RE: Washington State Fair... and Late season Washington update

Duncan must have had a small child wrapped around his head and covering
up one of his eyes as he walked through the agriculture barn at the
Puyallup fair.  Lincoln had the 682 and a 500+ pound pumpkin at the
fair.  Next largest was in the 300 pound range.  The one I entered
weighed in at 254.  A 33 pound increase over my previous largest
pumpkin.  I have a few more going still, unfortunately my largest one
has had a critter move in under it.  I didn't have time or toos to dig
under and root it out.  It's in a bad location for digging as it is set
very close to the trunk of my other plant and I don't want to damage the
roots.  From outside appearance there is no damage to the fruit and
whatever it is seems to be feeding on corn and carrots from neighboring
gardens.  It's really screwed up my OTT measurments because ground level
at the stem end and one side have changed now from the excavations.  I'm
hoping to have time Friday to explore it a little more.  I'll try that
mothball idea.  I can't worry about it too much, if it's damaged it's
damaged and theres no way to reverse it.  I'll just keep my fingers
crossed that whatever it is, I suspect a rabbit, that it is well fed
enough that it won't try to include a 350 pound pumpkin in its diet.
Meanwhile growth has slowed considerably on all fruit.  It remains warm
in the day, low to mid 70's and cool at night, upper 40's to low 50's.
We've had the 4th driest summer on record so there has been almost no
rain to speak of and I've done very little watering in the past couple
weeks.  I hope to hold off the mildew and rot by keeping things dry.
All 4 remaining fruit are under cover.  Both plants trying to throw out
a lot of new growth with male and female flowers.  New vines are
springing up out of the mains close to the trunks where some of the old
leaves have died back.  Knock on wood I'll have something for all the
local weigh offs and establish a new personal best.  It has been another
big learning experience this year.  Condolances to all those who have
had thier pumpkins crash and burn for various reasons throughout the
season.  It has been a lot of fun following everyones progress.  I'll
post again after weigh offs when the final tally's are in.  Good luck to
all those who are still trying to keep them going.  I'll see some of you
at the weigh offs.

Chris Michalec
Covington, WA


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	duncan [SMTP:mcalpin@eskimo.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, September 22, 1998 8:35 PM
> To:	pumpkins@mallorn.com
> Subject:	Washington State Fair...
> 
> I saw  only one nice large pumpkin by Lincoln Mettler..... she was a
> beauty of around 650 lbs.  Good job Lincoln and all the other growers
> who brought their pumpkins to the Fair.
> 
> Duncan
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index