I recently purchased some AGHAIST1075Â08 seeds from P&P seeds. I live in zone 9, Sacramento, Ca. I am going to try and grow a pumpkin for entry into the Safeway World Champion Pumpkin Contest at Half Moon Bay, Ca. The weigh off for the contest is held on 10/12/09. My question is this; what date would you plant the seeds in my area to get the maximum size pumpkin? I grew some regular size pumpkins last year and started the seeds in the 3rd week of march. I had fully developed pumpkins by the 4th of july. If I plant my giants now and they turn orange by july, is it too long for them to stay on the vine until October? Also, I planted some giant pumpkin seeds last year that someone gave me from a pumpkin they grew that was 675 pounds. The seeds were started on 4/10/08. I ended up pulling the plant up in july becayuse I thought it had some type of disease. Now I am not so sure. The plant would be fine as long as it was night or the temp was cool. As soon as it got hot the plant would wilt. It was well watered on a drip system. Since then I have found out that it is common for the giant pumpkins to wilt in the heat. Below is a picture of the plant before I pulled it. It made it to the blossom stage. The pictures were taken on 06/19/08. It was pulled shortly after that.