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In the shade - PDX, OR

2 out 4 so far & I'm not pleased.

The question is if Mother wanted these Giants to grow so big then why in the heck didn't she make them with better stems? Shouldn't they be able to handle the weight gain like the fruit itself?

Growth has been very consistent & even so far - 2" cir gains & 15 to 20 lbs daily.
The only fert is fish & seaweed - no synthetics.

8/18/2004 1:27:20 AM

[email protected]

If Mother had her way, I wouldn't have culled 14 fruit of the 842 Eaton. LOL

Maybe she's getting even with us.

You've got me thinking though. Potassium is "the element" for making stronger stems on some herbaceous plants with notoriously weak stems. Try to imagine offering cut flowers to a florist that won't stand up in a vase but rather keep flopping over. Potash time.

Maybe in our zeal to improve soils with high potash ferts &/or organic amendments like horse poop, greensand, etc we force our plants into producing an overly brittle stem.

Just a thought.

8/18/2004 6:40:20 AM

Western NY

i think steve may be on to something there. just from my own experiences the last 2 years.

8/18/2004 8:32:06 AM

Indiana

hmmm I put alot of horse poop on my garden this year and im having stem splits, but then again my stem split on the one i didnt put horse poop on. I think its the funky weather.

8/18/2004 9:23:07 AM

Cologne / Germany

Have a pollinator patch where 2 plants grow wild now. That place used to be my compost pile for the last years. Some open pollinated pumpkins there, ALL of them split at the stem, then the fruits "exploded". Pic in my diary. It also made me think that maybe a "decent" soil is what one should look for.

8/18/2004 9:35:34 AM

Western Pa.

I also believe a lot of it is caused by positioning, overhandling, and failing to relieve stem stress! I don't think Mother Nature had any idea what we'd be doing to her! Maybe she's trying to tell us something with the weather she's been throwing at us lately!

8/18/2004 10:44:39 AM

Puyallup, WA

IMHO, stem splits are a combination of genetics and vine tension combined with size of the pumpkin. Seems that the wider the shoulders of the pumpkin, the greater probability of stem splits.

PS. I'm sweating one out myself as we speak!

8/18/2004 4:38:18 PM