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Nashville, TN

OK.. been reading again.... got several questions:

Should I just go ahead and remove all flower buds for the first 8' of vine - then let the remaining flowers set into pumpkins past this point???

When should I start 'training' the vine into an 'S' shape around a growing Pumpkin??

I've gotten some good 'secondary root growth' periodically along the vine by covering sections with hay/straw - should I continue to encourage this along the entire vine??? I usually do this with the large gourds.

This drought year seems to have been bad for the pests as well (they're having a hard time living as well it seems...) I've managed to control them with just the soap & liquid Seven dust blend - sprayed weekly. Haven't had to resort to the systemic as of yet... If I don't need to use systemic - I'd like to know how 'edible' GPs are - good use for those that don't 'make the cut' **grin**

6/24/2005 9:22:36 AM

milford, CT,

Last year I made pumpkin pie filling from my 384 lber. I notice the meat was awefully watery compared to regular field pumpkins. Takes a lot longer to cook the pie. I did get enough pumpkin pie filling for 100 pies. Gave most of the filling to the ladies at school. Alot of work but it
tasted mighty good though! If you really want to make pies I would use regular pumpkins, less water! Also be aware of what you put in your patch for fungicide and insecticide.

6/24/2005 1:43:28 PM

Long Island,New York

If you remove all your flowers what will you pollinate with?

6/24/2005 2:13:43 PM

[email protected]

Ditto G....You need males to pollinate with and they don't use as much enegry growing as females. Once you have a fruit set then remove all flowers so as to discourage insects.

6/24/2005 9:52:28 PM

Nashville, TN

But I KNOW I don't what the fruit to set just 3' from the main stalk! And I believe that they're behaving just like my giant squash - with new flowers budding at each leaf joint all the way down the vine.... So I'm assuming that I need to remove the flowers from the first 8 feet - train the vine into an 'S' shape ... and then let the budding flowers mature (on the vine AFTER the 8' mark)

So I went ahead and removed the flowers that were close to the main stalk this morning... MAN this heat is really causing a growth/maturity spurt on the flowers!! Vines that only had 1-2 yellow flowers on Thurs - Had 10 open flowers this morning... TONS and TONS of buds forming along the vines past the 8' mark!!

I've had no problem with fungus - no rain/moisture here to help it along **grin**

Do have another question: Since it's so hot (95....) I think I'll cook the flowers by putting clear plastic bags on them to avoid open-pollination.... Can I use paper bags??

6/25/2005 8:24:01 AM

Long Island,New York

Use cheesecloth and drape it over and snug up around the blossom....it keeps the flower closed, its reusable, its cheap,and it breaths, and if you twist it into a rope you can use it to tie the female closed after pollinating.
They are all the same variety....even the green ones for the most part.
Look at the way the flowers open up. Timing is everything. If you cut the male flowers from the female to the stump then you've eliminated the flowers that were to open the same time as the female. Its usually the males between the female and the stump (the ones you removed) that are available for the pollination time.

6/25/2005 8:54:40 AM