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How does PH affect the pumpkin plant?
Trying to figure out if a higher PH means heavier to chart pumpkins.
I'm thinking that if your soil PH is on the high side, you have a better chance of heavy pumpkins!!!
Skip Simpson's 801 Stelts went very heavy and he also has a higher PH, Jack larue has a higher PH and throws heavy pumpkins,
Just thinking out loud, input please
Eddy

10/10/2007 9:43:03 PM

Rexburg, Idaho

nah I don't buy it. My pH is 8.0. I'm not sure if there are many growing in pH that high. Every one of my pumpkins (8 of them) went light 1071 -12%, 1040 -1%, 1016 -5%, 876 -7%, 859 -18%, 852 -8%, 774 -.2%, 744 -9%. I don't think pH is the answer. I have no idea what is.

10/10/2007 10:59:04 PM

7.4 here at start of season

10/10/2007 11:02:58 PM

Picton,ON ([email protected])

My base PH is 8. I have been working to lower it to 7. Am at 7.5 now and just added a pile of sulfur. I have had pumpkins go 17% heavy and 20% light.

The bottom line is most of the nuitrents are less available at high PH. 6.8-7 is best for nuitrent availability.

I cant seen to break the 1000 lb mark and I feel PH is a big part of the problem

10/10/2007 11:20:06 PM

Cornell, Wi

I think calcium is the answer to large heavy fruit, I feel a heavy fruit is only heavy when compared to charts which are usually accurate, but not to dissapointed when they dont hit the charts, I personally wont be mad if I grow a 425" that goes a little light, now as for ph maybe the higher ph levels are a result of plenty of lime, which is calcium, which I feel is the secret to growing big fruit it seems that alot of big fruit growers are adding serious amounts of gypsum, which dont effect ph but is still calcium.

10/10/2007 11:23:39 PM

[email protected]

6.5 - 7.4 is an acceptable range for AGs.

10/11/2007 12:11:19 AM

Key West, FL

I'm thinking along the likes of cotterpins... If there is any correlation, growers who have higher pHs probably tend to have higher amounts of calcium from all the lime they added.

10/11/2007 12:49:25 AM

Ohio

I tried to keep my Ph at a steady 7.0 and I think this helped me. Through out the season while the plants where growing I took 3 or 4 PH level tests(Ron@Dick does this Im almost sure, but I think they do theirs through tissue testing the plant) but while my plants was growing my Ph would drop, I would use the lime that I thought would disolve the quickest to do this. I then would bring it back up and try to keep it at a steady 7.0, my soil PH never went above 8.0 . I wouldn't send my PH readings to a lab while my plants where growing, I would just use the standard store bought test to check my PH levels, I would test 4 or 5 diffrent places in my patch to get a someone acurate reading doing this.My PH right now after the pumpkins are all gone from the patch is right around 6.0, so that shows me how the plants take this from the soil. Im no expert by any means when it comes to soil, this is just something I tried that I think helped me.

10/11/2007 7:03:18 AM

[email protected]

Now that does made sense Cotterpin

10/11/2007 9:40:20 AM

To clarify what Brooks said... the plants don't "take" pH from the soil... it's lost through all kinds of complicated processes like leaching and cation exchange, none of which I claim to recall completely from my Soil Fertility course a few years back.

At varying pH's, certain elements/nutrients are more or less available to a plant. This is why deficiencies and toxicities are often due to a pH problem, not the actual soil levels of the element in question.

10/11/2007 10:21:13 AM

This chart shows what I described above.
http://www.avocadosource.com/tools/FertCalc_files/pH.htm

10/11/2007 10:22:53 AM

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Ditto to CountyKid. Nutrient availability is the biggest factor (along with a couple others like genetics) that contributes to Calcium is the answer to keeping your fruit together. Calcium promotes better and stronger cell wall formation so if you grow really fast you wont explode. be careful about going crazy with gypsum, as there have been past discussions regarding its high sulphur content.

10/11/2007 11:01:24 AM

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Ahh, forgot to finish my sentence. I am in class (lab part) and a student asked me a question and I lost my place. Job always getting in the way of pumpkins...haha. Should have read

...contributes to big size. Calcium....

10/11/2007 11:02:58 AM

[email protected]

My patch has low pH. But I have enough calcium and pottasium. My biggest fruit went 23.88% heavy. Of course, genetics are also a big factor. I

I wonder what effect water volume has on heavy/light. And length of day, direct sun light, also.

10/11/2007 12:31:17 PM

Ohio

thanks Brigg!!, Im glad you knew what I ment,lol!!

10/11/2007 4:32:00 PM

Not to beat this to death,,but pH varies almost on a dailey basis throughout the growing season,,,get it within the guidelines and you're good to go.....

10/11/2007 5:36:05 PM

Phoenix, AZ

Here is my take: Humidity

Look into this as a factor. Reason being, the pumpkin dries out even as it is growing. Perfect example of this is after harvest, you can weigh a fruit on day and then a week later it is lower in weight.

Example is Brian C. in ID. If I remember correctly, he is high desert. Lower humidity than other parts of the country. Me for example, we see 10-15% humidity during my growing season and my fruit went 10% light.

Other things for you to think about.

10/12/2007 10:00:39 AM

Pocatello ([email protected])

Hmmm... very interesting idea. Maybe that's the real reason we shade the fruit.

10/12/2007 10:41:23 AM