The Great Pumpkin Adventures of Diana Doucet
Chapter Five - What Is and What Should Never Be

 


Sorry, your browser doesn't support Java.

So if you wake up with the sunrise,
and all your dreams are still as new,
And happiness is what you need so bad,
girl, the answer lies with you.


June 28 Early in the morning, to my surprise, I found a female opened on the second side vine on the 875 Dill in the front patch.  Even more surprising, no males were open on the plant and no bees were anywhere to be seen.  This female had only four lobes.  I cut three fresh males off the 947 Patrick and she had her way with them, then and there.  I then tied the flower closed to end her amorous adventures.

These boys just want to have fun. 



 

June 30 The females are all dressed up and ready to go in the rear patch. This evening I placed chastity veils (a small piece of floating row cover) over two females on the 937 Mombert and one on the 947 Patrick.   The first Mombert female is 10 feet out on the primary vine, the second 6 feet out on a secondary.   Both have 5 lobes.  The 947 Patrick has a beautiful female with an exquisitely long stem sitting 8 feet out on the main vine.  She has six lobes but one lobe is abnormal and not completely formed.
July 1 Caught in an unnatural act with a 937 Mombert female and four 947 Patrick males. 



 

July 2  Pollinated three females today.  A five lobe female 12 feet on on the main vine of the 875 Dill with three fresh females from the 947 Patrick.  A four lobe female 5 feet out on the first side vine with four males from the 937 Mombert.   A four lobe female 7 feet out on the Mombert with 3 males from the 947 Patrick.  Complete pollination stats are listed below.

Stats:

 Plant                   Feet out          Vine             Lobes      Date Pollinated    Male         Plant Size
875 Dill                     5             Secondary           4              June 28            947 P        15' by 17'
875 Dill                    12               Main                 5               July 2              947 P        17' by 20'
875 Dill                     5             Secondary           4               July 2              937 M       17' by 20'
875 Dill                     14              Main                 5               July 8              947 P        20' by 26' 

947 Patrick               8                Main                 6              July 1               937 M        17' by 19' 
947 Patrick               7              Secondary           4              July 3              937 M        18' by 20'
947 Patrick               6              Secondary           3              July 4              937 M        18' by 20'
947 Patrick              11                Main                 6              July 5               937 M        19' by 21'

937 Mombert          10               Main                 5              July 1               947 P         17' by 22'
937 Mombert           7              Secondary           4              July 1               947 P         17' by 22'
937 Mombert           7              Secondary           4              July 2              947 P         17' by 22' 
937 Mombert           6              Secondary           5              July 4              947 P         18' by 24'
937 Mombert          12                Main                 5             July 6               947 P         19' by 25'


Ok boys, it's time to party!


 
July 16  Started culling excess fruit due to poor shape, growth or position.
July 17 Culled the first pumpkin on the main vine on the 947 Patrick.  It measured 39" circumference at 16 days and was my fastest growing fruit.  It had three strikes against it, however:   The sixth lobe on the female flower was deformed, there was minor splitting in an area due to cuke beetle damage, and the shape was going asymmetrical.  I decided to go with the backup fruit three feet further out on the main, a perfect six lober with a higher rounded shape.
July 21 Culled the last of the excess fruit.  I decided to leave two pumpkins for the time being on the 947 Patrick. The six lober 11 feet out on the main and a four lober 7 feet out on the first side vine.   I left one pumpkin on the main vine of the both the 875 Dill and the 937 Mombert, 12 feet out on the Dill and 10 feet out on the Mombert.



The never should be crowd



 

July 22  After battling what I thought was sun scald or sun sensitivity due to over-fertilization for over a month, both the 875 Dill and the 937 Mombert start showing severe damage to the young leaves on every growing vine.  After researching this extensively, it finally dawns on me - Anthracnose, a fungal disease which attacks young leaves.  I have never used fungicides or pesticides on my pumpkins before, but now I'm shopping for Daconil.  The worst part is that now both plants have been under fertilized for the last month; Growth is retarded and the pumpkins on both plants are growing slower than they should.  All my hopes for a really big pumpkin now rest on the 947 Patrick.

 
 

947 Patrick - The Goddess,  Lovely and ethereal




Aphrodite: Goddess of Beauty - To behold her perfection leaves one breathless

 
 

937 Mombert - The Generalissima,  Charging down the patch


 
  Athena: Goddess of War,  Stay out of her way!



 

July 23  This one hurt - but I culled the second pumpkin on a side vine of the 947 Patrick.  At 20 days, it measured 52" in circumference with an OTT of 121 and a nice shape, but it was sacrificed for the young enchantress on the main vine.  At 18 days, this six lober measures 48" in circumference with an OTT of 119 and a beautiful high long symetrical shape.  A goddess in my pumpkin patch.  I'm hoping she will reward me for my sacrificial offering of a young girl pumpkin cut off in her prime.
July 25 Twenty day benchmarks for my three plants:
937 Mombert:  Athena         43"  circ., 108 OTT 
875 Dill:            Hera              42" circ.,  111  OTT
947 Patrick:     Aphrodite     56"  circ.,  135 OTT

875 Dill - Mercurial,  unpredictably changeable



  Hera:  Queen of the deities - This girl has an atittude 



 
Home Previous Continued

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  eXTReMe Tracker