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Canada

Good idea or not?

Reason I ask is because when my fruit at day 15 was basket ball size it was on styrofoam on blocks of wood, I brough home a 3ft x 3ft wooden pallet from work this week and placed a sheet of 1/4" chip board on top as the platform.

today i moved the pumpking at 70" OTT onto the new pallet
but moveing it up another 1" useing styrofoam under it
would have stressed my stem.

just wondering if by growing a fruit on just wood will harm the skin of the fruit in any way as it grows?

thanks

Dave

FUN BEGINS NOW ------ last 2 weeks its been on the cooler side with COLD nights and at day 16 my fruit is 70.5" OTT

not bad for a first year grower with terrible weather conditions i dont think. BUT this week is hitting the high 20's with warm nights so these suckers should really start to grow the way they should. ( I hope ) HA HA

8/22/2004 9:54:57 PM

Ontario, Canada.

Wood retains moisture. Moisture rots pumpkins.

8/22/2004 10:24:00 PM

San Diego

wood can be used fine if you keep the pumpkin and the wood dry if you use over head watering. I have used wood for 4 years, never had rot:) Jimmy

8/22/2004 10:43:43 PM

So. Maine

Been using 1/4 in. plywood for many years with very good results. I use 1 foot by 4 foot pieces starting with 1 under the pumpkin at basketball size then add to the sides as the pumpkin grows. This seems to keep the mice from building a nest right under pumpkin. I woulden't use particle board.

8/22/2004 11:21:44 PM

Canada

Yup the fruits are right on the wood itself, I actually purchased 4 pvc pipes and drilled 4 holes one in each corner of plywood 3'x3' platform and layed a tarp covering entire pumpkin ( mainly for pests) and to keep the sun off but i guess it will keep it dry at same time
thanks for info

later Dave

8/22/2004 11:35:30 PM

Cologne / Germany

This year I grow on wood pallets with some styrofoam topping the first time and it works just great, but I moved the pumpkins on the pallets pretty early in the season. They have small houses around the pallets and never had a single rain drop since. Styrofoam also stores heat under the pumpkin during the night.

8/24/2004 5:43:13 AM

Aldie, VA

I'm using one of my kids' foam play mats. The kind that interlock and have characters or a letter or number that you can remove. I've left the character in, of course.

I can add more to it, if need be, but I'm growing Big Max so I probably won't need more than one.

Is this type of thing okay?

Here's a pic from my diary:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=26588

8/24/2004 7:54:25 AM

C N Y

house insulation, otherwise known as Celo-Tex or
Rigid---something. stuff that goes between the frame of a house and the outer shell or siding, etc.....available at Chase-Pitkin, Home Depot, etc.....
i cut a 4 X 8-foot piece into 2-3 X 4s and the 2 X 4 is just off to the side waiting for a purpose...
this stuff has aluminum foil on both sides of it, and is made of like fiberglass foam...i am happy with it so far, and i can carefully walk on it around the fruit. costs about 13 dollars, is very easy to cut and i am sure it is reuseable. good to go! eric

8/24/2004 7:33:07 PM