Butterball Blows By Baby Beluga - A Patch Update

It's 96 degrees in the shade today in sunny California - only
the second hot day of the season and quite a shock for my two
pumpkin plants... both of them drooping and obviously
uncomfortable.

Some of the young leaves are burning - under a heavy shade
cloth... toasting the warm weather!!!  I used to watch the
young leaves burn before I used shade cloth.  Now, I watch them
burn under the shade cloth.... 

Well, anyway, this way I feel more proactive and the plants
seem to appreciate my concern. They still burn, however, when
the weather does a flip flop from cold to real hot - toughens
their hides and gives them attitude.... I like to think anyway.

Baby Beluga (1230 Daletas) has suffered with all the chilly,
windy weather.  After starting as a double vine, the plant
straightened out for a few leaves and then went back to
double... double trouble.  After a few feet of real ugly
nonsense it became clear that the main vine was not gonna split
into two vines or stop this foolishness - so I wacked it off.  

Th plant has responded to this abuse by becoming a cantankerous
cuss  - growing slowly with short stubby vines, vines growing
straight up and leaves that can't get out of each other's
way... If my wife was this bitchy, I'd kick her out of bed...
but with no backup I guess I'm married to this cuss'ed plant. 
I'm tired of all her lip, however, so every other day I wack
off a secondary or two to keep her in line and show her who's
boss.

Butterball (831 Zunino) has taken off like a rocket.  After a
bad buggy start, this plant has literally exploded in my patch
- growing so fast I see vapor trails ghosting the growing
tips.... At just under seven weeks this plant has a 17 foot
main vine and secondaries over 10 feet long. She's now four
times the size of Baby Beluga... and growing twice as fast. 

I've lost count of the female buds - 20 or so and she's just on
the brink of puberty.  I can see the first female bud forming
in the growing tip of the main vine - 17 feet out from the
stump.... 

This plant has the dragon roots of her mother the 846 Calai. 
12 feet from the stump, I can't put a spade into the ground
without  bringing up a tangle of feeder roots.... 12 feet from
the stump!! - even seems to bother the moles.

Every growing season I get a new surprise in the patch. 
Butterball is so beautiful she has me a bit breathless.... Baby
Beluga's ugly puss pisses me off just lookin at it.

I've got a picture of both plants at the following link:

http://home.pacbell.net/diana_do/bababoom.htm

vince
zone 9, the pumpkin zone

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