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Re: a little depressed

John,
     I'm from the west coast. I had a cucumber beetle siting 2 days ago.
There were 2 of them on a unprotected back up plant and this has me worried
too. When I remove the cloches from the 4 plants I am tending I'll be
smashing and squishing the ones I can catch. Last year it took one hour to
get around one plant to kill them . I couldn't keep up with them and I was
loosing leaves to bacterial wilt. I will start a spray program this year. 
Hmmm. Not what I want to do. This is necessary to be competitive. So I'll
do it..  
     How many years have you grown these monsters? This is my 4th year, and
I have experienced those feelings of doubt about keeping up with the heavy
hitters. I set my own personal goals for beating my own record each year by
a 50 pound margin.  My personal best is 657.5 in 1995. Last year' s
personal best was 602. That was due to the cucumber beetle and loss of
leaves. Not to mention a late pollination date on the fruit. There are so
many factors to consider while achieving these big weights. 
     You are not alone in your worries. Your healthy plants may be a bit
behind your peers , however there are other factors that will slow down the
guys that are ahead of you. Just be patient and remember the season is
young and this mailing list may show you are right on track in a few weeks.

     My goal this year is 700 or better. There is no way I'll try to keep
up with LaRue who lives down the road and is a dear friend of ours.  He's
been covering vines for 2 weeks.  He told me he may have problems this year
,being too far ahead. If his fruits reach maturity too early he will need
to try to hold them in good shape until weigh-off day. 
     Here's wishing this letter give you the optimism you asked for. 
     Maybe we need a 'Dear Abby' column for us pessimists. 
     Hang in there fellow grower.  Shellie  - Olympia, Wa.
mcramer@olywa.net

----------
> From: John Failor <failor.3@osu.edu>
> To: pumpkins@athenet.net
> Subject: a little depressed
> Date: Friday, June 06, 1997 8:39 AM
> 
> 	After comparing the growth rates of my plants to some out there on
> the net I'm a little depressed. My plants seem to be behind in number of
> leaves, although individual leaf size is ok, than most I have seen
posted.
> I have 8 plants total, only one(a 800+ P&P) seems to be close to par. The
> weather has been cool,rainy and cloudy but showing  signs of improvement.
> What I want to know is, are if my plants are too far behind, will they be
> able to catch up and still show ok this fall? Or has there potential been
> severly limited. Looking at the plants they look healthy, just behind
> schedule. The only good thing I see is that the leaves they do have are
the
> size they should be according to some growth charts I have seen. The east
> has been quite cool this year I wonder has anyone else experienced 
similar
> problems?
> 
> Thanks for any optimism
> John
> 
> P.S. Has anyone seen any cucumber beetles? They haven't shown up here
> yet.Thet should have been here weeks ago. I'm a little worried a whole
> swarm will show up any day.
>
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