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Canada

I'm starting to think that the lack of sun my patch gets is haveing an effect on why my plants are so green with very little to NO fruit, the vines are growing like crazy upwards of 10 + Inchs per day with the heat we have been getting but there has been a lack in females , my fathers patch gets sun all day and hes got around 10 females pollinated and growing like crazy with around 2-3 females opening up every single day. once my females do arrive they take upwards of 2.5 weeks before the flower opens ( IF THEY OPEN) and ive only had 6 females with NOT ONE takeing yet.

Hmm my patch gets full sun from around 11am till around 4pm
thats only about 6 hrs of sun per day and before too long the amount of light will get shorter..

Plans for 2005.

patch expanding up to 20 ft x 20 ft Going to be getting rid of a few trees that block sun and will be trimmim others.

any possible chance it could be the lack of sun thats giveing me problems in my patch?

thanks
Dave.

7/24/2004 4:08:06 PM

Cologne / Germany

Interesting question. As soon as there´s too much sun many growers start to shade plants and fruits. If you have some natural kind of shade like a tree, some growers start looking for a chainsaw to get rid of it.
That´s something I never really understood. You cover your fruits, however they mostly grow at night, and what you basically need is steady warm temperature.

7/24/2004 8:04:10 PM

Canada

yup thats what always got my wondering as well, My plants
get good sun dureing the hotest part of the day soil stays warm all night and plants grow a good 10+ inches dureing the dark hours of night.

Dave

7/24/2004 10:16:27 PM

Ohio

Dave, My 1081 doesnt get sun till atleast 10.am,and its growing good, I just wonder how much bigger this pumpkin would be if it had a full day of constant sun light.

7/25/2004 2:46:45 PM

ontario

Dave here in Ontario the sun has been lacking no doubt, but strange enough I am having my best season plant and fruit wise.....plants big healthy and fruits bigger than I normally get at 10 days old.......the usually aborts and odd trouble which is part of the hobby....I don't think its the amount of heat rather the steady daily warmth that gets us the best results.....I know of others with mind blowing early results, but remember its a marathon not a sprint...I compare each year and so far other than later pollinations I am very happy...another thought.....early pollinations and small plant or later pollinations and a monster plant behind it to feed it.....????

7/25/2004 5:28:16 PM

[email protected]

Some trees (Locust, etc) cast a bright dappled shadow. Other produce zero light shadows so dense nothing can grow under them (Norway Maples, etc).

Part of the shading issue is one of proximity to the equator. Too close & light rays are more intense than most AGs can deal with. Too far from the equator & while the day length increases, the length of the season is significantly shortened by lower temperatures.

Just right & your Bruce Whittier's neighbor.

7/25/2004 6:24:44 PM