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Knopp, Germany

i am interested in anyones experience with getting a pumpkin to set in cold, wet weather. we are having temps in the low 50's with a constant drizzle and I wanted to hear if anyone has pollinated under those conditions and had success.

7/9/2004 3:10:59 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

Same weather here Owen except it's rain and not drizzle.
Tomorrow we'll see if my pumpkin sets...

I recall reading about people using ice to cool the female during pollination by hot weather so I don't think it's a bad thing at all but time will tell.

I can tell you that many of the pumpkins I've tried to set in hot weather have aborted though.

Hope some other people with more experience will chime in here for ya.

Best of luck this season with the 805!
Michel

7/9/2004 4:50:36 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Yes, Owen, this year's weather is annoying me!

It isn't the rain that I am complaining about as we really needed it but it is the extremely cold weather with high winds.

During the last couple days we had lows of 7 to 11°C at night and terrible storms!

But we haven't had 3 or 4 days in a row of nice warm weather this year.

My first pollinations seem to have taken but they are merely growing. It is just too cold, especially at night! If the weather doesn't improve soon I guess we will have no luck with our pumpkins this year.

The forecast is predicting highs of about 15 to 20°C for the next couple days along with rain and storms again!
When will summer finally arrive?

According to my experience, if a fruit grew very slowly due to cold weather, for the first 14 or 20 days it will not pick up on growth speed anymore when the weather improves. It has to have the nice weather from the beginning on!

I just pollinated 3 more females this morning. The female and male flowers stayed dry under the zip lock bags but it was so cold that I even had to wear a jacket.

What is everyone's experience with such weather conditions?

Best wishes,
Martin

7/9/2004 5:01:07 AM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

My 231 was set in simular conditions. The problem I had was getting what I thought was enough pollen. I think our High for the day was 54, low temperature was barely 40 degrees. I was worried about frost because I got up several times to check the weather that night and the temp icon showed it was 29 degrees. Which thankfully was an error..Got my heart pumping pretty good though.

7/9/2004 5:02:53 AM

Cologne / Germany

I did some test pollinations already, but not too early in the morning. Between 10 - 11 o´clock so that moisture from the night left and temps reached upper 60ties. So far only 1 took. Hope that´s no omen.

7/9/2004 5:08:43 AM

Knopp, Germany

.....sigh.....

i feel just like when i was a kid and got a new bike for christmas, except we had 3 feet of snow and i couldn't ride it.

.....sigh.....

7/9/2004 6:46:25 AM

Wroclaw, Poland (51 N, 17 E)

yeah. today i polinated female in low 60 and a lot of rain :/ I hope it will grow becouse it is in good place...

7/9/2004 7:02:30 AM

Deer Park, WI

Owen- Pollinations can occur at lower temps but there are some biological issues to consider. When the pollen is placed on the stamen, it sends out the pollen tube towards the ovaries in the middle of the fruit. Every grain of pollen digs a little tunnel to each egg, when they reach the egg, fertilization occurs, which results in seeds. This is a temperature dependent reaction. Too warm and the proteins degrade, the result is unsuccessfull pollination. Too cold, and the pollen tubes might not reach the embryos in time. Since the embryos are only receptive for a few select hours, those diggers need to get there quickly as possible. Im guessing that low seed count in a fruit could be due to low temps at pollination. Optimal temps for polliation are 70-80. 60-70 will work fine as well. 50-60 might become questionable, and 40-50 will probably result in problems.

7/9/2004 8:56:36 AM

Knopp, Germany

Thanks for the replies from all.

Joe, your reply gave me an idea...if I wrap the area of the vine and female with a soft towell, and then cover that with plastic, perhaps that will help bring the temps up a bit. What do you think?

7/9/2004 9:19:43 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

Thanks for the discussion Owen!
I think I'll try to work on a way to warm up my
female on the 582 tomorrow morning somehow.
Maybe a small plastic enclosure with a few candles inside possibly but I'll keep a thermometer in there and check the temps.
Too bad about our wind and cool weather but like Martin I'm glad to have some rain.

Doesn't look like I'll remove the greenhouse at all from my 582 plant this year. Last year a pumpkin plant would have fried up in June in a greenhouse and that's no lie!

Thanks for your expertise too Ailts meister!
Michel

7/9/2004 10:20:13 AM

Ohio

Joze, thanks alot for that information, I didnt know that.Thats interesting.
GOOD LUCK GERMAN!, hope the female takes.
Brooks

7/9/2004 10:06:23 PM

Germany (Kirchheim / Bavaria)

Hallo friends (Martin, Michel, Owen, "floh"...... and all other pumpkin growers) !
I work at a great dairy and I have to get up early in the morning. I begin at 06:00 a.m. and I finish work at 04:00 p.m. - Therefore I had (and I have) no other chance than to pollinate all my females between 05:00a.m. and 05:30a.m. All my pollinations during the last 2 - 3 weeks were successful - you may look at these pumpkins in my diary (--> musicpete).
Good luck to y´all - Peter

7/10/2004 4:03:17 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Sounds encouraging, Peter!

Like that we might at least get some pumpkins set even if they don't grow much after that... lol..

Today our high temperature was 15°C, no sun all day, high winds and some rain.
Last night's low temperature was 4.2°C - not far away from freezing - isn't it July when one should have 25 to 30°C during the day and at least 15°C at night?

Plants and fruits didn't grow an inch today! Seems like the 4.2°C shut everything down...

7/10/2004 6:05:55 PM

Knopp, Germany

you would think i never grew these things before.....on thursday she looked like she would open, the same way they all looked for the last 3 years...she finally opened this morning, 2 days later. it is still cold, 5.5 celcius this morning. i am not giving up, but man this is so hard to deal with. thanks for the positive feedback Peter, I hope that you are right.

7/11/2004 1:41:27 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

Still no word if my pollination took yesterday but I don't have such a great feeling about it even though I warmed up the female flower to about 25 degrees celcius for the whole morning.

It sure is cool weather for July and it sure would be funny if the largest pumpkin at Ludwigsburg is 21 lbs this year!

Pole beans that should be near the top of the poles by now are still only about a foot and a half high...

7/11/2004 4:05:47 AM