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Indiana

Ok I hope we get some good responses to this. 1. Do you folar feed? 2. How big is the largest pumpkin you have grown using folar feeding. 3. How much of a roll do you think folar feeding played in the size of your pumpkin? Hope to hear from some of the heavy's out there. Please let me know if these questions should have been phrased differently.

Steve

12/15/2003 11:04:14 AM

Indiana

1. Yes I folar feed. 2. 463 # 3. I think it played a large roll. if i hadnt gotten 16 extra inches of rain this year things would have been alot better. the folar feeding helpec a bunch on the cukes and zucchini and gourds. I had much better growth and larger gourds than in years past.
Steve

12/15/2003 11:09:01 AM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

Yes I did for the first time this year. I also grew my PB this year,747.2#'s, a difference of 150#'s. I found that it kept my pumpkin growing into sept. In other years my pumpkins always stoped growing around the third week in august and I could never figure out what I was doing wrong.
Phil

12/15/2003 11:47:48 AM

Nova Scotia

yes i florial feed and my best is 900lbs. i used a lot but feel that it did a lot of good in the sence that most of it trickels down to the roots anyway.

12/15/2003 12:00:24 PM

Joliet, IL

yep I do foliar feed. Certain elements can take longer
to get into the plants system via the roots, like
calcium for instance. The stomata on leaves are like
pores on your skin. Your skin absorbs mercury into its
system if touched or the nicotine patch is another example
of contact absortion.

Foliar feeding takes advantage of direct absortion through the leaves stomata. With the size and numbers of the AG
leaves, it is just that much more surface area to help
aborbs the goodies into your plant with foliar feeding.
And the run off will get picked up through the root system
too.

12/15/2003 2:58:20 PM

Waterbury Vermont

As I mentioned in my post on 12/14, I did foliar feed with Neptunes. I certainly don't deny the benefits of neptunes or other such fertilizers, my problem was mostly the time it took me to apply it by hand. Next year I will probably have a drip system to soak the base of the plants, but not the whole plant. I'm thinking (or maybe hopeing) that if I get Neptunes to the base via the dripline and then occationally apply neptunes to the main vine(s) that this will be almost as benifial to the plant. The whole plant would'nt get Neptunes, but it would save me a lot of time not having to drench all the leaves by hand. As for comparing foliar feeding to not foliar feeding, I don't have enough experience yet to know if it makes a difference.
Joel

12/15/2003 3:01:21 PM

Bristol, ME ([email protected])

Time is definately not a luxury you will have if you want to grow a big one. I spent 4 hours a day on 2 plants for most of this past season, not counting weekends when it was usually 8 hours or more saturday and sunday. These plants require alot of attention and alot of work. Many growers will agree that growing giant pumpkins is a full time job in itself.
Foliar feeding does take some time, but not as much time as spraying fungicide and insecticides, burying vines, etc. I foliar fed this year and agree with Copper that it seemed to help the growth in September. I used foliar almost exclusively on my 859 Mombert that grew the 906 this year and gained over 200 lbs in September.

12/15/2003 4:38:01 PM