Re: Sprouting in pumpkin FLESH
I remember reading in an old Organic Gardening magazine that said if you are willing to sacrifice one of your pumpkins in the fall by burying it whole, then next spring you would get a 2 to 3 week head start and a much stronger growth (plus many to select from)than the way we plant our crop. Of course, due to the size of our pumpkins, this would not be practical but there must have been some benefit to having the pumpkin flesh for the plants to feed on.....Ken Reinsborough
rxpert@mindless.com wrote:
> I think the reason they sprout so good in the pumpkin is the warm moist environment, Like a greenhouse inside, and the seed is still soft because it has not yet dried and dosent have to be rehydrated after drying out. Also no fungus inside the pumpkin as long as it is still a sealed environment and has not cracked. I think trying to use some previously frozen pimpkin flesh as a growth medium will not be good, for one freezing breaks the cells open and it will be mush when you defrost it, and mold will grow on it then (unlike the sealed sterile environment inside the unopened pumpkin) as long as the pumpkin was bug free plowing the pumpkin back into the soil a lot of growers do to return nutrients to the soil.
>
> ---- you wrote:
> > I threw this concept into my daily "Garden Forum" on the Net. The
> > responses have been slated towards the concept that the flesh of the fruit
> > is for the attraction of birds and animals which they do ingest the seeds.
> > It is Nature's way of spreading the seed throughout the countryside. Did
> > you ever look at eldeberry squirts on your aluminum siding?
> >
> > Another gardener has tried using the flesh, and had nothing but trouble.
> > Everything turned moldy and fungus covered.
> >
> > Anyways, I still like the idea. Try it.
> >
> > Bill Sadowski, Ohio, wind chills below zero tonight
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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
> >
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Get your free email from AltaVista at http://altavista.iname.com
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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
