How can I grow giant vegetables?

[fireflies]

Tomatoes and onions are my favorite. How can I grow them bigger?

[sakura]

You'd probably have to choose vegetables of the giant growing variety. Obviously planting regular plants won't automatically produce giant crops. Try planting: Giant Silo corn, Big Zac tomatoes, Oxheart carrots and Tropic Giant cabbages.

For these kinds of corps, you have to have a big plot of land, or you can only plant one to two veggies at a time. Plus, big veggies are nutrient hogs, so it can drain the other plants & stunt their growth.

[chefshelle]

COMPOST! You can start your own compost pile with all of your kitchen scraps...anything excluding meat.

If you don't have a compost pile and you want to get started right away, try a local farmer, horse barn, etc. They'll be happy to give you all of the compost you need! If you don't have a truck or trailer to haul the compost in, fill up a few plastic bags. Best of all, this is free! It will make a huge difference in the quality of your vegetables.

When you are tilling your garden, mix the compost with your soil.

If this is not your style, use some miracle grow. Just be sure not to put MG on mature plants as it can "burn" them.

Michele

CheapWholesaleTools.com

[dandelion]

I remember my uncle saying that for larger onions you must have lots of water and good drainage..Also a friend of mine tried planting onions in a raised bed with very loose soil. He said he harvested large onions of up to 6 inches in diameter..

[starcandy]

Aside from choosing the right variety, make sure that your soil is also healthy for the plants. Spread some compost or manure the fall prior to planting. This will provide the plants with the food that they need.

Regular watering is also a must, but be careful not to overwater them as many vegetables don't like wet soil. You may also have to trim the plant's fruits, as the more fruits on the plants, the smaller they will be due to their competition for the nutrients. This is especially vital for those who are planning to join competitions.

Keep an eye out for problems like fungi, pests and other diseases. Here, you have to be extra vigilant.

[gardengirl]

How to Grow Squash:

Squash do best in full sun. They like rich, well drained soil, lots of water, and lots of fertilizer. If you regularly feed them they will grow and grow. A side dressing of organic fertilizer does wonders.

Water them often and water them deeply. Keep the soil moist. Add layers of mulch.

You can train the vines, if you like. If you remove the tertiary vines, you'll have bigger squash.

If you bury the vines, you'll encourage better root growth.

[gardengirl]

I am a big, big fan of raised garden beds and have been growing my veggies in raised beds for many years. I think my garden looks neat and tidy. There are other benefits too and here are some of them:

The soil gets warmer faster and stays warm. This is very important to me in my cooler climate. We can plant earlier and my seeds seem to germinate much better.

I get better drainage, no waterlogged soil and no standing water.

I can add soil content, organic matter, compost, etc. Each year my garden soil improves.

[gardengirl]

I love asparagus and lucky for me I have an organic asparagus farmer just up the road from where I live. We eat asparagus every day for several weeks. It is our first spring vegetable and I think we crave it after a long, cold winter.

So, how do you grow asparagus? Although you can supposedly grow it from seed, I think most people grow it from roots. These roots take about 2 years before they produce.

Asparagus prefers loose, sandy, well drained soil and full sun. The best pH is between 6.0 and 8.0.

Aphids, asparagus beetles and cutworms can be very unkind to your asparagus. Pests can weaken the plants and you will get the best asparagus if you have had a strong growing season. Root rot and rust can be problems.

To harvest, cut young shoots off just above the soil, using a sharp knife. Pick when several inches high and the stalk is still slim and tender.

[honeylemon]

If you want to grow giant tomatoes, try planting Old Colossus Heirloom variety of tomato seeds. For onions, try growing Kelsae Sweet Giant Onion.

Giant vegetables need more nutrients than their normal counterpart so be prepared with a healthy soil that will nourish their growth.

[Gary350]

Put 15/15/15 fertilizer, lime and Ammonium Nitrate on your tomatoes.

Put Murate of Potash and Super Phosphate on your onions.

They will grow larger and you will have more of them.

[fireflies]

Originally Posted by Gary350

Put 15/15/15 fertilizer, lime and Ammonium Nitrate on your tomatoes.

Put Murate of Potash and Super Phosphate on your onions.

They will grow larger and you will have more of them.

I wonder what would be the effect on the taste like?

[wrigglerman]

John Evans, a Alaskan farmer, has reaped 9 Guiness Book Records for growing the world's biggest vegetables.

His secret? COMPOST TEA

[farmerpiper]

1) Plant using open-pollinated seeds from giant vegetables. When you grow open-pollinated varieties, you are able select and save the best seeds from your largest plants for the next cropping season.

2) Prune plants to reduce number of fruit on each plant .To grow larger fruits, you need fewer fruits on the plant. divide your plant into thirds.Pinch or clip off other fruits, but leave as many leaves as possible so that the plant can make lots of food for the fruits.

3) Use drip irrigation

4) Keep an eye on pest and disease problems and address the prevention, control and getting rid of them as quickly as possible.

5) Apply Natural Fertilizer frequently especially in the form of compost tea

[rosiethumb]

TRY THINNING...I often do it with tomatoes and eggplants to get bigger ones although that will mean lesser number of produce.

[arianne]

Wow, those are great tips! Has anyone here grown giant vegetables for contests? I'd love to see pictures.

