RE: pollinating and terminating

I would. However when I am in the patch most often, I am in my underwear.
This would make most people puke.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pumpkins@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf Of
Debbie Runkle
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 9:51 PM
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Subject: Re: pollinating and terminating

Steve, can you send me a video?  I might learn some dance moves.  







________________________________
From: Steve Haberman <shaberman@insmgt.com>
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Sent: Mon, July 19, 2010 11:50:35 AM
Subject: RE: pollinating and terminating

Deb,
When I started growing, I had a very small patch in the back yard of my
college-days rental house. I grew vines over grass as you are doing. I know
that some are not as fortunate to have acreage like we do. However, I
personally have found that the secret to this "obsession" as stated earlier,
is soil. I put an enormous amount of time into testing and conditioning my
soil. Some patches have taken me a couple of years, truckloads of material
and back breaking work (as well as lots of broken tractor parts). I have
done OK on grass but if you have the room, till up the ground next year.
    As far as working in the web of vines......my secret is 6 to 8
Budweiser's, followed by Tai Chi tiptoe and cat like dexterity. My kids call
it Dad's vine boogey.
    By the way, I always squish a few vines here and there. I am not as
light on my feet as I once was.... but I am wiser.
Hope you get a big one!
Steve Haberman


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pumpkins@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf Of
Debbie Runkle
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 12:10 AM
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Subject: Re: pollinating and terminating

Ok.  I'll let the main go another few days.  As I have mentioned before, I
am 
growing over grass and am placing soil under the vines as they grow.  My
main is 
now approx. 25 feet long and is moving quite rapidly across my yard.  It is
now 
about 6' beyond the female that I pollinated.  I have kept it going in the
event 
that the pollination did not take.  I would like to terminate soon, but also
do 
not want to risk losing the existing pumpkin and not having one on the main
that 
I can pollinate later as a backup.  My understanding is that the plant needs
the 
leaves to convert energy, i.e. keeping the secondaries as long as possible.

When you let your plant fill in your patch, what is your secret to walking 
around in it or between the secondaries?  


Also, do you mainly water around the stump vs. the vines?  I have approx. 6
to 8 
inches of topsoil over clay.  That is very typical for where I live.  Let's
say 
you rototill down 6 to 8" and then hit the clay.  Do the roots go deep
enough to 
penetrate the clay?  Has anyone experimented auguring or using old holes
from 
stakes as a way to water? My thought is depending on how deep the roots go,
this 
could be a way of deep watering.  Any thoughts?

Debbie





________________________________
From: Joe Pukos <jpukos@rochester.rr.com>
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Sent: Sun, July 18, 2010 12:31:30 PM
Subject: Re: pollinating and terminating

Debbie,

After a week or so, the new pollinations should be giving you a good
indication of which direction they are heading. As long as they have that
shiny and new look, that's a good thing. If they start to look dull, that's
bad and probably means they're not going to make it. If you are growing
competitively, setting a fruit on the main is heavily favored over growing
one
on a secondary. For sure, all the biggest pumpkins in the world were grown
on
the main vine. I like to have my secondaries all terminated by the end of
July. At that time, my 750 sq. ft. area for each plant is filled up.
Sometimes
I terminate my mains and other times, I allow them to grow around the edge
of
the patch for the entire season. I've had good luck doing it both ways.

Joe Pukos

Leicester, NY





----- Original Message -----
From: "Debbie Runkle" <yorunk13@att.net>
To: "pumpkin" <pumpkins@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 11:59 AM
Subject: pollinating and terminating


>I was wondering how long before you know if a pollination is successful.  I
have
> pollinated two on my main, the first aborted (closest to stump).  The
second
one
> (next on the vine from the aborted one) is slightly larger than a
baseball.
> There is a third one after that which was open pollination.  I am keeping
the
> main going since I was told that pumpkins growing on the main are better
than
> secondaries.  I did pollinate one on the first secondary off the main.
When
> should I start terminating the main and secondaries?  I've been letting
> everything keep growing in case something goes wrong.
>
> Debbie
>
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