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Edmonton, Canada

I have two fruit that split this weekend. The wierd thing is, neither fruit is growing very fast. In fact, they're both under 150 pounds. Stem stress wasn't a problem either, so..... what has been causing them to split?

My theory so far is the cold nights we've been having. It's only been a few degrees above freezing at night, for at least 10 days in a row. Is it possible that during the day, the interior of the fruit warms up, and stays warm, even as temperatures cool off in the evening? The outer portion of the fruit begins to cool, and doesn't want to grow like the inside, thus leading to splits?

What does everyone else think?

9/13/2004 11:53:33 AM

Taber, Alberta

Hey Smitty, do you cover your pumpkins with a blanket to keep some heat in? Just wondering if this would help in the cold. I cover my baby at home. The ones at the farm don't get that treatment, but I've had no splits yet, but we've only had plus 5 as a low so far. Just a thought. How's the moisture level in the soil? Have you had any spikes lately (oops, sorry, I forgot about the snow)
Alan

9/13/2004 1:40:43 PM

Sask, Canada

Well your some what on the right track Smitty,

If you feel your pumpkin you'll notice it is colder than ice or so it seems. This cold pumpkin, which by the way cannot create heat and would be the same temp in the cavity as on the flesh.

The night temps cool the fruit then in the am. the air outside around the fruit warms and with even the smallest amount of growth (pressure)...

BANG...

Your picking pieces of pumpkin out of the neighbours yard.
(depending on size of course.)

As an experiment with this theory take a frozen piece of water (ice cube) and put it into a warmer enviroment (glass of water) and the ice cracks.

This is of course based on different factors with the fruit, rate of growth such as moisture uptake and how much the pressure of growth is and how fast the temps rise.

Slow growth and slow temp rise should not cause a split.
Pick-up in growth with faster rising temps will cause a split.

I bet this happened after the snow melted in your patch and the temps started to rise.

Any ways sorry to hear this I hope they are not through the cavity and we can still see you at Smoky Lake.

Hope this Helped
TTYL
Ernie
Giant Veggies

9/13/2004 1:54:44 PM

Long Island,New York

Well...it would have to have something to do with growth or we would have seen posts like..."My pumpkin's been on display on the front lawn for two weeks now...it got cold last night and it got a blossom end split ! Whats up with that????..."....never seen a post like that before.

9/13/2004 2:11:07 PM

Rhode Island

smitty my ? to you is was the inside of the fruit rotted or wet? If so the poor girl might of reached the end of her growth cycle! The other thing I found this year....and i had 3 blow apart...is some fruit really didn't have good wall thickness, I blame this on the poor growing season we had!and maybe me being a "newbe"

9/13/2004 8:53:44 PM

Colorado Hail, CO. Elev. 5,900 FT

I believe Ernie has a good explaination for most of what happens to cause a split. There are actually more factors, such as temperature of the fruits micro-climate areas. There are areas of the fruit that get no sun or heating, and those areas stay ice cold. The heat vs cool areas of the fruit are pressure points. The difference of temperature from cold to warm meet up somewhere, and the warm area will be growing while the cold area won't. This is another observation I'd like to point out...
There also can be many other variables, like soil temp factors, nutrient variables and changes, drastic moisture
levels, effects caused by pruning techniques, genetic factors, and a few other things I'm sure!
Covering is only helpful if your warming up the fruit before you cover it up you attempt to trap in heat. Covering a cold fruit only traps in cold. That may be helpful if you do not want it to grow and you keep it on so fruit does not heat up much. Be careful with electric blankets if your heading down that thought path... You'll cook the skin if not careful, discolor it at worst, or ruin your wifes blanket. If you want to even out the cold and warm areas of the fruit, there are ways, but the time isn't worth it unless you got something large enough to justify that kind of treatment!
Marc

9/13/2004 10:16:02 PM

Edmonton, Canada

Thanks for all of the posts!

I have been covering them Alan, but as Marc said, I think I'm just trapping the cold inside!


This is an interesting topic, in a seaon of alot of splits!

P.S. I'm not sure if I'll be at Smoky Lake this year Ernie. I'm getting married on the 9th, so we'll have to see how broke and busy I am on the 9th!

9/14/2004 10:30:02 AM

Edmonton, Canada

oops, I meant how broke I'll be on the 2nd!

9/14/2004 10:30:19 AM

Taber, Alberta

Good point about the covering. I've been covering mine, but I've had better weather than you and it's still quite warm in early evening when they get covered.

9/14/2004 1:37:34 PM