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Westmoreland, KS

This year i have been putting more time into the pumpkins then in years past and i have been using it more as a trial and error year to see what works best...it just happens to be the hottest year on record...Awesome!

Fruit setting for those of us that don't have shade seems to be a real issue because we get a lot of aborts. I have tried fans, bottles with ice and shade but the one thing that seems to work the best is a soaker hose right on top of the stem i let it run 3 times a day for 15 minutes i have done this as a last resort and since doing this i have 3 fruits set on. One fruit is at day 13 one day 5 and one is at day 1. They all look good and they are all growing.

Now the question is When do you think i should take the hose off of the stem or should i just keep doing what i'm doing until the heat subdues?

Smallmouth Luke and others with the aborting issues you may want to try this and if you do let me know how it works for you...i put the hose on the day before it was going to open and i peel the flower off the day after i pollinate.

7/5/2012 9:26:02 AM

Upa Creek, MO

Great questions. I have soakers runing the entire plant curving around the secondaries and have just kept the soil damp. We are forcasted at 105 today, 105 tomorrow and 103 Saturday and I think no matter what I build around the fruit, the shocked plant decides to abort it. With 11 straight days of +100 - 108 temps, I just don't think it could keep up. Starting Sunday our forcast looks great, so I am optimistic about that and might just be pollinating 20+ feet on the main.

7/5/2012 10:30:40 AM

Frankfort Ohio

the wiz got a few to pollinate in 100-105 heat i know gal jugs will only last about 3 hrs in this heat i just pollinated 1 on the 4th and 2 today crossing my fingers

7/5/2012 10:38:24 AM

Ohio

Kansas, Im no expert by far on really hot weather growing , but I have never heard of trying water over the stem before, maybe your on to something there, lets hope so for the other hot weather state growers. (maybe that root at where ur pumpkin is at the node is absorbing water to help it along from aborting also?
If it was me, id keep the soaker hose on it for a while, (watching for rot of course) and if its working for you why not keep it on for a while? Also, Maybe throw a damp white towel over it also to keep it cool for a while?

One thing you got to watch for, espicaly in my case, i have had pumpkins abort on me after days 30 to 35 days before. (last year i had 4 ).

7/5/2012 10:43:55 AM

Westmoreland, KS

Thanks for the replies guys. I've heard the gal jugs works but like you said jed it only lasts 3 hrs...if that with our humidity...we've been 100+ by 11 am and sometimes in the afternoons with humidity factored in it feels like 115+. And i work all day so i'm not able to get into my patch until 6 in the evening so i've been looking for other options.

And brooks thanks for the reply about when your pumpkins aborted...normally our hottest time of year is around late july early august so i may just keep the hose on the stem until our summer is over. I was thinking that if it makes it past day 20 i'd be okay but i may leave it on longer this year just to see what happens.

7/5/2012 11:25:48 AM

Colorado

If possible,watering every couple of hours with a timer will help, but 100 degrees plus is hard on ag's

7/5/2012 6:21:06 PM