Saturday, June 20, 2015

Some OminA for the Pumpkin Plants

Today I spent more timed than I planned on setting up the watering system for the pumpkin plants.  There were some lines and faucets that working properly so I had to spend time taking care of those.  After that I sprayed some RAW OminaA (learn more) along with RAW Yucca around the outer edges of the plant because I think my nitrogen might be a little low from leaching.

OminA is 12-0-0 and is a amino acid form of nitrogen.  Some of the aminos in OminA help open ion pathways for calcium in a plant's roots which allows for a dramtic increase in the uptake of calcium.  More calcium in a pumpkin plants means possible better resistance to insects, stronger cell walls and some believe it may help make pumpkins that are more resistant to blossom end split.

Earlier this week I sent an email to former two-time world record Ron Wallace and asked him about what minerals and nutrients he finds leach from his patch.  He has a sandy soil so leaching is a much bigger problem than what I have with my clay soil.  He said that magnesium and sulfur are the two that he sees drop after a lot of rain.  For that reason I put down some Epsom salts to get my magnesium up a little.

Today I did a little patch tour with Colorado growing legend Joe Scherber.  They guy has grown more state record pumpkin than I can count.  First went over to his patch looking for pollinators for my pumpkins.  His Radach plant and the 2096 Meier both looked like they had some potential.  Joe then came over to my patch.  He gave a nice compliment.  Said my plants looked the best that I had ever had at this point in the season.  I am pleased with where things are at considering the May that we had.  Having good salad doesn't mean much at this point however, because in the end, it is all about the fruit.


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