Re: 2000# Pumpkin Paradox
- To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: 2000# Pumpkin Paradox
- From: "* R* <r*@hotmail.com>
- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 09:18:32 PST
>>...Even some silly explanation based on something you observed could
be a key to the answer of the 2000# pumpkin pair-a-ducks!
> >Rick >>
> There are two phases to a pumpkins development....cell division and
cell enlargement. At the beginning... cells begin dividing,.... Large
fruited varieties probably have a longer period of cell division.... The
more cells, the larger the ultimate pumpkin after the enlargement phase.
So the ultimate size of your pumpkin may be cast in stone at a
relatively early stage. Is the Atlantic Giant converting to cell
expansion when it is the size of a basketball, beach ball or 80 inches
in circumference? I don't know yet. ....
> pumkinguy@aol.com
I don't know about the multiple fruits discussion where this
started, but Wayne's knowledge here strikes me as important for growing
the largest possible pumpkin from a given seed.... It corresponds to
humans: a high-protein diet during pregnancy, especially in the last
month, actually produces more fetal brain cells than a low-protein diet.
Then toddlers & small children need lots of high-fat foods, which
encourage growth of more, and more complex, dendrites. But around age
5, development of brain cells/dendrites levels off. No matter how much
protein or fat they get later, it won't affect the brain cells the same
way. You've just got that one window of opportunity.
So. What do we know about growth and nutrients for pumpkins
in that early stage? We hand pollinate to get total pollination, which
produces the most PGR hormone. Don Langevin talks about stressing
phosporous for seedlings & pre-fruit plants and stressing potassium from
late July on. He just says use a balanced fertilizer in between. But
I bet some of you veterans out there have growth records and the
experience to have ideas about specific nutrients that might especially
enhance that cell-division stage, and thereby enhance the maximum
potential of a given fruit.
Another issue is how to figure out exactly when the cell-division
process is occurring. What does this take - sacrificing a few pumpkins
and a plant physiologist? Rick, this is your kind of thing, isn't
it?
Any thoughts or speculation, folks?
Beth
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