4-H garden update
- To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
- Subject: 4-H garden update
- From: C*@aol.com
- Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 21:39:14 EDT
Greetings:
Here is the state of the garden: 22 AG plants remain out of 32. Some were lost
early on due to vermin, birds, etc. The last few were culled due to crowding,
size and mosaic virus infestation. Planting date 3/11/98. Three months later:
The following 22 plants remain:
5 Renaud 588 plants, 3 of five have fruit on vine.
2 Rooke 486 plants, neither have set fruit. Plants are relatively small.
1 Canniff 459, huge plant with 2 young fruit.
1 Castellucci 430- huge plant with fruits that set but drop off at baseball
size.
2 Hester 676 - one plant has two small fruit set, the other has none.
3 Castellucci 425's- one huge plant with 4 nice fruit developing, the other
two are not as large but one has multiple fruits set.
1 Baird 762- this huge plant crossed with the Andersen 977 has my "monster"
fruit on the vine! (approx 250 lbs).
1 Castellucci 682.4-this plant was severly wind damaged, but has snapped out
of it and is blooming profusely and setting fruit.
1 Brock 599-this plant was slow to grow, but is a large plant with multiple
fruits set.
1 Eaton 739- huge plant with tall, gigantic leaves, huge stump and very thick
vines. Females coming on, 4 fruit set, three dropped in the heat, one nice one
remains.
1 Andersen 977-huge plant with a profusion of male blooms, no females yet.
1 Andersen 634 - Blooming and setting fruit, although fruit drops off. 2
remain on vine.
1 Castellucci 743.2 - Dense, bushy dark green foliage with no blooms or fruit.
Medium size plant.
1 Eaton 664 - This plant represents endurance in the face of hardship. It was
severely over fertilized early on by an overzealous parent unfamiliar with
gardening practices, and has come back from near death to setting one large,
round fruit. Medium sized plant with large leaves and leaf stems.
It is important to mention that I visit the garden daily and spend at least 3
hours there pollinating, watering, pruning and documenting. Weekends give me
more time to garden with my husband; we often pack a cooler of drinks, fresh
fruit and subs for a tailgate lunch break, spending at least 6-8 hours each
gardening and maintenance.
We put in a large patch of Gold Strike hybrid jack o'lantern pumpkins. The
patch was doing well until we noticed an unusual growth pattern to the leaves,
not so much mottling, but scraggly, pointed leaves and vines that were very
aggressive and invasive....it was discovered to be Mosaic virus, prompting us
to pull the entire patch by hand. Mosaic spreads by insects like wildfire, and
we have noticed new growth on some of the AGs to have the virus. It looks
different on AGs than it did on the hybrids.
As mosaic only affects new growth and fruit on affected vines, it should not
impact our productivity. It does mean that we will have the unpleasant chore
of pulling the plants after this season and taking them off site to be burned.
Our bug situation has been next to nil, until recently with the appearance of
small grasshoppers. Obviously insects have visited our plants, or the virus
wouldn't be there. Bees, butterflies, dragonflies and ladybugs are also
abundant residents of the garden.
We have tomatoes ripening but the corn, beets, carrots, string beans, cukes
and summer squash are past.
Our patch of Rouge Vif D'Etampes is nearly ready for harvest and the fruits
have been beautiful. I highly recommend this variety for it's lovely fruit,
aggressive vine and prolific fruiting. They are perfectly symmetrical, and not
quite as flat as I had expected. Enough room to carve if you wish, or lovely
as a focal point on a fall centerpiece. Average fruit is 15 inches diameter,
and 8 inches tall. Gorgeous color.
As some of you know, the large fruit on the Baird 762 plant is nearing
harvest. We expect to pick and weigh it off Friday. It has stopped growing, or
so I thought, until I measured it again today, noting a 1/2 inch increase on
circumference. The fruit is not growing on level ground, but sits in a
hollowed out area between vines, on a bit of a slope. The ground to ground
measurements may be a little on the shy side, but I'd rather have it weigh
heavy than light.
Tim Canniff visited the field Saturday and was surprised to learn of the
guestimated weight of 235. He eyeballed it and guessed 260-275. We'll know
Friday.
While I was lucky to have this early fruit, I do have my work cut out for me,
bringing along the rest of the crop. My biggest challenge is getting the fruit
to stay on the vine! Our weather is awful; hot, high 90's upwards of 100
during the day, with only a 10 degree cool-down overnight. We are also in
drought conditions. So severe is our fire hazard that there have been
bulletins telling smokers not to discard their spent cigarette butts out the
car window. Brush fires plague our county and made CNN news over the weekend.
Is there an end in sight?
The heat and humidity will take it's toll and setting fruit this late in
Florida is asking for it. It will be a long, hard summer, bringing fruit on
this many plants to decent size. If the cooler months allowed me to grow only
a 2-3 hundred pounder, then we'll be lucky to compete with POV to beat a 70!
Barb Kincaid
Orlando, FL
SPGA
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