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Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Have you seen how well Börje Gustavsson from Sweden is doing again this year?

Check out his diary...

He has a pumpkin set on his 1088 Kennedy 03 plant that is 32 days old. has a circ. of 108" and is est. at 324lbs!!!

Börje, how has the weather been there in Sweden? High and low temperatures?

Best wishes,
Martin

7/26/2004 11:08:09 AM

Southern Sweden

Hi Martin!
We have had a very bad weather this summer, with lots of rain and quite low temperatures, and it has been very windy. I have never in my entire life experienced such a bad summer as this one.
During the whole summer we've only had a few sunny days. But thanks to my specially built pumpkin-green house, and the extra care given to the plant (i.e. I never water with cold water), it grows quite well despite the bad weather.
The deep fertilized soil that I grow on, is maybe the main reason why my pumpkin is growing so well.
Best regards from Börje in a chilly Sweden

7/26/2004 5:21:06 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Hi Börje!

Your weather sounds much like ours.... Maybe I should try some of your cultural methods next year... It can only become better! lol

I wish you the best of luck for the rest of this season and I hope you can get a new, official, personal best!

Best wishes,
Martin

7/26/2004 5:26:26 PM

Atlanta, Georgia

Martin,
The protection I'm using here in the hof is similar to Boerje's system and I really think that it was a mistake not to put in the heating cable this year and that if
I didn't have a flat vining 582 I could have had a nice pumpkin growing here this year. It's tough for us to have to prepare for both hot as hell weather and for cold weather since it changes every year. I have about 50 meters of greenhouse plastic that is 7.6 meters wide I believe. If you think you can use some for your patch let me know and I can bring it to Ludwigsburg if you visit there. I probably won't go to the weigh-off though...
Michel

7/27/2004 1:16:32 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Börje, do you cover the plant during the cold nights?

Good luck to you all!

Jernej

.. I think we are all in deep (s..) ice age!

7/27/2004 3:45:39 AM

Southern Sweden

Hi Jernej,
The pumpkin plant is covered every day by a green house with a removable roof (made of plastics that are rolled on long branches). When it is sunny I remove the roof (roll it up). The pumpkin is also covered with a blanket, for the sun.

Best regards,
Börje

7/27/2004 4:38:16 AM

Southern Sweden

I forgot one thing; the secondary vines outside the greenhouse are not covered.

7/27/2004 4:43:56 AM