From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Eugene, OR

Hey all, hope your seasons are going better than mine has so far! It's been rough going but I finally have a few plants growing well with a couple showing females around 6 feet. My question is....is it better to pollinate during early July on a smaller plant instead of waiting until mid July to pollinate a bit further out on a larger plant??

For the sake of argument, lets say I have the choice of a pumpkin at 10 feet that was pollinated on July 4th versus a pumpkin at 15 feet that was pollinated on July 15th. Would having that extra growth time with the earlier set be better than having a larger plant to push the later set or vice versa?? Any thoughts?

6/19/2005 11:59:45 PM

Ohio

Dang,thats a good question,I would "think",and I dont do that to good, but if it was me I would pollinate the one at 10 feet and record the growth everday and when another female hits 15 feet I would pollinate it also and compare the growth that I recorded. But alot of people have said try to pollinate the first week in July,Good Question Brian.

Brooks

6/20/2005 2:39:23 AM

Rhode Island

six feet is ng, pick them off

if you get a second one 10 ft out go for it
keep in mind its the amount of healthy sides that makes some difference not just how far down the vine your fruit is

example----if you pollinate at 10 feet and you have 6 or 7 sides on each side of the main you should have enough plant to grow a large fruit however,i suggest you keep your sides at least 12 ft so the leaves are not all beat to hell by the middle of august

contine pollinating a couple more as brooks suggested just in case of problems in the first ten days or so
to me the ideal fruit length down the main is 12 to 14 ft min but as i mentioned earlier, you can still grow a heavy pumpkin at 10 ft

dick

6/20/2005 8:30:43 AM

Long Island,New York

Tell me when the best midsummer pumpkin growing weather will be and I'll answer your question.

6/20/2005 3:12:25 PM

Eugene, OR

Thanks for the info guys. Both my 833 and 765 were grown at 15-16 feet last year but my plants are way behind this year compared to last, which is the reason for the question. I probably won't grow a new PB but I need a boat pumpkin!

Glenn, I think we may have had consistently nice summer weather here around 1977 or so but I could be wrong. Actually, our last frost last season was during the second week of June and night time temps average around 50 degrees during July with highs in the upper 80's and lower 90's. We were back to highs in the 60's-70's and lows in the mid to lower 40's by August with a little warmer daytime temps later in the month. September typically brings cold weather with frost likely. The weather here is about as predictable as a 5 year old with a sugar rush. Things could be better this year and they could certainly be worse too.

For a good summary of the wonderful weather we have here, check this link: http://www.weather.com/activities/other/other/weather/climo-monthly.html?locid=97601&from=monthAvgGraph_bottomnav_undeclared

6/20/2005 6:17:07 PM

Utah

Brian,
Last year my 900 Sandvik plant was started later, May 3rd, and pollinted later, July 13th, than my other 3 plants. I was still able to get a 835 lb pumpkin off it. My two best were right around 900 lbs. So I'd say that you could stil 7xx boat.
Good Luck
Gordon

6/21/2005 8:44:12 AM