Sarah
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Post by Sarah on Jun 2, 2023 22:10:16 GMT
This year I will be growing two giant pumpkins, a long gourd, and a giant marrow. My two pumpkins are the 2560 Gienger (2022 North American record, 1885 Werner x self) and the 1500 est. Lopresti (1959 St Laurent x 2365 Wolf). I initially planned on growing the 2080 Lopresti which is the reverse cross of the 1500 est., but that seedling looked crummy from the start and didn’t make the cut. I’m excited about these plants because of their amazing genetics. You really can’t go wrong with anything from the 1885 Werner or 2365 Wolf. Things have been uneventful so far. Spring has been cold, and we had frosts late into May, but things are finally starting to warm up. The 1500 est. has a much longer internodal space that the 2560 Gienger, so it appears as if it’s growing quicker, however I think the more compact 2560 Gienger will produce a bigger pumpkin in the end because more plant will fit into the same amount of space. My plant size is about average for me for this time of the year. It’s not the biggest plant I’ve ever had, but it’s also not the smallest. The secondaries have taken a while to start growing, but it seems like things are in full force now, and I’m excited to see their progress over the next few weeks. I’d love to have a pollination by June 20, and that is very feasible where I’m at now. As for the long gourd and marrow, I don’t really have any grand plan for either of them. I’ve grown long gourds before, but I kind of just let them do their thing. This will be my first year doing a giant marrow. I don’t really have space for it, so I might just stick it in my compost pile and see what happens!
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Sarah
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Posts: 9
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Post by Sarah on Jun 14, 2023 20:46:08 GMT
This spring has not been great for growing giant pumpkins. Last week was cold and rainy, and this week is the same. My plants are still growing, but not as fast as I'd like. I'm still happy with how they're doing given how lousy the weather has been. I mailed my first tissue sample yesterday to Western Laboratories to see how the nutrient levels are in the plant. This is the first time I've sent in a sample before pollination, and I think that will be a good thing to get the nutrients right when it matters most. I don't think I'll get a June 20 pollination at this point, but it should be close!
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Sarah
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Post by Sarah on Jun 27, 2023 13:23:25 GMT
I pollinated a pumpkin on the 2560 Gienger on June 20. It is 13 feet down the main vine. There are 19 secondaries behind it, but only 15 of them are growing vigorously. The remaining four are very stunted, and I'm not sure if they're going to grow out of it. Ideally, I'd like to have 18-20 secondaries behind the pumpkin. The pumpkin I pollinated on June 20 had 3 lobes. It used to be thought that less lobes meant a smaller pumpkin, but Travis Gienger proved that wrong when he grew his 2350 from a 3-lober. Sometimes the shape is funky when you have 3 lobes, though. This was just a backup pumpkin. My only concern is that the pollination might not take. When I woke up to pollinate it, it was so cold out that the flowers on both the females and males were barely open. I had to force them open myself so that I could pollinate them before work.
The issue with the June 20 pollination is that the plant is too small. Once the pumpkin hits day 20, it starts to pack on the pounds more substantially, and this slows down the plant growth. By day 30, the plant is usually down to a grinding halt. So if the plant isn't big enough at pollination, it may not grow big enough to support the pumpkin later in the season.
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Sarah
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Post by Sarah on Jun 27, 2023 13:30:00 GMT
Although I pollinated a pumpkin on June 20 on the 2560 Gienger, my perfect pumpkin was actually further down the main vine. I liked this one better because it had 7 more secondaries behind it, and the plant was much bigger. Although it would be a later pollination than I'd like (probably June 27 or 28), I felt that the larger plant would make up for the missed time. On the morning of June 25, I walked outside and saw that there was a split in my main vine just before my perfect pumpkin. If the crack went parallel to the main vine it wouldn't be a problem, but this one went perpendicular which is a death sentence. When the crack is perpendicular, you essentially cut off the "blood supply" to the pumpkin. Even though the crack looks small, it's just going to get bigger as the plant grows, and I don't want to risk having a significant reduction in water/pounds going to my pumpkin. Unfortunately, the only solution is to cut the main vine just before the crack, and grow a secondary out to be the new main vine. I don't have any extra pumpkins in sight for pollination, which means I'll probably have to stick with the June 20 pollination, assuming it takes. I'm a bit upset at this situation, but I think if this June 20 pollination takes, I might have something to work with. If the June 20 pollination doesn't take, I'm in a lot of trouble because I don't have any pumpkins showing that are in an ideal spot.
