Thursday, May 27, 2010

Two of Three Happy Pumpkin Plants

Both of my plants seem super happy. Green leaves, good growth and nice vigor right now. Finally a week of sun and warmer weather have kicked the plants into high gear. Couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Both of the plants got their grow on about the same time that the better weather came in so things couldn't be much better. The kids plant however has been struggling for the past two weeks. It is growing but the leaves have been drooping a lot this week and the color is a touch yellow these days. The kids have been doing a good job of watering and misting it in the heat but something is a bit off with this plant. Two weeks ago it was the best plant of the three and now it has fallen behind.

I gave the plants some compost tea today with an extra boost of alfalfa pellets in the tea. Alfalfa has triacontanol in it which is a naturally occuring plant hormone that acts as a growth promoter. Triacontanol increases yield by improving photosyntheseis and cell division.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I'm pretty new to the big pumpkin scene, my specialty is chiles! A few years ago I grew a 387 lb pumpkin. I live in Sheridan WY, way north. I have a 1566/1161 rodonis seed cross that germinated today (4 days after planting). I know that it is late, but we've had cold wet spring (as you have I see!) The garden is large and we've been adding compost yearly. I know that I won't get a huge one, but what is the most important element here? I've read with interest the amendments you added. We too add gypsum due to clay soil...

Jamie said...

Good, balanced soil is probably the most important thing followed by good seed. As long as there isn't grower error, 60% of the pumpkins size is determined before the plant is put into the ground. What I mean is if you have a good composted soil then you will be in good shape. What you should add to your soil depends on what is in your soil. Sometimes you don't need to add anything and sometimes you need to add a lot of stuff. Only a soil test can tell you that. The 1161 x 1566 is an interesting cross with some good potential.