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Kansas

I currently have pollinated 8 females and i still have about 5 more that should open within a few days.My question is when does a person quit pollinating females and start culling the new buds? I've probably got 3 or 4 more females that would open in another week or two but what should a grower do? I've got main vines that are 23 to 24 feet long and still throwing females...I pollinated my first female on June 16th and I'm ready for my babies to start taking off. Should i start eliminating all the flowers and dead-heading the vines so the pumpkins can start to get some size to them??? Please help....any suggestions would be very helpful.Thanks.....Shawn.

6/28/2002 12:37:39 AM

Commack, NY

there are a couple of factors to consider before making the cut......timing, location on the vine, number of lobes,stem length, angle to the vine....etc. remember, a pumpkin will only grow for a certain amount of days, like 70-80. it depends on the fruit/weather. rarely do i get one that grows for 80 days or more, but it does happen. okay, so when is your weighoff? if its the first saturday like it is for alot us , then the one from june 16 you should probably get rid of. Too early. a few years back i pollinated one on june 29. it stopped growing 2 weeks before the weighoff. there's nothing more nerv wracking then knowing your pumpkin's not growing anymore, BUT you still have to wait two weeks before it goes on the scale.
(continued)

6/28/2002 6:41:34 AM

Commack, NY

part II

where is the pumpkin? most will agree that they favor a main vine set, although very large fruit have certainly been grown on side vines. personal preference really. how far out is it set? if its 5' in, that's probably too close, but again, i'm sure that theres been a few biggies grown close in.
Other factors might be, were they all pollinated by the same male? or different. if all other factors were considered equal, which pollinator would be a better cross in your opinion?
Stem length. Not all fruit have nice long stems, some are short. A long stemmed fruit is easier to position down the line when you need that extra length.
Position to the vine. Maybe you got lucky and all your sets are perpendicular to the vine, but maybe not. Certainly one that is closer to perpendicularity (is that a word?!!) would be better.....less to adjust.
once you make your choice, and get rid of the unwanted ones, you might want to consider pollinating for a while just in case your chosen one aborts. you dont want to get caugh with your PLANTS down! LOL!!! oh man that was bad!
i'm sure that i missed a few, but its 6:45 in the AM! i figured i'd get you started......i'm sure there will be quite a few responses on this one, and none of them will be wrong! :)

scott

6/28/2002 6:42:04 AM

CT

I think Scott said it all. good job old chap.

6/28/2002 2:15:15 PM

Indiana

Shawn,
Since you are from Kansas, i would venture to bet you wont get much more than 65 days of growth. Number of growing days is a direct function of temperatures. Joel Holland gets 100 days of growth....I get 70ish........Boy does that almost sound fair? LOL
Tom Beachy

PS I always pollinate a few females a week until mid-August.

6/28/2002 6:01:36 PM

Kansas

Scott,
My goal this year is to break the state record which is 402 #'s and my weighoff date for that is Sept 5th. In reply to some of your questions this is my answers...6 out of the 8 that i have set right now are on the main vines of my two plants. The closest one that is near the stump is about 9 feet out. I have selfed and crossed pollinated all 8 fruits. The shortest stem length i've measured has been 6 inches and about half of the 8 pumpkins are positioned perpendicular to the vine. I'm growing the 878 Greer and the 841 Pistono. The Greer is a very aggressive plant with huge leaves and thick vines. The pumpkin that i pollinated on the 16th of June grew for about 3 days and just quit. It got to softball size and has just stayed there. I thought maybe with all the pollinating that i've been doing that could of stopped it's growth. Not sure...Tom, yes 100 days of growth is totally UNFAIR..!!!LOL....Thanks guys for your replies...Shawn.

6/28/2002 8:20:24 PM

Commack, NY

Shawn,
good luck! hope you clobber that state record of yours!

scott

6/29/2002 2:18:06 PM

Kansas

Scott,
I'm going to try...thanks

Shawn

6/29/2002 8:30:08 PM