[mycoman]

You should really use mycorrhizae. there are thousands of studies showing a strong relationship between it and gourds, especially pumpkins. All the pro's use it, like ron wallace and joe jutras (world record holders). Just google mycorrhiza and ron wallace, or go to extremepumpkinstore.com. Make sure to get a product with a high spore count.

[mycoman]

Originally Posted by arianne

Wow, those are great tips! Has anyone here grown giant vegetables for contests? I'd love to see pictures.

go to bigpumpkins.com it's the place to meet growers. And we all have share tips, etc.

[brownthumb]

Originally Posted by mycoman

go to bigpumpkins.com it's the place to meet growers. And we all have share tips, etc.

Geez, that will be a lot of pumpkin soup!
Do giant pumpkins taste like their normal counterpart?

[leeza09]

Try to sow hybrid variety of seeds to grow giant tomato and onions, i dont think all the variety can grow big.
try to make the soil more fertile to get better result, look out for pests.

[Sunflower_info]

Growing giant flowers and vegetables is my hobby. I wasn't much into gardening. My mom always loved it, but I was never really impressed with all the little flowers. It was in the mid '90s that she brought home a cleome. The plant shot up over 6 feet in such a short period of time. I was amazed by it and asked if I could dig up a spot in the yard. I went to a local hardware store and bought anything that was listed as tall. I bought some sunflowers, cosmos, mammoth dill, etc. First try at sunflowers and I had one 12 feet tall. After that, I was hooked. I started with sunflowers, and then progressed into corn, amaranth, millets, sorghum. Once you get started, it's hard to stop. You always want to beat your own personal bests, as well as beat everyone else. I had my first Guinness World Record in 2007 for the tallest amaranth at 23 feet 2 inches. I no longer have the record, but I'm trying to get it back. Next year I'm also making a major push for the corn world record which is 31 feet, which has been held by Don Radda since 1946. My best corn this year was 25 feet 9 inches.
In my opinion, the most important thing with growing giant flowers and vegetables is finding the varieties that grow the largest. Most of your work is researching on the internet. I am constantly searching articles about some grower with a huge sunflower at his local fair or reading through scientific articles on tropical maize looking for clues to large races. Every year I trial new strains or races for some sort of advantage. Now gardening skills are very important, but I believe that even an average garden can grow very large plants as long as he has the right varieties. The first time I tried corn, my tallest plants were 15 feet. Now my tallest is close to 26 feet. The difference is that I was using types that get much taller. It wasn't so much that I became a better gardener.

[Sunflower_info]

Below are some pics from my 2009 garden. Despite losing most of my plants to several bad wind storms, I still had a very good year.

Tehua Maize - 25 feet 9 inches
Tehua Maize - 25 feet 2 inches
Tehua Maize - 24 feet 6 inches
Uchima Grande Maize- 23 feet 2 inches
Olotillo-Tuxpeno Maize - 22 feet 3 inches.
Uchima Grande Maize - 22 feet 3 inches
Olotillo-Tuxpeno Maize 21 feet 1 inch
Montana Maize 20 feet 11 inches
Uchima Grande Maize 20 feet 2 inches
Olotillo-Tuxpeno Maize 19 feet 11 inches
Montana Maize 19 feet 5 inches
Olotillo-Tuxpeno Maize 19 feet 2 inches
Uchima Grande Maize19 feet

Amaranthus australis 24 feet 4 inches
Amaranthus hybridus X Amaranthus australis 22 feet
Amaranthus hybridus X Amaranthus australis 22 feet (garden plot at work)
Amaranthus australis 21 feet 1 inch
Amaranthus cannabinus X Amaranthus australis 20 feet 10 inches
Amaranthus cannabinus X Amaranthus australis (self-sown) 20 feet 1 inch
Amaranthus hybridus 19 feet 2 inches


mom and daughters next to some tropical corn


daughter standing under a giant amaranth


corn and amaranth the along back of my house


Tallest maize of the year at 25 feet 9 inches.

[Sunflower_info]

Here are some sunflower pictures

[Sunflower_info]

Here are some amaranth pictures

giant amaranth (Amaranthus australis)


16 feet wide and 18 feet tall tidalmarsh amaranth (Amaranthus cannabinus)


23 feet 2 inch Amaranthus australis (giant amaranth)


19 feet tall Amaranthus hybridus X Amaranthus australis

[vslachman]

Lots of great advice here already, so I'll just note a couple of things about plant culture. Once you've got the right veggie varieties, make sure (esp. if you garden in pots like me) that you give plenty of room to the sorts of veggies with large root systems--tomatoes leap to mind.

Plus, enough sunlight--6-8 hours--without enough sunlight you'll get plants, but very low production. Then as lots have already said, composting the soil is a good idea. And if you want an easy compost tea recipe? Try a five gallon container with a gallon's worth of compost in a permeable sack steeped about a week. Water with it at the roots. Then make sure the plants stay watered enough--not waterlogged (to avoid root rot and fungal disease), but not dry as a bone, either.

And one more tip--I've gone to using organic fertilizers if I don't have my tea. It costs a little more than synthetics but I think it's better b/c unlike synthetics, organics don't release all at once and don't leach out of the soil quickly as do synthetics. So in the end, they're better for your plants and (I think) more cost effective, too.

Virginia

[Fiona]

photos are great idea and make me want to try
thanks
fiona