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Santa Ynez California

Hi. I am thinking of switching away from the fertilizer I have been using soon as it is 10-10-2. Our plants are so big now and two of our pumpkins should be hitting 300 by tomorrow or Sunday. Our new growth on our vines has sort of slowed to a snail's pace and I am thinking of switching to something that is a lot lower in nitrogen. Does that sound about right? Also this year has definitely had a quite a few problems we did not have last year - we had more plants and got them in two months earlier lol. One of the pumpkins measured out to about 30 pounds gain each day the last couple days while the others are doing about 18-20. Question is is there something we need to watch out for that comes with this fast of growth? Is it too fast? That sort of thing. Seems like each time we get to a new stage some potential new problem crops up and rather than catching them after the fact I'd like to anticipate them hahaha. Ps. thanks for all great advice so far this year and of course last year too. Steve

7/10/2009 4:02:39 PM

Rhode Island

steve there is something to watch out for when your fruit puts on over 30 pounds a day. stem splits into the cavity ha ha ha.
pap

7/10/2009 4:42:53 PM

Rhode Island

you could purchase a bag of sulfate of potash 0-0-50 and put down four pounds around and underneath the plant canopy.
do not exceed or fruit can ripen to early.
also there are other products that are hight in potash ( that last number ) that you could use.

7/10/2009 4:45:55 PM

Santa Ynez California

Hi. Thank you. I will try to find the potash fertilizer. I mixed a lot of clean ash into the soil after tilling. Is regular ash high in potash too? For some reason I thought it was. I have been starting to mix in an organic liquid potasium fertilizer into my teas the last few days but wanted to check if it was too early yet etc. to really start adding the potassium. Thank you. Steve

7/10/2009 5:34:13 PM

Rhode Island

ash will raise you ph to unexceptable levels ( providing you are not already very low in ph)
id be very carefull because excess ashes will cause the fruit to stop growing very early.
pap

7/13/2009 8:39:35 AM

Desolate, NE

will adding compost adversly affect it?

7/13/2009 10:33:37 AM

Santa Ynez California

Hi. Thanks. I will not add the ash then. There is some mixed into the overall growing area but that was at beginning of season. Thanks again Pap. Steve

7/13/2009 11:16:24 AM