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Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=30089

Check out this diary entry and the following 6!

All I can say is sorry! That sucks!!! But you did everything you could... don't give up and keep us posted!

Your friend,

Martin

12/5/2004 8:52:38 AM

ontario

Ben I can't believe your poor luck.......hope things improve............wayne

12/5/2004 9:21:34 AM

[email protected]

Come on Ben! This glass is more than half full. All could have been lost & wasn't.

Now for the question that begs to be asked.

Who stood there taking pictures while they could have been shaking hail off the tarp?

12/5/2004 9:33:12 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Steve, to be honest, I was wondering about the same....

12/5/2004 10:25:36 AM

Joliet, IL

ever try standing outside when 1/2" size hail is coming down
at that rate?

12/5/2004 10:31:45 AM

Joliet, IL

sorry about the bad news ben, salvage what you can.
my buddy gene mcmullen had hail damage last year here
in Illinois about the same time in the growth cycle where
you are right now. his plants were shredded to the point of
almost no hope. even with hail damaged mains and secondaries and swiss cheese leaves, the plants rebounded and he still managed to get a nice 895 pounder.
i know that the weight of the shade cloth laying on the
plants is a different story, but his plants were hit so
hard that he said the leaves were leveled to the ground.

maybe after the weight is released some of the leaves
might pop back up nicely in a week or so. i would encourage
tertiary growth to fill in unsalvagable areas of the
plants to replace the damaged leaves. fight the good
fight ben, and thank God the other patch by Collin was
spared.

12/5/2004 10:45:07 AM

Lloydminster/AB

It looks bad now but who knows? I had my personal best on a plant that was flatened by a wind storm. Sometimes the plant gets a kick in the butt and decides that it needs to reproduce as quickly as possible...prediction 1500pounds!

12/5/2004 1:16:51 PM

[email protected]

Call me wreckless. There is a reason my body bears the scars & pains I endure. I foolishly earned them all. Hard-hats away & into the patch we go. There just aren't that many 845s to go around.

12/5/2004 1:19:04 PM

In the shade - PDX, OR

OUCH!

Hang in there Ben. Salvage what you can & move forward.

Good Luck

12/5/2004 2:31:41 PM

Sydney, Australia

Thanks guys! Yeah I was taking the photo's, thinking no problem, shadecloth has saved the day. Then it got bigger and kept on coming down. Couldn't believe it, then the collapse. Never seen hail last 20 minutes before!
Just been out shovelling hail this morning, managed to pop up most of the cloth and fix the fence up. The damage is not as bad as it looked! The 805 is virtually untouched, as is the 1301.5 Fair bit of damage to the 845 and 876, but they should keep on growing. Going to need a lot of bamboo to prop up all the flattened leaves. But should be able to go on fairly well. My dodgy shadecloth rig could take the 60mph wind gusts, but not barrowloads of hail..... lol.
Anyway a little bit of drama makes it all interesting, and more rewarding at the end. It would have been 10 times worse without the cloth, so I count myself lucky!!! Allright lets get on with it! Nice prediction Don! Hand me a hardhat someone! Ben

12/5/2004 4:25:46 PM

Key West, FL

your plants should become even more vigourus now, seems to happen when they take a beating. But why oh why didn't you go shake the hail off? lol.

12/5/2004 5:54:27 PM

New Hampshire

We are all cheering for you!
Sign: Your pumpkin buddies on the other side of the planet

12/5/2004 6:02:16 PM

Hobbiton New Zealand

I thought my plants took a hiding over the weekend from wind think I will not whine about it when you can still be positive. Clean up set it up again that has to be the worst of the crap over for the season.
Steve

12/6/2004 12:00:57 AM

Sydney, Australia

Shade cloth now all re attached, and a lot stronger than before. A few new posts added, any more hail and it should just bounce off instead of building up! Now lets see some pumpkins grow! Ben

12/6/2004 12:17:06 AM

Puyallup, WA

We hope that you will still produce a "whopper" in 60 days!
We admire your "spunk"!

12/6/2004 12:36:26 AM

Edmonton, Canada

Hey Boily, keep er going! My plants this year were totally shredded 3 times, and they kept coming back. It aint over till the fat lady sings, and I can't hear anything yet!

12/6/2004 9:50:02 AM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Yeah, but Smitty, would you hear her all the way from Edmonton to the Sydney Opera house? :-)

12/6/2004 12:01:37 PM

Sydney, Australia

Ben, you were right about them becoming more aggressive!!! They have gone ballistic, even ape sh*t!!! lol Vines are now cranking up a notch, young fruit are growing and the leaves are the most green I've ever seen with no weekly fertilize! Better get out there and bury them vines!!! Again.... Powdery mildew just reared its ugly head to, time to spray. Ben

12/7/2004 3:37:21 AM

Colo.Spgs.CO. Pikes Peak Chapter @ [email protected]

BOILY, here is a link to the stuff I used season, as we had the worst hail in the 100+ year history of growing here and it worked like a trampoline for the golf balls and marbles, and an occasional baseball......
http://www.pakunlimited.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=142&mode=thread(
good luck with the up and coming aggressive plant as it is a mad plant now .....

12/7/2004 5:14:12 AM

Sydney, Australia

James, thanks for the link, looks like good stuff for hail and 10% shade too! I've seen the stuff over stonefruit orchards. Guess its all how you rig it up, make it like a tent and all hail will just bounce off. I'm confindent the reset up shade cloth will handle a similar storm, hope I don't have to find out.... Ben

12/7/2004 7:02:17 AM

[email protected]

Hail brings down atmospheric Nitrogen. So they're growing like they were fertilized.....because they were! -- Steve

12/7/2004 7:46:05 AM

Abbotsford, B.C

Go Ben! WE all enjoy watching you; it's a distraction from the cold winter boredom of no pumpkins here, especially in Alberta. Right now it's a balmy -20 Celsius, with a wind chill factor of who knows what, and almost a foot of snow! Best of luck,

Cameron

12/9/2004 8:58:11 PM