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Sequim, WA

Many of us accept what we read about growing AG's from the books and the web as Gospel truth. Call me a heretic, but I'm beginning to questions some of the generally accepted wisdom. Two items came to my attention while working in the patch today. Both of them I have noticed in past seasons, and again today.
1. If you miss your pollination "window" in the morning you've lost your chance for that day.
Today I measured a fruit set at 7:00 PM on July 7 at 26" circumference and growing quit nicely. I also culled some that appeared not to have set that were pollinated at 6:30 AM on a later day that week. The seventh was a mostly cloudy day with the high temps in the low 70's. I thing temperature has more of an effect on the window of opportunity for pollination than the clock. On very hot days pollination is less likely to be successful than on cooler days, and the females can accept the pollination for a longer period of time than is generally believed.

7/20/2003 2:45:31 AM

Sequim, WA

2. You should avoid compacting the soil in your patch in order to allow the roots of the plant to penetrate more area in the patch.
I'll admit, I am not the best at moving boards around an making walkways in the patch. I have done it in the past, but with 11 plants in the patch this year, I just don't have enough lumber or time. As a result there are well worn compacted paths throughout the patch that have developed as I work with the plants. I figured I should do a little cultivating to loosen the soil and found many threadlike white roots throughout the hard packed surface soil with my hoe, even in the barren areas between the plants. I figure I was doing more harm than good with this activity so I quit. I believe the roots have the ability to penetrate compacted soil quite well and suffer no ill effects as long as the moisture levels are adequate. Any plant that is as aggresive a grower as the Atlantic Giant is well equipped and adapted for maximizing the area of its roots.

Does anyone have any other pumpkin myths that they can debunk?

7/20/2003 2:45:46 AM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

Here's some more food for thought.

1.Excess Nitrogen is thought to cause exploding vines and aborts.I get the vine problem on 50% of my plants but zero aborts so does this mean that one of those is not true?

2.If growing a pumpkin on a secondary vine we are told to choose one as close to the stump as possible.If a main vine splits we are told to train a secondary in its place from the front of the plant and set fruit on it,this appears to be a contradiction.

Gotta go more later!

7/20/2003 3:57:51 AM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

3.Milk is it so bad?
It contains fat,smells and attracts flies.
Last year I threw away gallons and gallons that I could have put on the patch.
A couple of weeks ago I got a detailed analysis with a seaweed product,It contains 2.4% crude fat!!!!thats similar to skimmed milk maybe its a differant sort of fat.
It smells and attracts flies so does cow manure!!!
Would cleopatra bathe in cow manure not likely.
It contains protein which turns to Nitrogen,Calcium + Nitrogen sounds familiar.
Lucky I live a safe distance from Kilr.

7/20/2003 8:21:53 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

Food for thought.....
Do animal fat products and vegetables mix?

What naturally occuring mechanism would be used to convert animal products to useable energy for a vegetable? ie: protein > nitrogen

If there is no natural mechanism, and how could there be?, would milk not simply sour within a pumpkin?

7/20/2003 10:30:04 AM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

Protein from animal waste is converted into ammonia by bacteria.
Couldn't find much about fat but did find this link.
www.gardenguides.com/articles/powderymildew2.htm.

7/20/2003 2:34:23 PM

Kansas

AXC...

I'm not a big believer in nitrogen aborting pumpkins at set either. I've spoken with a heavy hitter about this and he says he never slows down with his fert's during pumpkin setting. He has had splits to pumpkins but very,very few aborts.

Shawn

7/20/2003 3:06:36 PM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

here's a pretty common myth i seen posted here several times...
"you can easily grow a 400 to 500 pounder with out much trouble your first year!!" B.S.!!!!!!!!! barbara striesdand!!!!

7/20/2003 11:14:50 PM

Ontario

Blackcloud. We grew 100 AG plants in a field last year, with no fertilizer srayed for bugs twice, hand pollinated, no weeding, no vine burying no pruning, no culling and had 40 pumpkins over 500 with 4 over 700 pounds. Alls it takes is decent soil

drew

7/21/2003 1:05:18 AM

porterville,california usa

THANK YOU DREW!!!! i believe that some weeds in the patch are NOT a bad thing. they help prevent water evaporation by shading and their roots help loosen and build up the soil. so what if they take some nutrients away from the pumpkin. just add more fertilizer during the growing season! sure it costs a few bucks for more fert, but we`re not trying to feed the world here with our pumpkins. it`s not a commercial crop we`re producing. it`s a hobby!!

7/21/2003 3:40:57 AM

porterville,california usa

Tiller, i agree. this year i`ve pollinated any time of day i`ve wanted to, and with great success. out of 10 plants i`ve got a minimum of 3 set fruit on each plant with only 2 aborts this year. temps ranging from 80 to 107 have not been a factor here and neither has the time from 6am to 9pm. just remember to seal out all insects that would steal the pollen and cover it with a shade for a day or two to avoid direct sunlite. (i use an old lounge chair and sometimes my lawnmower) last year i used cold boxes and ice and regulated the temps for days to keep it "optimum" for setting. i had 3 successful sets last year with maybe 40 failures.

7/21/2003 4:05:10 AM

porterville,california usa

Tiller. again i agree with you! i worked for 22 years building logging roads in our sierra nevada mountains. many times i looked at huge trees several hundred feet tall growing on top of a solid granite mountain top. no dirt, no soil of any kind, just hard, smooth, bare rock with these trees growing out of it. the seedlings roots make cracks in the rock that get bigger and bigger as the trees grow. if a 2 hundred foot tall pine tree can put out enough roots in solid granite to hold itself upright in a blizzard, then why shouldn`t we believe a pumpkin plants` roots can`t grow into some less-than-fluffy dirt?

7/21/2003 4:33:58 AM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

booth, thats something how a 200 foot tall pine can grow out of a crack in solid granite live trough every type of natural disaster,pine beetles and what ever else could come at it for 200 years and then ya'll walk up to it and hang a chainsaw in its side and its all over with in a few short minutes..

7/21/2003 12:25:35 PM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

DREW.."no fertilizer srayed for bugs twice, hand pollinated, no weeding, no vine burying no pruning, no culling and had 40 pumpkins over 500 with 4 over 700 pounds. Alls it takes is decent soil" I THINK THIS IS ALL A BUNCH OF B.S.why everything you have just said has gone completely ass backwards of every dad burn question/answer that has ever been ax on this message board!!! personally i think you are just trying to make fun at us dumb backwards hillbillys that spend more time fooling with their plants than they do with their younguns!! I DONT BELEIVE YOU!!! you are just trying to get something started...just think how some of these guys who rig up all these timers and injectors and all that jazz feels now!!! (keep up the good work)hehe

7/21/2003 6:47:35 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

Hey Blkcloud...while we're at it tell Booth he's full o-crap too!!

Trees outa rock? Who ever heard such lies?

7/22/2003 7:01:21 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

:0)

7/22/2003 7:01:34 AM