one the best in nutrients and water.
This was the smaller of the two pumpkins, so I cut it off.
