Re: I think I'm thinking what you're thinking...

Toby:
Not sure about the whole vascular thing, but I have heard concern that if
the variance between night and daytime temps is too high, it could lead to
splitting of the fruit. I think I heard that Don & Geneva Emmons had a few
split on them this year, and there was speculation that the temp variance
was the reason...but I think if that's the case, it's a structural problem
with the fruit that gets exacerbated by excessive nighttime cooling/daytime
heating, not necessarily a problem within the vines of the plant...
Frank

----------
>From: Toby Atencio <mr-sprout@sbcglobal.net>
>To: pumpkins@hort.net
>Subject: Re: I think I'm thinking what you're thinking...
>Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2003, 11:51 PM
>

> Frank,
>
> What do you think about the temperature swing/vascular developement of the
> vine?  I totally came up with that out of the dark recesses of my brain.  I
> have never heard of anybody who was concerned with it before.  It simply
> made sense to me.  Hot packs and ice packs affect the blood vessels in
> you're knee when you sprain it, or your shoulder when you pull a muscle,
> etc.  It either constricts the flow of fluids, or increases it.  Shouldn't
> it have the same results on the "veins" of plants? and wouldn't it have an
> influence on growth?
>
> Anybody else have any ideas or resources?
>
> Frank Edwards <edwardsfam@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Toby:
> I'm with you. I think when natural daylight wanes as days grow shorter, this
> helps to trigger the dieback of the plant. Extending daylight artificially,
> I believe, can give your plant more opportunity for growth. I'd like to try
> it next year myself (I live in Michigan) but I'm not sure what type of
> lights /how many foot candles would be appropriate. Anyone with greenhouse
> experience know?
> Frank
> Hudsonville, MI
>
> ----------
>>From: Toby Atencio
>>To: pumpkins@hort.net
>>Subject: I think I'm thinking what you're thinking...
>>Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2003, 11:47 AM
>>
>
>> Hi List
>>
>> I keep accidentally erasing this message. This is actually my third attempt!
> :-)
>>
>> I, too, have been pondering the northern explosion of 1000+ pounders. I
>> have two theories based on several hours of searching the weigh-off lists
>> and looking at temperature averages on the internet.
>>
>> First, the further north you are, the longer your days will be. this gives
>> your plant longer growing time over its lifespan. This makes sense to me,
>> to I would assume (since I live further south in the Sacramento, CA area)
>> that stringing a couple lights out over my plants, and have them
>> automatically turn on 2AM-6AM would add to my chances of breaking into the
>> 1000 club.
>>
>> Second, (and this one I'm not so sure of) the average daily temperature
>> swing can affect the growth of your plant. I always thought that a nice,
>> hot place was a good palce to grow a big pumpkin. However, a lot of
>> monsters were grown in Ontario this year where the highs averaged in the
>> low 70s and lows in the mid 50s, about a 16 degree shift. In Malibu, Ca,
>> the temps reached the same highs (70s), but the lows indicated only a 7
>> degree shift. Where I live, the highs usually range in the high 90s with
>> almost a daily drop of 27 degrees. My thinking is that too much daily
>> temperature swing can cause stress on the vine (expansion/contraction) and
>> inhibit growth by forcing teh plant to expend energy on healing. Too small
>> a temperature swing can inhibit growth by not exercising the vascular
>> developement of the vine enough, keeping the nutrient passageways narrow.
>>
>> These are off-the-top-of-my-head ideas that I did a small amount of
>> research for. Anybody out there know if this is out in left field or not?
>>
>> Toby Atencio
>> Wumpkin Man
>>
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