From

Location

Message

Date Posted

South Hill, Virginia

Now that we are consistently in the 90's I have noticed something interesting in my patch. We had a 90+ degree day with lots of sun and my 788.6 Dopp looked like it was on the verge of death while my 275 Desrosiers had almost no noticeable wilt. Since I first noticed this the Dopp has stopped growing and what was new growth at the vine tips looks burnt up. During this same time the Desrosiers keeps growing very quickly.

The only differences in the two plants is that the Desrosiers is two weeks older and has two pumpkins set on it. The Dopp has larger leaves that are a darker green and her main vine is thicker but she just can't stand the heat. She picks back up after several minutes of misting but then wilts again shortly after the misting ends.

Has anyone else in the warmer climates noticed that certain plants are more heat tolerant and which ones are they?

I've posted a picture of the wilt in the photo gallery under the title "Heat Tolerance".

7/5/2001 11:52:14 AM

western Kentucky

I noticed that my 769 Wentzell does not like the heat at all. I am using shading to cool my plant(it is a ''shading cloth'' made for this purpose and blocks about 20% of the light) Everything in under it is doing great, but as soon as it grows out from in under it ... zzappppp!! The leaves wilt and die around the edges, I hope that I can get some more cloth with in the next few days.

The 200 A. Wolf is in direct sunlight form about 6:00 am-2:30 pm and shows no signs of heat stess, but I planted it late and some of the leaves are deformed.

Maybe it has something to do with where the pumpkin, that you got the seeds from, was grown.

769 Wentzell- Nova Scotia
200 A. Wolf- Allegany, NY

Justin

7/5/2001 1:07:17 PM

Walnut Creek, CA

Something interesting that I notice about my plant...Heat tolerance. Before my plant began vining we had a 100+ heat spell for about five days, I used shade cloth to keep all tender new growth in shade ( same as Bob did ) I also set up a mister on a timer, and this helped in the hottest parts of the day. Now we just got through our third heat spell of 110, yes the vine is alive and setting fruits!!!

My pumpkin is now about 900 leaves has two nice fruits on main and back door main vines. I think that this plant is aclimating to these horrible temps. I do still mist twice a day, and water with drip hoses each morning, but this "Live and Let Die" vine is changing it seems to be toughening up. I will try to save the seeds of whatever I do grow and these should be more heat tolerant than even this plant. These seeds came from Stew McKinley in Lake Elsinore California, Thank You Stew!!! They are out of his 635 lb. pumpkin.

Judi :}

7/5/2001 11:45:57 PM

South Hill, Virginia

That sounds promising Judi. Hope I can talk you out of a couple of those seeds for next year:)

110? I thought I had it bad!

7/6/2001 2:39:24 AM

Herndon, VA

My 600 Desrosiers also does very well in the heat. During a few 94-96 degree days, I saw wilt on less than 5 leaves (over 200 leaves on the plant). The rest of the plant looked very happy wand was growing like crazy. --Bruiser

7/6/2001 9:16:28 AM