Will fast growing plants pollinate?
- Subject: Will fast growing plants pollinate?
- From: M* I*
- Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 22:54:45 -0600
I'm wondering if my pumpkins aren't setting because too much of my
plants' energy is devoted to rapid growth at this point. Before the
season started I couldn't decide whether or not to wait to set pumpkins
until my plants reached 500 leaves or so or to set the first pumpkin
that flowered. I was all set to wait for the plant to reach a larger
size until I noticed that most of the largest pumpkins grown last year
were set between 8 and 12 feet out on the main vine, which is right in
the middle of the rapid growth phase of the plant. So, how do we set
pumpkins early without having them abort because all of the energy is
going to the growth of the plant? Today I chopped off most of my
secondary runners to try to devote more energy to fruit development and
I'm not giving the plant any more high nitrogen fertilizer. My problem
could also be that I'm not pollinating early enough in the morning or
that the heat here is too much (93 today).
ANY IDEAS?
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