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Eugene,OR

If a person has the opportunity to pollinate at 20 feet out on the main vine on July 1st, is that too far out? How about 25 feet? Or would you be better off pollinating ten days earlier at 15-81 feet out?

6/6/2005 5:19:49 PM

Eugene,OR

That should say 15-18 feet out...not 15-81 feet out.

6/6/2005 5:20:28 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

I pollinated at 24-26' out last year on a plant. If you could do it at 20' on July 1, I'd wait and do it at 25' a bit later, more plant behind to push the fruit weight. Personally, I wouldn't pollinate in June unless I was planning on a September weigh-off.
Go for a July 5-10 pollination I think....my 2 cents anyway.

6/6/2005 5:31:32 PM

Montoursville, PA

Pollination July 10th. aprox will more than likely have you finished growing by September 10th. more or less. That is as early as I would like to finish for a first weekend in October weigh in. Ideally I would like to finish about September 25th. That is still sitting, in the patch, for ten days with little or no growth taking place.

6/6/2005 8:19:41 PM

Eugene,OR

So what I'm hearing is that it can't be too far out. Does everyone agree?

6/6/2005 10:40:12 PM

Indiana

I disagree with that Russ.

the fact that you grew some 800 pounders last year, I would suggest that you not go over 25 ft out. I think the farther out you go, the faster they grow and the higher your split risk. Not always the case, but at least part of the time it is

Tom

6/6/2005 11:01:43 PM

Joliet, IL

i would pollinate anything after 15' for sure and then pollinate the rest down the line and check for nice stem length, positioning, growth rate, and then let your instinct and intuition take over and go with just the two best and then ultimately go to one. al eaton told me last year to leave the next one down the line until the keeper one gets to 35 days as a shock absorber if you got a real good one going. too bad he told me this 2 hours after i already culled the other one. i am not sure exactly what the top producing vine length is with the heaviest ever grown, but my guess would be 13.5' for the average. just a guess and i am not basing that on anyting but past meanderings through genetics.

6/6/2005 11:03:08 PM

Woodburn, Indiana

Didn't a 1385 get pollinated at 18-20 ft? not 21+?

6/6/2005 11:07:20 PM

Simi valley, ca

Dont forget that some people feel that Just beacuse its not growing on outside, it mAy very well be growing inside still< atleast for a while anyways!!personally from my experance of 4 that i grew last yr, 1 hardly grew after 25 days but weighted 20% heavy, & the one that just stoped growing (my 872.5)was exactly what it measured, i belive it may have got to 900 lbs but of course nobody will ever know for sure!! But i belive there syill growing !!

6/6/2005 11:17:39 PM

Simi valley, ca

As to my 872.5, also i had one that was at 13 ft & was growing faster than the one i picked at 18 ft out & to this day i realy wonder if id kept the one at 13 it may have gotten bigger than the 872.5, especialy since the vine was hammered at end of growth!! im trying for a sooner date closer to july1 enstead of july 10 hopefully. PSs many 1000 pluss pumpkins were at 13 ft. Id like one at 17 ft on july 1 st !!

6/6/2005 11:28:40 PM

Rhode Island

we pollinate anything starting at 12 ft out

what really matters is how many sides you have before the fruit and the condition you can keep them in

if you get a good one on the hook you can do just about anything and it will keep growing

i do agree with tom that theres no need to be that far out
even if you pollinate mid to late june on a couple plants, you could get one of those long growers and coast into the end of sept

holding a healthy fruit thats on a healthy plant is no problem for a week or two as long as you leave the pumpkin hooked up

6/7/2005 2:53:11 PM

Joliet, IL

does anyone know or calculated the vine length measurement average for say the top 50 pumpkins ever grown? this would be an interesting stat.

6/8/2005 1:05:57 AM