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Bristol R.I. USA

What do you do if your fruit growth appears to have stopped. This happened last season and i fear that i have a soil imbalance somewhere. I extended the patch last year and that certainly has a lot to it the fruit is getting cantaloped and ugly but measurments seem to be at a stand still. What you think?

8/26/2010 11:33:00 PM

Sharon, MA

A lot of pumpkins slowed to a crawl, these last 5 days with the 6 inches of rain and no sun. Hopefully thats it. With the sunny and hot forecast for the next 6 days, things should really pick up if she is still going to grow.
This will be a make or break week for a few growers, because a lot of rain followed by heat and sun equals you know what@!

8/27/2010 6:41:10 AM

Rhode Island

heres what i think kenny. i think your pumpkin has stopped growing and once they stop? they dont start up again. many reasons for this from early maturity to plant / pumpkin problems.

lots of new england growers have had their pumpkins slow to a crawl and will be stopping soon because a lot of us pollinated 10 days to 2 weeks earlier then in past years.

as long as there are no disease issues or bad areas of the plant ( cut them out if there are ) or pumpkin ( look good for any soft spots ,etc,) then i would just keep a sheet over her for dew protection at night and ride her home. keep the pumpkin as cool as possible.

8/27/2010 1:23:54 PM

New Hampshire, USA

mine is slowing down too...but i think it is im losing a lot of leaves that were sunburned early...i put the pedal down on the fertilizer to get as much growth as possible...i hope the sun helps too

8/27/2010 2:35:46 PM

Bristol R.I. USA

I think I may have started the plants to early. The leaves look like they're on life support but the fruit looks good. All the plants seem to have slowed down. The 1596 is cantaloping well. This years patch prep will certainly be done much sooner and the amendments will be made with a few tills in between.

8/27/2010 6:00:13 PM

Honesdale Pa USA

Pap hit the nail on the head. My pumpkins were pollinated 2 to 3 weeks earlier than usual. I've run into different problems with plants than in past years. Most of the weight was put on in July instead of August. Now its just playing doctor to get any pumpkins to the weigh-offs. Definitely an interesting growing year.

8/27/2010 11:20:38 PM

Rhode Island

if you had any soil diseases carry over in your patch from previous seasons?,then this high heat we enjoyed only helped to magnify the possibilities--- good and bad.

theres still going to be some very big impressive pumpkins at the weigh offs this year however,many of these contenders will be on life support waiting to be picked and weighed.
thats why we are starting to see bigger than normal pumpkins at the smaller weigh offs i believe.

i will say this though. if you get lucky and have one of those special pumpkins that grow longer than normal? then for those folks the early pollinations were a bonus.
either way the greatest thing about this hobby is that theres always another chance for something special next season.

8/28/2010 7:05:35 AM

Bristol R.I. USA

I think I may have reached my goal of getting a bigger pumpkin. Then again we'll see.

8/28/2010 7:26:17 AM