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. Th