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Sarah
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Post by Sarah on Jun 27, 2023 13:37:08 GMT
Quick update: It's June 27, and it's raining... again. The rain has been non-stop all season, and I've had to keep my greenhouse covers on to keep the plants from getting too wet. I had Fusarium kill one of my plants off a few years ago, and all those fungal diseases love wet conditions.
We did have two sunny days in the 80s last week, and the greenhouse protected most of my leaves from getting burned. My nitrogen level is super high, and this makes the plant more susceptible to leaf burn. Just those two sunny days burned a lot of my young leaves, so maybe these cloudy days ahead are a blessing. I have a female flower on the 1500 est. Lopresti that should be opening up tomorrow. It has 21 secondaries behind it, two of which are stunted. This is perfect, and I'm happy with where the pumpkin is at. The pollination is later than I'd like it to be, but everything else is looking good!
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Sarah
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Post by Sarah on Jul 12, 2023 16:24:29 GMT
A lot has happened since my last update. Overall, we've had mostly cloudy/rainy days which has been a blessing in disguise because the 1500 est. Lopresti is not handling the heat well at all. In just 2-3 days of sun, I've had a significant amount of new leaves burn, even when shading them. The 2560 Gienger has been much more tolerant of the sun. I will let some of the first leaves from the tertiary vines take the place of the scorched leaves on the secondaries.
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Sarah
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Post by Sarah on Jul 12, 2023 16:38:36 GMT
I pollinated a 3-lober on the 2560 Gienger on June 20. This was not my keeper pumpkin, but I kept it as a backup. Since my main vine snapped right before my keeper pumpkin, and there were no other pumpkins in sight on the secondaries further down, I was forced to keep the June 20 pollination. I wish it was further down the vine and had more secondaries to support it, but I'm stuck with what I got. This pumpkin is 13 feet down the main vine with only 15 secondaries behind it (18-20 is ideal). Technically there are 19 secondaries behind the pumpkin, but 4 of them are stunted, and they don't seem to be growing out of it.
On 12 DAP (days after pollination), I woke up to find my pumpkin severely scratched up by my neighbor's cat. There were some deep gouges, and I cleaned them all out with alcohol and put a fan on them to let them dry. While doing this, I noticed a few splits in my stem. There were three splits total, all lengthwise, and that is fine because it just means the pumpkin is growing a lot. One of the splits on the underside was starting to rot, so I had to debride some of the rotted tissue and apply alcohol and a fan to that as well. The pumpkin has grown out of it wonderfully, although it will have some ugly scars! I set up a camera on my pumpkin, and I was shocked to see FOUR different cats walking around my patch at night. Luckily, they don't seem interested in the pumpkin anymore. I think they saw the blanket on it and thought it was something to scratch, only to realize it was a soft pumpkin underneath. They love catching mice, so I think they will actually be a good addition to my patch!
I did my first measurement on DAP 20, and the 2560 Gienger is an estimated 64 pounds. This is smaller than most of my prior year's pumpkins, however I think that's due to a new product I used called Florel. Florel is a product that has multiple uses. When applied to a baby pumpkin 48 hours after pollination at a rate of 100ppm, it will increase the number of days that the pumpkin is in cell division. Cell division refers to 1 cell turning into 2, 2 turning into 4, etc. After about 20 days, the cells stop dividing and then from there it is essentially all cell expansion, when it blows up like a balloon. Cell expansion is where the majority of fruit growth happens. By using Florel, I will increase cell division by about 6 days, so it is normal for growth to be slower early on. It will eventually catch up by DAP 40 and then theoretically take off from there.
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Sarah
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Post by Sarah on Jul 12, 2023 16:45:36 GMT
The 1500 est. Lopresti was pollinated on June 28. I love his position. He is 18 feet down the main vine and has 19 secondaries behind him. He has a nice long stem, and I think he's going to be an orange pumpkin. The only trouble I'm having with this plant is the sun sensitivity. This pumpkin is in a smaller patch (720 square feet), and it always makes me wish I owned more land because it's not able to grow to its full potential! With that being said, Steve Connolly grew a 1375 pound pumpkin in 150 square feet, so maybe this is an opportunity to prove that I can grow a competitive pumpkin in a less-than-ideal space!
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