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Southern NH

This is my second try at growing pumpkins. The year before last, my plants were totally devoured by slugs. Last year all my seeds were eaten before they sprouted. This year I grew four plants inside, and then transplanted them outside (much too late in the year). Only one of my plants survived, and it is fairly large. It is in a 10' X 10' boxed area (to protect from slugs) and I put fertilizer down befoere I planted.

By now, the plant has set down extra pairs of roots, and has started two secondary vines. It seems that every one to two days two male flowers open for a day, then they droop and fall off.
Is this normal?

It has many female flowers that have not opened yet,
is this normal?

I try to water my plant twice a day with a watering can, but everyday the plant seems to wilt. The leaves wilt, and it is causing the leaves get damaged. During the early morning and night the leaves are fine, but as soon as it gets warm, and the sun comes out, the leaves just droop.
Why is this?
I know I planted it very late in the season, but am I doing something wrong?

please help :-)
I'm only a teenager, and I have never been able to grow any type of vegitable or fruit, but hopefully this year (with your help) I can cultivate a pumpkin (even if it is a tiny one)

8/2/2002 11:07:17 AM

ipswich, ma usa

Bluey --

I too an new to this game and lovng it. So here is my two cents worth from my vast growing knowledge learned over the last six months. ;) I can tell you what I have noticed with my own plants. It is normal for the male flowers to do as you say. Their only around for a short period of time (One day is about all their good for). The females will open just give it some time, your plant seems to be young and just has not reached the stage to have open females. No problem, just hang in there the will open. My plant leaves also wilt in the sun. It seems that the younger the plant the more wilting occurs. On my plants any ways. The leaves in my opinion don't seem to be strong enough to withstand their own weight till they reach a certain amount of maturity, even then they will wilt a little but tend to pop back up once the direct sun is off them. If you look around the site many people set up misting systems to cool off the leaves to help prevent wilt. Once the plant gets a little older the leaves (on my plant any ways) seem to stay up much easier. You will shortly find out that your plant will engulf your 10 X 10 area, if you have a lawn or something like that let it grow onto it. My mon has a plant in a 6 X 4 box just for fun and now it has taken over the yard! She also has a 80 pounder going. Like I said I too am new at this game but you learn alot on this site. Without it my plant would not be where it is today, oh by the way my pumpkin is at day 25 and is over 140#s so as you can see stick with it and any newbie like yourself and I can grow em big!! Hope this helped a little bit. I'm sure more people will jump in and add their advice.

John (5150)

8/2/2002 11:30:50 AM

Ga.

I've had better luck with my plants not wilting by using a soaker hose..I was overhead watering,,and it seems like the water wasnt pentatraiting deep enough to supply roots with enough water..I could be very wrong on this,,,but I had no more wilting after I switched to a soaker hose for each plant...Just my 2 cents worth......

8/2/2002 11:36:05 AM

ipswich, ma usa

Bluey --

Where are you in NH?

8/2/2002 11:49:46 AM

Southern NH

John, Yes, actually, I'm in NH. How'd you guess?

Jeff, I live in an apartment building, and the landlord doesn't want to have to pay for the extra water from a hose ;-(

Bluey

8/2/2002 12:02:13 PM

Southern NH

John, now that I look at my previous message, it tells the location. lol

8/2/2002 12:05:02 PM

Southern NH

BTW, one of my neighbors is growing Squash and Zucchini, and I believe their female flowers are opening at the same time as my male flowers...... it will be interesting to see what they get. They might get pumpchini and squmpkins, LOL

8/2/2002 12:10:01 PM

ipswich, ma usa

Bluey --

What town in NH you live in?

8/2/2002 12:59:13 PM

Southern NH

Umm, before I give that out, why would you like to know?

Bluey

8/2/2002 1:03:55 PM

Southern NH

How late is my plant? It is on its third set of male flowers.

8/2/2002 3:02:40 PM

ipswich, ma usa

Just curious, I live in MA and didnt know if we may live near each other, thats all. No nead to tell if you don't want to.

8/2/2002 3:38:15 PM

Southern NH

I'll say that I live at the very bottom of NH (parents don't like me giving out too many specifics). I live about 50 miles from your house.

