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Filing Seeds?

Hi I'm new to the list.  Just subscribed last night.

Just wondering about this business of filing seeds.  Is this a common
practice? Is there any advantage to this besides perhaps speeding up
germination by a day or two? Isn't there a risk of doing more harm than
good?  How is it done? etc.

I started 8 seeds in 4" peat pots on April 30.  Most have little roots
started and one is just pushing out of the soil.  It has been 5 days since I
planted them.  I have applied heat from below with two 150 watt light bulbs.
I monitor the temp in one of the pots with a high quality meat thermometer.
The soil temp is only about 70 deg. F. however, as my setup won't allow the
light bulbs to be put any closer without the fear of overheating the wooden
shelf that the pots are sitting on.  The underside of the shelf is quite hot
to the touch.  I'm wondering if the size of the pots are so big that the
heat doesn't get to the top where the seeds are.  

I like Alan Stewarts idea of applying heat from above, and I may switch my
lights tonight to do it that way.  I read that 4" pots are the minimum size
to use yet I see Alan used 2" pots.  I guess it depends how soon you plan to
put them in the ground after they germinate as the roots would soon reach
the limits of the smaller pots.

Re: Nick Pearce enquiry about training vines.  I use wooden laths stuck in
the ground beside each leader to gently steer the ends of the vines the way
I want them to go.  Once these ends have grown heavy enough to fall to the
ground, I pin them down with a long piece of wire folded into a "U" shape.
(DON'T PUSH THEM DOWN TOO HARD)  I also cover the vines with soil at this
time.  Eventually, when the vine has sent down a good root at this point, I
remove the wire to reuse it further down the vine.  Train them near the
supple ends.  Be careful about bending them very much after they have
thickened up a bit as you can break em. the key is to plan ahead.

To: Jim and Pumkinguy.  My theory is that the more segments, the more seeds
the fruit will try and produce and thus may want to make more "Pumpkin"
around the larger seed cavity.  This is not based on any research, just my
own thoughts.  On the other hand, perhaps the characteristics for larger
sizes go with the same genes for a certain number of segments. I don't know
if anyone has checked into that idea.  Would be interesting to find out.

And finally, I would appreciate any tips on fertilizing (types and
schedules) as this is one aspect I haven't paid much attention to in my
short 5 yr. pumpkin growing career.  Can anyone help in this regard?

Good Luck to all this season.

Kurt Frederick
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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