Snow on the clones!

An old song entitled "Smoke on the water" from the 1970's runs through my mind every fall when it snows, as I have my own lyrics..."snow on the pumpkin"...
Well...Several months before it is time to sing that sad song...I had to sing it on May 20th here in Colorado Springs. Yes, Denver and the Springs both got a blast of cold and snow yesterday. I was out mowing, and when I first began, it was mid-70's and perfect temperatures to work in. About 45 minutes later, we had 60-70 MPH wind gusts, dark clouds, and COLD drizzle with upper 30 degree temperatures. Quite a sharp and fast temperature drop off, the quickest drop off I have witnessed EVER! That is Colorado, though...I guess one gets used to weird weather after a while...still...that's was INSANE!
What happened after that was even more strange...snow began to fall, and temperatures dipped to the 30 degree mark! I have lived in this god forsaken state all my life, and I cannot remember ever seeing snow after May 19th! So..."snow on the pumpkin" was the song of the day here while other growers had great growing weather!
I do have cold frames {but of course} over my two plants grown from seed, as well as the 746 Scherber clone, which is about 3 and 1/2 feet in length with a female flower about 5-7 days away from opening. I will pollinate it, even though it is too soon, but will only allow it to grow for 2 or 3 days afterwards, just to get the plant "in the mood." I have one more clone to send out, unless 3 other growers contact me REAL SOON, otherwise I will have to compost three 746 Scherber clones.
So far, just about all growers have had good results starting the clone once it arrived. One grower claims he seems to be unable to keep his alive, I'm unsure what problems he is having. I did send this grower my best and healthiest clone I've produced and sent... ever... but  received e-mails from him almost immediately of it's probable death. All other growers are doing well at the time of this posting, including the 2 growers who had initially informed me of abusive shipping techniques the postal service or a family member that had dished out to the clone before it arrived  Both growers have already nursed back their plant, and seem to have things going very well again. I'll post an update soon to give everyone more information.
There will be about 13 growers with clones this season, living in diversified regions of the USA. 12 of the 13 growers are growing the 746 Scherber clone, the other grower {Len Stellpflug}, is growing a 991 Hunt clone. Finally we find out how viable pumpkin propagation may be, as all of the plants I once nurtured indoors this winter are all sent out to various growers with various growing experience. I hope this experiment pays off for somebody...hopefully...the first one will be MYSELF! I must add there was one other person who successfully kept a plant alive all winter. Glenn... AKA L*@aol.com kept his squash plant alive all winter, and has that plant going outside now also. I thought his efforts should be mentioned so that it is known that I am one of the first two growers who finally pulled this off. Glenn's work this winter was just as important as mine...he just has not been as vocal about his results...so...everyone...feel free to bomb HIM for information! It's his turn to have all kinds of clone e-mail questions awaiting daily! LOL!!!
That's all for the latest clone update. I will post more information once things really get rolling! For now though, time to get out the snow shovel one last time!
Marc
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