Ok. I have 4 pumpkin plants that are taking over the back yard. The plants them selves are doing good. I have three or four good big pumpkins per plant. But the little ones that are popping up now are getting moldy and turning mushy white before their the size of my fist.
Anyone know whats going on with my pumpkins? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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pharmerphil
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they are not getting pollinated sufficiently...depends on how much season you have left in Colorado,COB31 wrote:Ok. I have 4 pumpkin plants that are taking over the back yard. The plants them selves are doing good. I have three or four good big pumpkins per plant. But the little ones that are popping up now are getting moldy and turning mushy white before their the size of my fist.
Anyone know whats going on with my pumpkins? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
you could hand pollinate, but to be honest, this late in the season you'd be best to terminate the vines where the pumpkins are mis-firing, and let the plants energy go into ripening the big ones.
we have some large ones, we have a dozen or so that are doing ok, but they are about the size of softballs, and there isn't enough time left here (Minnesota) for them to do anything but suck energy from the big ones and prolong their maturity...hope this helps
Terminate the vines? I'm in MO, so we still have a bit of growing to do, but this perked my ears.pharmerphil wrote: this late in the season you'd be best to terminate the vines where the pumpkins are mis-firing, and let the plants energy go into ripening the big ones.
we have some large ones, we have a dozen or so that are doing ok, but they are about the size of softballs, and there isn't enough time left here (Minnesota) for them to do anything but suck energy from the big ones and prolong their maturity...hope this helps
How far past a decent fruit should I pinch off the vine (okay, it will likely take a machete
)? I have some sugar pie pumpkins, I have around 5 *that I can see* from 2 hills. I am fighting powdery mildew, though. My spaghetti squash is going nuts producing, but I'd like to clip these as well, so they just grow & ripen a little sooner.Or maybe I shouldn't do this at all with p.m. infecting some of them.
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pharmerphil
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it's best to clip the ends of the vines, thus terminating the vines growth.
then remove the small pumpkins that have no time to mature.
cutting the vines back to a few feet past the pumpkins won't hurt a thing, provided there is still enough vines/foliage left for photosynthesis
whenever you have a JUNGLE of vines, be it pumpkin or squash, pruning is a good thing
The main vines have secondaries coming off of it, these can be trimmed to allow more air flow, and to get you into the patch for care...
the tertiary vines are vines that branch OFF OF the secondaries, and do more harm than good actually.
A note on your Powdery Mildew, if it's not to far advanced, go with a milk spray...
Milk CAN BE sprayed Up To full strength, but it takes a good sprayer not to glog..
best to go 50:50
then remove the small pumpkins that have no time to mature.
cutting the vines back to a few feet past the pumpkins won't hurt a thing, provided there is still enough vines/foliage left for photosynthesis
whenever you have a JUNGLE of vines, be it pumpkin or squash, pruning is a good thing
The main vines have secondaries coming off of it, these can be trimmed to allow more air flow, and to get you into the patch for care...
the tertiary vines are vines that branch OFF OF the secondaries, and do more harm than good actually.
A note on your Powdery Mildew, if it's not to far advanced, go with a milk spray...
Milk CAN BE sprayed Up To full strength, but it takes a good sprayer not to glog..
best to go 50:50
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pharmerphil
- Senior Member
- Posts: 158
- Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 7:13 am
- Location: Minnesota
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pharmerphil
- Senior Member
- Posts: 158
- Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 7:13 am
- Location: Minnesota
that is funny...any chance ya wanna swap places??NaeMo wrote:How funny! We live just south of Kirksville, and we moved here in '96. And it *did* rain today. Ah well.pharmerphil wrote:NaeMo, where you from in North Missouri?
I moved to Minnesota in 96, from North eastern Missouri, in the boonies north of Kirksville
It's either getting colder in the winter, or I'm getting Older...
can't take much more of this weather Naemo...47° this morning
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pharmerphil
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- Location: Minnesota