How much luck do you need to grow a giant pumpkin?
Do you need more luck than if you were growing just a normal crop of something else? Maybe just a little bit more.
There’s a lot of times you need to be lucky during the season, and for most people it all works out. But if you really want to grow the biggest giant pumpkin you can, you need all the luck on your side.
Skill VS Luck
You’ve probably seen a lot of first time growers achieve great results. I know I have. And for a lot of these growers, they had no idea what they were doing. Ignorance is bliss as the saying goes.
After this triumphant start to growing pumpkins, the following year isn’t as good.
Is this down to over thinking things? Changing circumstances, or was there a nice amount of luck thrown in there.
Luck has to be Part of Growing a Giant Pumpkin
Some people may want to claim that it all comes down to skill, luck is only a tiny percentage of the whole solution.
But I’m not so sure.
And I’ll tell you why. This isn’t an item we are making, or crafting, or putting together. This is a living thing, that we grow.
It’s a vegetable, a really really large vegetable.
And with anything you can grow. You sometimes get bad seed. It could be crossed with something else, not grow, be stunted etc.
So back to my statement before, luck HAS to be part of growing a giant pumpkin.
We are putting so much trust, faith and hope onto this one pumpkin seed. A seed which while we may know where it came from, we may know what other seeds from that same pumpkin grew like, we don’t actually know how this one seed, the one you have is going to grow.
This is where luck comes into it, the luck of the draw.
How to Increase your Luck when Growing Giant Pumpkins
Firstly having good seed and knowing where it came from is a great start. Good genetics help very early on and increases your chances of doing well.
Being prepared for bad starts. Have backups ready to go if needed.
Be able to roll with any outcome. This is key. There is always next season if this one turns to custard. Write down what works and what doesn’t, this will help in the future, and improve your chances.
Weather – The Wild Card
The weather can be unpredictable at times, problematic when it reaches extremes is is probably the one single thing that can universally undo people’s plans when growing giant pumpkins.
This has to be factored in when growing a giant pumpkin. If you aren’t prepared for some sort of failure during a pumpkin growing season, especially if you are a new grower then you could be in for a rude shock.
To help combat the weather situation you could grow inside a greenhouse. This could be cost prohibitive for most people, but it is an option. One that has it’s own unique problems.
So to be lucky during the growing season, I think the weather has to be as good as it can get, and when that happens, combined with good seed, good weed management, good feeding and just everything falling into place. This is when the magic happens.
Massive growth gains, increased weights, and new records being broken.
And for me I think this is one of the things that draws myself and others into this hobby/sport of growing giant pumpkins and other giant vegetables for that matter. It’s a living thing and the slight aspect of the unknown is intriguing. What can you get out of this seed?
There is only one way to know, and that is to plant it, and see how the season unfolds.
If it turns out bad, then there is always next season.
Growing giant pumpkins is a passion that I love sharing. 🎃 If you’ve found my content helpful or entertaining, why not say thanks with a coffee? ☕
It’ll fuel my next giant pumpkin adventure!
