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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Monday, September 25, 2017
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KC Kevin
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Mission Viejo, CA
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Entry 117 of 118 |
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Part II debriefing
What didn't work, or what I need to do better at:
I made an early series of mistakes with the placement of the grow matt under the pumpkin. I added some of that insulating 1.5" foam under the fruit, with the mill fabric on top of that and sand on top of that.
Also, The mill fabric wasn't placed in such a manner as to anticipate the growth of the fruit. This was just a dumb mistake.
The problem is that the styrafoam insulation doesn't drain. At all. Moreover, as the pumpkin grew heavier, it sunk down into the very soft soil and made an indentation in the foam. That created the perfect wet environment at the base of the fruit. Bad planning and execution on my part really took down my season.
When I lifted the pumpkin last Friday it had a 14-16" crack in the bottom. I don't know how the pumpkin cracked; it may have been compromised during one of two moves. No way to really know. Based on the level of rot inside, it started a few weeks ago (a guess).
Lessons learned. No more styrafoam as a base. Whatever its on has to drain.
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