Bluey

8/2/2002 3:51:51 PM

Billerica,Massachusetts

Bluey: if watering is a problem then i'd add some mulch to help retain what water there is.

8/2/2002 3:57:49 PM

Southern NH

what about the chance of mold and bugs?
how much would it cost for 100 sq. ft. of mulch?
will the vines be able to grow roots through the mulch?

8/2/2002 3:59:55 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Bluey, Sounds like the plant isn't getting enough water so the root system isn't as deep down as it should be and since the roots aren't as good as they should be are unablr to support the whole vine during heat stress. This usually happens early on while the roots establish themselves. My plant used to wilt on hot days now seems to be faring quite well even with the temperature pushing int 100's the last week. Can't pollenate the females cause of the heat but the vine looks good. Stay with it and have someone help you lug down some extra water bet things start perking up. Grow Em big! Chuck

8/2/2002 4:41:06 PM

Southern NH

Thanks Chuck!

8/2/2002 4:50:11 PM

Southern NH

How far is my pumkin plant behind? (in the normal growing stages)

8/2/2002 9:14:45 PM

Kuna, Id.

I was told that leaves wilt during high heat becouse they shut down. The pores in the leaves close to stop the lose of water, just a way ma nature made for them to not fry. When the leaves pores close they wilt, you will find that if you spray a mist of water on them for a couple min,s they perk right back up. Thats why alot of people use misting systems.
Ken

8/3/2002 1:21:59 AM

Southern NH

Can a pumpkin plant survive on only secondary roots?

8/3/2002 2:48:05 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Bluey, Thats a good question...My soil is deep probably two feet at least. When digging anywhere near the vines..believe me the roots are down and out from all the vines. I wouldn't doubt that severing the stump would wilt the plant severly but With the roots that I see the plant would probably survive...I wouldn't want to test that theory though! wait for some of the big guys to answer.

8/3/2002 4:38:24 PM

Pumpkintown, SC

Yes, this has happened on several occasions to different growers. Not me personally. But they had amazingly good(maybe not great, but good) results when the stump for one reason or another got severed. More proof of the importance of those "secondary roots" and covering those vines.

8/5/2002 7:27:20 PM

Northern Ohio

Bluey, I think you are very late this season to grow a really big pumpkin, however, I would go ahead and pollinate the females when they open. It is fun to try to do it right. I polinated on the 3 of August which is about 2 to 4 weeks late, according to the BP2 book. It was the wettist May in the last 90 years in Ohio and I couldn't get mine in until May 22. That is late too. As the Summer progesses, my planting develops it is even more behind. If this one takes, I will have 4 weeks left for good growth and then the month of September, which is slower. I hope you get to see a pumpkin growing and I hope I get to too. Good luck, Mary (newbie)

8/6/2002 9:28:19 PM

Mineral Virginia

Bluey,
I'm about to find out if a plant can live without the trunk... I had rot set in 6 feet from the trunk and the main has almost completely died to that point. from there on out to the tips things are holding on, I even have two small pumpkins set far out on secondaries. I was going to cull the enitre plant, but decided to leave it when I noticed deep tap root under almost every node just to see how it turns out. I'm going to go buy about 30 bags of compost/manure today and bury everything.

8/7/2002 8:53:43 AM

Southern NH

Mrrr, I know I won't get a big pumpkin (this year). I hope at least I will get a fully mature pumpkin, so next year I will not have to buy more seeds. Plus, this will be the very first produce I have ever.... :-/ .... well... produced! ;-) (let alone, the very first pumpkin)

8/7/2002 9:14:28 AM

Southern NH

funnydad, lemme know how it goes.

I only asked because the leave closest to my trunk are dieing.
Is this normal?

8/7/2002 9:15:53 AM

Southern NH

BTW, I have finally gotten my hands on a big bucket (5 gallon). I got it from the basement, and thoroughly cleaned it. So now, I am able to water my pumpkin plant with about 10-15 gallons of water. :-)

8/7/2002 11:51:52 AM

Billerica,Massachusetts

bluey: you can use alot of things for mulch like old newspapers, don't use the colored ones though, a bale of straw or hay, is there a pond nearby? get some of those 5 gal white buckets and put them under the downspouts of the house, and catch the rainwater.

