RE: pumpkins DIGEST V1 #2

Thanks for the inromation on the moisture, I did learn last year not to water with sprinklers, this year we are using soaker hoases exclusivly. 

There is a private school at the church where our Pumpkin patch is, so we will not be able to locate a hive in our field.  (bee phobia)  So I am trying to attract more bees natrually.  When I visited the patch at night and looked into some of the blossoms, I found that Bees were trapped in a few of the closed blossoms.  Are there dumb bees out there?

Tad

-----Original Message-----
From: pumpkins DIGEST [p*@hort.net] 
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 1:01 AM
To: pumpkins-digest@hort.net
Subject: pumpkins DIGEST V1 #2



pumpkins DIGEST         Thursday, May 27 2004         Volume 01 : Number 002



In this issue:

        High Nitrogen
        Re: Divination by Dicot
        Re: pumpkins DIGEST V1 #

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 07:44:32 EDT
From: Lubadub@aol.com
Subject: High Nitrogen

Laurie:

Only a few people still closely follow Don's fertilizer recommendations of 
the past at this point. The fertilizer chapter will be much different in the 
next book as times are changing. Almost everyone is growing more organically now. 
Your nitrogen supply considerations should now include such things as alfalfa 
meal or blood meal placed in the soil or something like sea weed or fish 
emulsion applied with a foliar type spray weekly as the leaves grow. The only use 
of anything like calcium nitrate or potassium nitrate or urea for nitrogen 
that is being used, and only by a few, is before the ground warms up enough for 
the bacteria etc to become active to break down the organic materials in the 
soil to release nitrogen to the plants. High nitrogen concentrations later seem 
to work against proper pollination and growth of female pumpkins such that it 
is hard to set anything. You should start all of your planning with the 
application of compost or old manure and then a soil test to see where you are and 
then the use of more organic materials though none of us seems to be able to 
totally elude chemical fertilizers. Much of this compost/manure application has 
to take place in the Fall as you prepare your soil for next year. Get a soil 
test this year and do the best you can this year and then start planning for 
next year as getting your soil in shape is an ongoing task. Marv in Altoona, PA
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 06:19:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: vince <anaid_tecuod@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Divination by Dicot

I've seen a lot of ugly dicots and I've always discriminated against them but I think in most cases it means the dicots were damaged when emerging from the seed case.  I don't think it means anything at all if they are ugly or misshapen.

On your direct seeded plant, I would expect it to be smaller and be damaged more during germination.  It germinated in a harsher, colder, bug-ridden environment....  I've had almost no success with direct seeding.  Most of mine rot and never emerge...

vince

- --- kathie morgan <fishrap@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Experienced Growers,
> How important is the appearance of the dicots in predicting the 
> quality of the plant?
> I have two proven seeds that have such warped-looking dicots
> that I just
> about wrote off the seedlings altogether. But I didn't, and
> now that they
> have several leaves they look almost normal. Should I grow
> them?
> 
> Why not direct-seed (here in California)?
> I direct-seeded an unproven seed (417 D Morgan 03) into one of my 
> mounds. While the hothouse 417s have had huge healthy-looking dicots,
> the
> direct-seeded plant has little wrinkled dicots. Is it nature
> or nurture 
>  or
> something else? And does it indicate anything?
> Thanks!
> Kathie
> --
> 
>
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Pumpkin-growing archives: http://www.hort.net/lists/pumpkins/
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 07:31:41 -0700
From: Mike and Vickie Brock <vbrock@mcn.org>
Subject: Re: pumpkins DIGEST V1 #

Tad,

Bees help pollinate.  You may have had pollination problems from heat or to much moisture on the flowers MB








on 5/25/04 9:26 AM, Tad Miller at tmiller@gschq.com wrote:

> We are a Cub Scout Pack planting a Pumpkin patch as a Fall fundraiser.  
> Last year we had a problem with polination,  with the scale of the 
> patch ( > 200
> plants) I do not want to polinate by hand.
> 
> What is the best flowers to attract the correct type of Bees to 
> polinate pumpkin plants.
> My neighbor is a Bee Keeper, but all he knows are the hunny bees.   He did
> tell me that the Pumpkin flowers do not produce nector, so the hunny 
> bees are not the best.
> 
> Can anyone shed some light on this.
> 
> As for the Sunflowers, we did not have bird problems, but Ants.
> 
> Thanks
> tad
End of pumpkins DIGEST V1 #2
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