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Chico, Ca

I Asked this question last year. I thought I would try again to see if any new ideas have come up.

Q: Everyone that grows in hot weather go for ice after they pollinate the cool the female blossom.....

Is there any benefit to cooling, say, one to two days before the female opens? If heat stops pollination what is to say it does not also effect the maturation of the female before it opens? What about the males? It seems like weird logic to assume that the heat only has an effect after pollination and not at the last moments of development of the ovaries and pollen? The damage could be done before pollination occurs.

Studies show that men who frequent high temp hot tubs have a lower sperm count...Does heat have the same effect on plant reproduction? In high temps how many male flowers should you use to pollinate with? 2,4,6 ?

I will try to play with the precooling concept with one of our pollinators this season.

It will be over 110f this weekend here and we have a few to pollinate....lucky for us it was only 108F here today...

6/23/2006 3:54:58 AM

[email protected]

Pre-cooling sounds like a plausible idea. It certainly can't hurt!

More males might be good too but selecting males that have fully erupted but aren't too old might be more important than just having more of them.

Another "hot area" technique that gets very little discussion is forcing females open (razor blade) in the late afternoon or early evening the night prior to her normal opening. The idea being that she will still "take" but will have extra hours of coolness.

6/23/2006 8:17:59 AM

Wood River, IL ([email protected])

Is there anybody using this forcing female open method?? Because of the time I leave for work of a morning, this might work for me.

6/23/2006 9:41:42 AM

Chico, Ca

Most of the folks that work early mornings will force the female open early (like 2-3 am) dump in pollen and seal it back up as they are not around at six am when the flowers normally open.it works for them..

We haven't had the best luck with picking males the night before and forcing them indoors...

The ice method is the only way we can get anything to take.I have started to use thermometers in the foam huts we use to help gauge how much ice to use. It seems that it takes alot less then most folks think... we get half a day at 80 f inside from just a quart of ice. This is in conjunction with shade cloth and overhead misters.... I am looking to push the knowledge envelope for hot weather growing.With heat, plant maturation accelerates. I am looking for ways to abate this problem. My work is cut out for me. It is now 11:30 am and it is already 94 f out.


It is alot of work folks to the north do not have to worry about. I really laugh at folks up north crying about a 90F heat wave for three straight days when we get like 105f + for weeks at a time...

What are other hot weather growers trying? Any new secrets?

6/23/2006 2:30:10 PM

San Diego

my only problem with pre cooling is, "why do it if same day cooling already works?" I have never had any female abort in 6 years using the ice method on the same day, so..... why would I want to do more work and ice for many days with no improvement. There seems to be no reason for it.

6/23/2006 3:29:52 PM

Chico, Ca

Duster, What temps do you see when you pollenate 90? 95? 100? those temps are cool for us up here in the valley.
For those temps sameday ice does work. We get 105-110 f (like this weekend) sometimes during pollenation. We do get aborts even with ice treatments up here...It sounds like you do not have our problem. What if the plant is fine in development at say 100f or so but starts to have problems with developing fruit at 105 f over several days? Can you give a definitive answer to that? The answer could be no it does not matter.I am uncertain. If you need Ice at all to make pollenation work then 85 F might be where you could be seeing damage in the ovaries or the plants manufacture the hormones/enzymes/protiens, etc that will ultimately affect the overall size of the fruit.

High temp growers are not the ones setting records for weight. If pre cooling did do something to add weight then everyone in high heat areas would do it, right? Nobody knows because no thought has been put to it. I for one am not looking for more work in our patch but I am looking for that edge to help us better our P.B. or even give the Napa boys a run for their money.

I have no problem If someone could prove me wrong with my line of thinking. I am trying to stir up creative thought amongst our rank....People have found many old notions about raising pumpkins to be wrong. New techniques are always showing up. This Area of heat stress reduction is obviously unexplored.....

6/23/2006 5:14:31 PM

San Diego

I have never polinated in 110 degree weather, but I have done it in 105, 106, 102, 103,etc. So for my area, I just ice with a cooler, frozen bottle inside cooler, ice on outside of cooler replenished all day, covered by shade cloth and even misting with it. And I put a white trash bag under everything to help seal the coolness. I imagine it should work just fine in 110 heat too because my ice box stays pretty cool, but I don't have the experience trying. It's fine for you to be throwing out fun ideas! Just not something I would do.

6/23/2006 5:29:51 PM

Deer Park WA

Hay there C&R Kolb,

We get highs averaging 85 to 95 degrees here during the peak pollination times (July-1 thru July-20) and have never had a hand pollinated fruit abort. We water the plants with a heavy seaweed foiler spray the evening before the female is expected to open. Then pollinate early in the morning when the temp's hit about 60. Watering with seaweed the evening before pollinating seems to help get the Male/Female flowers in the mood while they cope with extreme temp's. (Equivelent to a bottel of Chardona?)

P.S As a side note,,, got my 1st female on the 1157 today; Seaweed/Viagra are standing by!

...Gerry

6/24/2006 1:06:20 AM

Nashville, TN

Last year - during 95-100 degree drought + HIGH humidity... Was about the time I was pollinating many of mine. Granted it was my first year - so I never bothered with Ice nor misting systems....I did pollinate pre-sunrise and tied the females shut.

Here's what I noticed:

Those varieties that showed the LEAST amount of heat stress - generally had no problems setting. Many of them were setting more pumpkins throughout the month of August - and I was constantly going out there and having to cull basketballs.

Those varieties that showed the most amount of heat stress - had more problems setting. Some didn't produce at all. Others had to be pollinated with one of the 'heat tolerant' variety males - before they ever set fruit.

6/24/2006 8:32:48 AM

Deer Park WA

Yes, as I have been saying here in squashville, the male pollinators do effect the current seasons outcome...

6/25/2006 2:47:04 AM

Nashville, TN

Seaweed/Viagra are standing by!

...Gerry


Seaweed for the Pumpkin - Viagra for you??? **grin**

6/25/2006 12:18:24 PM