RE: helpful hints

scott-
 
you can always read Duncans great home page and all of its links for
advise and hints.  i am still finding new and useful stuff there it has
been 1 year since i first visited it.  see:

http://www.eskimo.com/~mcalpin/pumkin.html
then go to:      How to Grow ATLANTIC GIANT PUMPKINS
which puts you here:
http://www.eskimo.com/~mcalpin/secert.html
this might have alot of the answers you are looking for.
you can also check out the mailing list archives there too.  lots of
good stuff there.  it is near near the top left. you can key word search
for topics like fruit set or pruning.

as a novice grower, here is my humble advise:
Fruit set: from what i have learned here you want pollenate in the
morning. that is when all the flowers are open and it is cooler.  if it
is hot you want to shade your female. You want to get lots of pollen all
around on the female.  there is a figure in the duncan page.  poorly
shaped and smaller fruit can be a by product of imcomplete and poor
pollenation. There are lots of different styles - some people peel back
the males and stick them on the females and rub them all around gently.
Other use camel hair paint brushes to transfer the pollen.  Others a
Q-tip.  many folks use the pollen from 3 or 4 males for one female.
timing is another subject-  when to set-  you want your plant to be big
before setting- but you don't want to wait to long otherwise the season
will end on you before the pumpkin reaches its potenial or you will miss
the weighoffs.  I think generally people in your area like to set the
1st or 2nd week of july. 

Pruning: you want to keep your plant looking nice.  don't lets the vines
run over each other or just go anywhere.  genneraly keep the main vine
in a straight line with the secondary vines perpendicular to it.  the
exception to this is where your fruit is - then you want a gentle curve
in your vine like an "C" or an "S" and you want you fruit on the outside
of the curve.  so when that pumpkin gets huge it wont press up against
the vine.  It is up to you though-  if you have a smaller garden then
you can fit your plant to the shape of it.  ie, long rectangle or
shorter rectangle. whatever.  some like the Christmas tree shape. since
this is kind of the natural shape of the plant it makes sence. 
just keep collecting and reading all the info you can -  also join your
local growers association ask lots of questions (there are not stupid
questions) and learn from them too.

good luck
Gordon Tanner
Maple Valley, WA

P.S. you must be a good guy because you write like me- only not as bad-
i usually have no caps.,  some puctuations, poor spelling, am
inconsistent, etc.  Most of the others in the group only have bad
grammer and spelling when they are excited about what they have to say
and are in a hurry to tell it to the rest of us.

> this is my first year going for a really big one.  i've prepared my
> soil, have good ph, spraying for bugs and fungi, and using
> watersolubles.  I live on long island, any hints on fruit set,
> pruning,
> and anything else anyone can think of.
> 
> scott armstrong
> 
> 
> 
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