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Re: Life After Death

Doug, sorry to hear that one of your big ones split.  This must be the year of blossom end splits.  I just had a second one split 24 feet out on my 789 Zunino.  The first one split at about 250 pounds.  This one made it to about 300 pounds.  I pollinated four pumpkins on the plant and this one on the main vine still grew too fast and split on the blossom end.


Olivia mourns the loss of Madaline - split on the blossom end

The last one that split on this plant I left on the plant to see what would happen.  I used capton power in the split and sealed the opening with clear silicon rubber glue.  The split just kept getting bigger each day and opening back up, so after a few days of this, I cut it from the vine.

A week later when I was inspecting the pumpkin to see if it was getting soft, the silicon rubber seal had blown out and the pumpkin was hot to the touch. Not warm - hot!  In spite of my best efforts to cauterize the wound and seal the pumpkin, it was cooking from the inside.

The moral of this story is: cut your pumpkin from the vine to keep it from splitting further. I would also move it to a spot out of the direct sun.  And, unfortunately, I wouldn't hold my breath.  All you can do is pray.  From dust it sprang, to soup it shalt travel before returning to dust again.

All is not lost in my patch as the 789 Zunino has three pumpkins remaining: one 300 lb.., one 250 and one at about 200. All three of them are growing at 10 to 15 lb.. a day.  And in the back patch on the dragon Calai is Beowoulf, at day 57 he sports 324 OTT (675 lb..) and is still growing an inch or two a day.

You can see Beowoulf grow at:

http://home.pacbell.net/diana_do/cam/dragon.htm

Good luck on your other two big ones.

vince
 

--- Doug.Parker@sce.com wrote:
> All........
>
> I need some advice.  After spending the past six
> weeks dutifully inspecting
> my two largest pumpkins for cracks (Greer Vader 676,
> 288 OTT and 567
> Zunino, 278 OTT, both day 54) for cracks, I suffered
> my first blossom end
> split this weekend (Bhaskaran 656, 249 OTT, day 44).
>  Two quarter inch
> diameter holes go clear through to the cavity.  I
> don't know how long
> they've been there or how much bacteria has taken up
> residence inside the
> cavity.  Pumpkin is still growing slowly, about one
> inch OTT per day.  I've
> plugged the holes with a Daconil & flour paste and
> am keeping it dry.
> Recognizing the end is inevitable, I want to
> maximize the chance that it
> makes it to Halloween.
>
> So... is it better to leave the pumpkin on the vine
> so long as it shows any
> signs of growth, or should I move it out of the
> patch (and the 90+ degree
> heat)  as soon a possible into a cool, dry storage
> area?  I realize this is
> a subjective call, but are there any rules of thumb
> that apply?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Doug Parker
> Sierra Madre CA
 

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