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Deer Park WA

Hi gang! Last year I opened a new pumpkin site on the south side of my house where the sun beats down on it all day. The plant was from Sherry LaRue's 1016#. While I planted all of my specimins at the same time I noticed that the 1016# matured 3 to 4 weeks earlier than the plants that had partial shade in the afternoon? I had shade covers over all of the fruits so I don't know why it matured so soon, other than the high ambient temps. (90 to 100 deg.) So this year I have built automated misting systems utillizing both timers, and remote bulb thermostats to try and "even out" the daytime highs and lows. Any thoughts on misting, or my 2000 1016# Larue?

3/12/2001 10:42:24 PM

Deer Park, WI

What date did you plant your plants? Plants rely on a physiological process called photoperiodism. In pumpkins, this process works much like trees in the fall, where the amount of daylight (actually its darkness) determines when the leaves will turn, or in your case the pumpkin will mature. Since the pumpkins in the partial shade did not get as much light as the LaRue, it threw off the plant's internal clock. Shading the pumpkin itself will not alter the photoperiodism response, its the leaves that are impacted by shade. Keep in mind that this is my best guess, and there may be other reasons for the early maturing.

3/13/2001 11:39:53 AM