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Nashville, TN

This is for those of us whom are located in areas of the country that are either: Flooding or in severe/extreme drought.

How are you handling your conditions, and how are your plants handling it?

I'm in severe drought (12" under precip to date).. But due to learning how to utilize soaker hose irrigation and mulch, and better soil conditions - my plants are doing fairly well...

7/9/2007 6:58:36 AM

Netherlands

In parts of central/northern Europe we are experiencing heavy rainfalls. In the Netherlands it has been raining for four consecutive weeks now. Some growers' patches are now under water. Mine are waterlogged, even though I have an extensive system of ditches. The plants on clay soil cannot get the nutrients out of the soil anymore. The leaves just shrivel up. Growth stops.

In the worst hit areas the lobes on the females are all distorted. The flowers don't open up properly or not at all.

The forecast for the coming 10 days at least is rain, cold and wind, so I expect very few pumpkins to be coming from the Netherlands this year, other than those in greenhouses. I have heard similar reports from France and Germany. England and Belgium have also had their share of rain.

7/9/2007 8:56:51 AM

ordinary,VA

teacher we are in the same boat here as well.no rain and very high temperatures & humidity.
added old straw to the patch this year hoping to keep moisture in the soil.also misting the plants 2-3 times a day seems to help. need rain....

7/9/2007 10:40:27 AM

lenoir city Tennessee

science teacher, i am not too far away and it is very dry here also,i have sprinklers set up kicking on three times a day to cool the plants and they are still looking stressed, some worse than others.watering about every day, heavy water every other day. pleased so far with the plants. wish it would rain. best of luck

7/9/2007 6:46:03 PM

Central Oklahoma ( [email protected])

Well its been really wet and no sunlight here this yr. I had to pull one plant and prolly gonna pull the other.. That really sucks but what can ya do. I guess I will get a jump start on patch prep for next yr.

Jon N.

7/9/2007 8:05:29 PM

Michigan

Here in Texas we are water logged for sure! My season has officially ended as of today. I was only able to salvage one pumpkin from my four plants. It was harvested today, and estimates 502 lbs. It stopped growing at day 41, the plant just couldn't survive being under water so much and for so long. My other 3 plants threw in the towel quite some time ago. I am disappointed, but happy with what I have considering the weather challenges this year. I'll be getting started with patch prep once we dry out a bit.

~Jessica

7/10/2007 12:34:32 AM

Powhatan,virginia

powhatan virginia hot hot hot dry dry dry very dry hopeing for the best but not looking very good

7/10/2007 11:28:13 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Finally not going over 90 today in Colorado after 10 days straight 90's with many close to 100 we are finally cooling down a bit. Even with misting I could not stop leaf flagging. I didnt loose any tips but have several leaves on long secondaries that got burnt...Returning back to the nintys after 2 days of recoup.

7/10/2007 12:18:49 PM

No Place Special

been very hot here in Iowa and have fried leaves everywhere. Cold spell coming in for a few days so we should be able to grow a few rows of normal leaves for a while.

7/10/2007 1:49:33 PM

Vermont

I'm trying to keep my head held high ! That's how I'm handling, Her!!!

7/12/2007 9:41:50 AM