RE: 2000# Pumpkin Paradox
- To: "'pumpkins@mallorn.com'" <pumpkins@mallorn.com>
- Subject: RE: 2000# Pumpkin Paradox
- From: "* J* <M*@doaks.org>
- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 15:22:55 -0500
AGodzilla!
>---------
>From: Ernest Quintiliani[SMTP:click@ma.ultranet.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 1998 4:54 PM
>To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
>Subject: Re: 2000# Pumpkin Paradox
>
>Dearest Pumpkineers,
>
> Why do I get the feeling that eventually one of you is going to
>genetically engineer a pumpkin that will somehow threaten the very existance
>of mankind? I have seen armageddon, and it is orange. And pretty damn big.
>(With great big ugly fangs...)
>
>
>Ernest
>
>Beth Rado wrote:
>
>> >>...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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