re: any theories about quality of light and growth?

I've just hit that point in the season where I'm desperately grasping
for a key that will enable my last great hope, a 940 Mombert pollinated
on July 22, to turn into something more than a 400-500 pound pumpkin.  I
head out diligently twice a day to measure the thing, and, although it's
doing better than any pumpkin I'VE ever grown, it still hasn't kicked in
with the 4 or 5" per day that people like Glenn Needham see around day
15 or so.  I'm at 42" on day 17 but only putting on 3" per day.  Every
day I go out hoping to see that my punkie has kicked in and started to
go crazy, but to no avail.
MY LATEST theory is that the quality of the light here in Salt Lake City
is just too harsh for pumpkins.  When I traveled to Indiana and Michigan
last summer, the thing that I noticed most was the intensity of the
light, or rather the lack thereof.  The brightness out here in the
desert is so much more intense.  In the mid-west I feel like it's never
truly sunny, but that the light is always passing through some sort of a
filter (trillions of water particles from the humidity, I imagine).  My
measurements seem to back this up.  I've noticed that on bright, sunny
days my pumkins don't really grow at all during the day (maybe 1/4") and
that virtually ALL of the growth comes at night.  Last week, however, we
had a humid, partially cloudy day, and I noticed that my pumpkin grew
more during the day.  I'll have to watch for more of this to see if it
was just a fluke or mismeasurement or something.
So, what I'm wondering is if I need some sort of shade cloth, perhaps
even just huge sheet of translucent plastic (allowing for ventilation of
course) or something.  At the first of the season I was planning on
using shade cloth or lattice, but got strapped for time and money when
we had our baby.  I'm thinking that shade could make the difference, or
possibly very fine misters that simulate the humid hazy conditions of
the mid-west.
So, all this theorizing doesn't do any good unless it's backed up with
some data.
IS THERE ANYONE growing in a hot, dry, clear place who has noticed a
marked improvement from using some type of shade this year?
What do you think, is the quality of the light or the humidity a key
factor?

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