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milford, CT,

Anybody have an opinion about females not maturing after a good set is made on the main vine. I have a 13 day old set pumpkin that's going at a good clip and the female 4 ft downstream shrunk up and never matured? Mark

7/9/2007 9:49:02 PM

southwest MO

Well you know what they say about opinions!! Ive had the same thing happen. In fact after cutting the 1st pollenations off of 2 of my plants (because they were a bit early) the 2nd pollenations (which looked to have taken) aborted. So consequently I'm growing the 3rd pumpkin set on each. My opinion is in this situation that the plant has chosen the fruit its going with and has already culled the second pumpkin its self... I thought I read in a post here recently that you could just pinch the first early females to avoid the temptation of pollenating them. Do you have a 3rd pumpkin on that main coming along???Because if you really dont want that 1st one I would get it off soon, or go with it. I would love to hear other opinions.

7/10/2007 10:27:33 AM

milford, CT,

I'm going to leave the first one on and hopefully the next female doesn't abort. It is the only plant I have that has a shot this year so I'mnot going to mess with it just because it isn't exactly the cross I wanted to make. I would have preferred 1273 Howard x 1250 Kline but 1273 x self and a pumpkin at the end of the season is better than nothing at this point.

7/10/2007 11:02:22 AM

Colorado

Hot day time temps can be the cause of females aborting.
Placing two quart jugs of frozen water next to the female
during the day saved my bacon last year as I was having
the same problem with aborts. I also left the cap off of
the jugs. As the ice melts a micro environment is created
that if favorable to the pumpkin. Good luck.....LB

7/10/2007 11:39:26 AM

Farmville, Virginia ([email protected])

I agree with Longbeard, I have become a firm believer in the ice method.

7/10/2007 6:08:25 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Up until this year, I was a believer in that heat affected early pollinations. However, my most successful pollinations have taken place from July 1-July 10-the hottest part of the season. This year was my earliest pollination on June 25 and, so far, is my best set. But the largest number of successful pollinations have occurred between the aforementioned dates. I am beginning now to think that AG's have a "turn on" period.

7/10/2007 10:21:11 PM