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cracked lumps


  Like Kurt in Alberta two of my pumpkins are getting quite lumpy.  They are 
on side vines of the same plant.  Hans at 76" circ. was growing slower than 
Franz at 81"circ. but in the last week has been catching up.  Both were 
pollinated on 7-6.  Yesterday I went to check on them and since Monday they 
had developed bumps down near the blossom end of the plant, but not right at 
the blossom.  The skin there has gotten a lighter color and has split about 
1.5"  in length and about .25 " wide, it is not deep,  I splackled the crack 
with captan paste and palpated the lumps noting that they felt softer than 
the skin over the rest of the pumpkins.  They are under a burlap canopy for 
shade but the skin has slowly been getting more orange.
  So my question is, what can I expect now?  Will they continue to get lumpy 
and crack?  Was my shade protection inadequate?  I am probably going to 
remove Hans
and take it to a local fair.  There is another pumpkin on the plant on a 
secondary main
vine that was pollinated 7-15 and is at 82" circ. and growing at a better 
rate that hasn't
developed any lumps yet.  I'm hoping it will benefit from removing one of 
the others.
This is my second year growing and my pumpkin last year was still bright 
yellow and growing in late October so I am in uncharted territory with my 
pumpkins this year.  Franz is lumpier than Hans but Hans has the crack.  If 
I remove Hans and growth picks
up again is Franz or Mr. October likely to split?  I have been lucky so far, 
they aren't monsters but I have surpassed my first years effort and there 
haven't been any disasters.  I have another pumpkin on a second plant from 
different seed stock.  It too has stopped growing for the past week and had 
slowed down much earlier, it was pollinated 7-4 and is a creamier orange 
color and deeply ribbed.  It also has a really fat stem unlike the others. 
 I was considering taking it to the fair until Hans cracked.  Will it last 
on the vine if it is done growing?  The weigh off for the feed store where I 
got the seed for that plant isn't until late October.
  Thanks in advance for any info and advice.

Chris Michalec
Kent, WA
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