Here’s a comparison of the giant pumpkin cotyledon leaves (the first 2 leaves to pop out) along with it’s first true leaf compared to a tomato cotyledon leaves along with it’s first true leaf. Notice the size difference! Giant pumpkin cotyledon leaves are the biggest baby leaves I’ve ever seen.
cotyledon leaves on giant pumpkin and tomato
giantveggiegardener 
I noticed this year a differences between the cotyledon of different carrot varieties. At least I think that’s what it was, from the way they all came up at the same time. I won’t really be sure till after they put out real leaves.
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Congratulations Jannine,
Those pumpkin cotyledons are impressive. If I note correctly it seems as if you have a drip system connected to your “kong” giant pumpkin stem. it would be fun to do that and grow such an enormous pumpkin. However there is such a water shortage in this area, that people are simply abandoning their homes when the well runs dry and the attempt to grow such a plant would “turn off” many of the neighbors whose wells have gone dry. Still, its great to read of your accomplishments!
Gene S.
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Hi Gene-
Atually my NM state record ‘Kong’ last year only took 10 gallons a day for the whole plant. I hand watered it to monitor it’s water usage better and I’d give it 5 gallons in the AM and 5 gallons in the evening (in a well that I made around the stem and I put straw in the well to conserve water loss and covered it with row cover as well) and that was the most. Some people think that’s a lot but I don’t when you consider an average load of laundry in a top loader takes 35-50 gallons, a 10 minute shower with a shower head that restricts water flow at 3.5 gal/minute takes 35 gallons, and an average bathtub takes about 80 gallons of waters and most people don’t even think about that. Quite often when the plant was smaller in the beginning and when we got rain (rain??) I would use even less. I also got a portable water meter to attach to my garden hoses to see how much each garden is using. Plus I use water collected off the roof tops for many of my plants in my gardens. Let’s educate the population about their water usage before they condemn our water usage in our gardens. Oh yea and what about all the produce they buy in the markets? How much water did that take and that they don’t even think about as they eat that tomato. It’s all about how we want to allocate our water resources…If I didn’t have a good water resource, I probably wouldn’t garden at all here-then I’d have to move! (I think I might put this in one of the posts as it really raises good questions about water usage in gardens and people water usage in general…)
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