Uninspired by the Giants
In the last posting (click here if you missed it), I mentioned that the soil could have become compacted from too much rain. It was a very wet last 3 weeks of July (SW KS standards). I'm firmly believing that compacted soil has occurred, impacting the growth the pumpkins. The weight gain on the giants has been less than stellar. This morning the pumpkin on the 1257 plant was taped at 215 pounds - last week it was ~119 lbs. The daily weight gain appears to have slowed the past few days to only 10 pounds a day. That is pathetic as the DAP27 (days after pollination) should be well in excess of 25 lbs! Here was that pumpkin this morning.....
The weight gain of the pumpkin on the 1713 plant is averaging a bit more, but still not what it should be doing at DAP 21. This morning it was taped at 144 pounds - last week it was ~59 lbs.
On the 250 plant, I did cull the six lobed pumpkin as it was not gaining any size at all - so it likely did not get a good pollination. The other pumpkin that I kept is growing but at a really slow growth rate. This morning it would be at D15 and was only around 36 pounds. I don't have much hope for that one. On the other hand, the plant is showing incredible growth with very large and green leaves, but on secondary vines. I wished I had pollinated on some of this new growth. Look at the size of this leaf (19-20 inches across)!
And, here is the plant itself, mixed in with okra (which is difficult to see with the production of pods being impacted) and some field pumpkins.
So, I'm not really excited that growth of any of these pumpkins is going to pick up for the remainder of the season. I'll just hope something clicks. With 45 to 60 days of additional growing possible (barring any issues like disease, insects, rodents, etc.), I could still end up with a 500 to 600 pound pumpkin, or two.
The weight gain of the pumpkin on the 1713 plant is averaging a bit more, but still not what it should be doing at DAP 21. This morning it was taped at 144 pounds - last week it was ~59 lbs.
On the 250 plant, I did cull the six lobed pumpkin as it was not gaining any size at all - so it likely did not get a good pollination. The other pumpkin that I kept is growing but at a really slow growth rate. This morning it would be at D15 and was only around 36 pounds. I don't have much hope for that one. On the other hand, the plant is showing incredible growth with very large and green leaves, but on secondary vines. I wished I had pollinated on some of this new growth. Look at the size of this leaf (19-20 inches across)!
And, here is the plant itself, mixed in with okra (which is difficult to see with the production of pods being impacted) and some field pumpkins.
So, I'm not really excited that growth of any of these pumpkins is going to pick up for the remainder of the season. I'll just hope something clicks. With 45 to 60 days of additional growing possible (barring any issues like disease, insects, rodents, etc.), I could still end up with a 500 to 600 pound pumpkin, or two.
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