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Upa Creek, MO

Hello everybody. I have a 17 day old that is coming to a crawl only gaining ~2 inches a day in CC (about 60 total). We have had extreme temps with 105+ heat indexes but now the weather is getting a bit cooler. What other factors besides temp can contribute to the slow growth. Can overwatering?

The pumpkin is also getting yellow fast and canteloping. Do pumpkins sometimes just mature fast like w\in 20 days?

Thanks

7/26/2010 10:54:18 AM

New York

Premature ripening is often a sign of overexposure to sun, and naturally, as the pumpkin matures, its growth rates slow. Do you have anything shading the fruit?

7/26/2010 11:12:38 AM

Upa Creek, MO

Yes, it has been shaded since day one. I currently have a sheet folded over 3 times covering it.

I'm sorry too, I meant showing deep ribs, not cateloping.

7/26/2010 11:39:14 AM

Fresno, CA

Luke, are you also misting the plant during the day? If it's in the 100's you could definitely use misters to keep the plant cool during the mid-day time. Sorry to hear yours is slowing. On the bright side it looks like you are going to be well ahead of the 800lb benchmark for 20 days. I have a couple pics on my diary that show the difference between my plant that isn't under misters and my plant that is under misters both at 106 degrees. You can go the first one and then just use the forward icon to move to the next slide.
http://bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=139189
http://bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=139190

7/26/2010 11:50:52 AM

Upa Creek, MO

Yeah, that is night and day with the misters. I might look into that this summer, but if not will install one for sure next year (depending on if this one has stopped growing or not). I have set up a shade canopy with a sheet and some rebars that protects the top 1/3 of the plant.

7/26/2010 3:56:11 PM