Re: How long to leave tied shut
Dan
How is that Kennedy 625 doing?
My 625 is not my biggest plant - then again it was not last year either - it
is about 14 feet long and 16 feet wide - nice growing plant though - lays
out in the tree shape easy - no strange vine angles or such.
Do you have many pollinated yet?
As of this morning I am at 16 females pollinated on 20 plants.
Did your Kennedy 625 females start out looking green then around pollination
time appear yellow with green stripes? I can not remember if my 625 last
year was the same way - but I thought my this years version was going to
produce squash.
What really works well for me for pollination is to get a hold of a bunch of
old women's nylons (not nylons from old women - just old nylons:) and cut
the toe section out about 6 inches long, then cut the remainder of the leg
section into 8 inch strip and tie a knot in the end of each of these
sections to form a little sock.
Then each night I go out and check all the plants and look for the flowers
about to open the next morning and put a nylon on them. After awhile it gets
really easy to tell how many days till each female will open by how firm the
flower petals feel at the tip. Usually the night before the tip of the
flower will not feel quite as "sharp"
and there will be a little orange showing at the tip. Anyway I am sure you
know that part. Same applies to the males. So I go around just before dark
and put nylons on all my females for the next day then decide who to cross
them with and do the same with the male blooms. They work great - you do not
even need to tie them at the flower stem as the nylon will keep the flower
closed until you pull it off and voila - the flower pops open for the first
time right there in front of you. The nylon fits tight around the base of
the little pumpkin and there is no danger of any bugs getting in there to
pollinate it before you get there. Then when pollination is done you simply
pull the nylon over one of your hands -collect the flower petals all back
together - cover the flower with your hand with all fingers pointing towards
the little pumpkin and roll the nylon back down over the flower.
There could not be a easier method that I can think of. I leave the covered
female on for a day or so then remove gently - ( I know what you are
thinking - but I have not broken a female off yet in 2 years - and hundreds
of repetitions of this process). Another benefit of the nylon is that all
the time that it is on there it still lets air in around the flower.
Try it out let me know how it goes - just do not let the neighbors see you
running around the garden with the nylons!
Glenn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carlsons" <carlson@sanasys.com>
To: "pumpkins" <pumpkins@mallorn.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 08, 2000 8:13 AM
Subject: How long to leave tied shut
> List,
> I usually go with open pollination after I hand
> pollinate....figuring nobody is really going to use my seeds
> anyway...but I have started the hand pollinating tech. and this time I
> tied the female shut till 8:00 and then let her open...hand pollinated
> ..and tied her back shut..the males were picked before they opened and
> placed inside in a cup of water so that nothing could come and visist
> them before I used them....This about the right way to do it??
> And how long do I have to leave the female tied shut?? I have read
> where there is only about a 3 hours window where pollinating in
> effective....so it's been 24 hours ..can I untie her of not??? Thanks
> Dan Carlson In Iowa
> Right on the mighty Mississippi
>
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