Glenn

8/7/2002 12:39:24 PM

Mineral Virginia

Some of mine are dying, but I never pruned the trunk as some have. Also, it's important for me to note I am not using AG's, I'm using a couple of store bought strains that are supposed to yield big pumpkins. Either way, I suffer the same as everyone else, especially the rotting vine issue.

8/7/2002 1:58:41 PM

Southern NH

borer, there is no pond nearby....why do you ask?
I got a 5 gallon bucket from my basement, and I fill it from my tub spout.

8/7/2002 4:14:43 PM

Southern NH

funnydad, what are AG's? (Artificial Germination? Advanced Growth, Artificial Gravity? :-P )

8/7/2002 4:16:08 PM

In the shade - PDX, OR

That would be Atlantic Giants.

C

8/7/2002 6:32:58 PM

Southern NH

oh, ok. thanks!

News Flash! I have now officialy seen the second female flower!!!!!

8/7/2002 8:23:42 PM

Southern NH

Now I have a Third!

8/8/2002 9:59:09 PM

Southern NH

In your opinion, should I let my busy bees take care of polination? or should I manually polinate them?

8/9/2002 9:20:19 AM

Deer Park WA

Bluey, if you only have one plant I would hand pollinate every female that comes along. There may be a problem with not having enough males to go around. If that is the case and you have several females open at the same time select the best one and pollinate it with two or three males and then tie the female closed with a tendril or a piece of string to keep the bees from stealing your pollen. I allways try to set a pumpkin on the main vine. Good luck!

8/9/2002 11:00:29 AM

Southern NH

What if there is about 2 to 3 males per female? and I have bees visiting my flowers every morning?

Does this make a difference?

8/9/2002 11:33:59 AM

Deer Park WA

YES, I try to either beat the bees out of bed to pollinate, or cover my males with cheese cloth the night before. The honey bees will slurp up all the pollen and your males will still be open but basically sterile!

8/9/2002 3:52:03 PM

Southern NH

What does it mean if two of my female flowers turned brown?
Does this mean they died?
Is the the well known "abortion"?

8/12/2002 5:50:50 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Hey Bluey looked at your pictures in the diary. You've got some fall work ahead to get the garden ready for next year. You need to get plenty of leaves and chop em up and turn them into the soil. Looks pretty hard in that garden. It will also hold the water a little beter and give the roots some area to grow in. Yeah that one female that never opened gave up the ghost early on ya, happens alot to the first ones on the Vine..Got some bug damage but not to bad. leaf count looks low but probably from lack of water or bad water retention. Got my fingers crossed for that pumpkin keep the water coming! Grow em big Buddy! Chuck

8/13/2002 8:38:01 PM

Southern NH

I have to haul easily 20 gal. of water out to it to keep it from wilting totally. Is this normal? (its been hot and hazy the last couple of days. This could explain the need for so much water)
The leaf count will start to increase, I easily have 2 to 4 new secondaries.

If you look at the photos of my garden, it have copper tape around it, because I was afraid the slugs would attack my plant.

How am I doing at growing this?
This is the biggest I've gotten a plant!
I'm hoping "third times the charm" ;-)

8/13/2002 10:13:28 PM

Southern NH

BTW, ever heard of someone called Hugh Wiberg? I got my seeds from him.

8/13/2002 10:14:26 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

yeah he's gotta a couple of big un's listed on the AGGC board. You got the right seed thought they were AG's! Need more water! Tim your gonna be a muscle man lugging all the water this plant wants! some 20-20-20 fertilizer will help that leaf count too. Some Peters water soluable sprayed on the leaves withyour bug spray will foliar feed the plant.

8/14/2002 5:03:35 AM

Southern NH

20-20-20 fertilizer? what is it?
I am currently using Miracle gro on my plant.

I can't wait until I move to my own house, then I can have a BIG area for my garden, along with a hose!

8/14/2002 7:24:25 AM

Southern NH

I think the my last female is going to die. Is there a chance of another female flower coming along?

8/14/2002 9:02:46 AM