Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Change in Plans

If there is anything that you have to be able to do in giant pumpkin growing is be able to change your plans.  Growers will spend a good part of the winter planning out what crosses they want to make only to not have a male flower available the day the female flower is to open.

Today I had to make my change in plans.  I had my vine on the 335 Scherber placed perfectly for the 2nd pumpkin pollination but it wasn't meant to be.  That second pollination hasn't aborted yet, but I've seen very little growth on it in the last two days.  The first pollination seems to be sucking everything out of the plant so the second pollination isn't going to make it.  I could cut off the first pumpkin, but there isn't any guarantee that the 2nd pollination will make it so I'm probably going to go with the first.

Today I started trying to position the first pollination better on the vine and get some of the side vines out of the way.  I'm going to have some trouble later in the year with this pumpkin but you have to take what you can get sometimes.

This evening I gave all of the plant a foliar application of multi-mineral.

4 comments:

Christine said...
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Anonymous said...

Could you please tell me, I am so upset as I missed just one day of not checking my plant a pumpkin that was growing and looked nice but it got bruised by the side leaf, so therefore, I took it off the vine because I knew it would make a awful scar. I feel like just quitting. How big should I let my plant grow? Also is it okay to set a pumpkin on a side vine? this is such a confusing hobby. So many things can affect your plants. The wind caused some damage last night as we had a major storm in our area. I would appreciate it if you could give me some help with all the knowledge you have about pumpkin growing. Thank you. Christine.

Jamie said...

Sorry to hear about the troubles. That kind of thing can happen. I typically don't worry about scars because I'm just interested in a big pumpkin. However, you are early in the season still with still time to grow. You can set a fruit on a side vine but ideally you want it on the main vine because that is where the most energy will be. I would set a pumpkin on a side vine and then set one on the main vine when you can and then see which one you want to go with. The side vine one will start out faster but later in the season the main vine pumpkin will catch up. Ideally, if you have the room, you would want a plant to be about 600-750 square feet. However they will take whatever room you will give them.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the information. I really do appreciate your help. Christine