SE Mn July Update
After complaining about all the rain and cool weather received in this
area during June, the weather has changed. The first 8-9 days of July,
the patch received 6.25 inches of rain. Since that time, almost nothing.
In general, the temperatures have been in the upper 70s and low 80s with
lows in the 60s or upper 50s. For southern Minnesota, we will not
receive much better weather than that for pumpkin growing.
The first pumpkin was pollinated on July 7 and pollination continued
daily through July 19. With 12 pumpkin plants, there are a lot of
females to pollinate. I usually used three males to pollinate each
female. This is first year in which I was able to pollinate at least one
pumpkin on each plant by July 15. Right now, I have 24 pumpkins with a
circumference of at least 40 inches.
My top five pumpkins are:
693 Heyne 98 -- 205 OTT -- At 20 days, the circumference was 74 inches.
It looks like it will have an one hundred inch circumference by the 27th
day. Presently, it is growing at 20 pounds a day (last six days = 123
pounds). The plant and its leaves are huge. Pollinated on 7/7.
783 Baird 99 -- 188 OTT -- At day 20, the circumference was 66.5
inches. The plant and leaves of this plant are small - probably the
smallest of my 12 plants. Pollinated on 7/8.
584 Heyne 98 -- 171 OTT -- At day 20, the circumference was 72.5 inches.
Pollinated on 7/11
837 Thorson 99 -- 147.5 OTT -- Pollinated on 7/11
776.8 McNamee 98 -- 130 OTT -- Pollinated on 7/14
The first three pumpkins are shaded. The fish/seaweed mixture is the
fertilizer that is presently being used. The long range forecast is for
sunshine and pumpkin growing weather. That is exciting news to hear.
Just missed some hail and rain yesterday by about ten miles. Hopefully,
this is my year.
George Heyne
Rochester, Mn.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pumpkin-growing FAQ: http://www.mallorn.com/lists/pumpkins/search.cgi
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
