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Back to Part 1 July 25: Soil Temperature: 84.7�F Measurements: V1 is 7 foot 3 inches long, V2 is 7'10", V3 is 6'8", V4 is 7', V5 is 5', V6 is 6'6", V7 is 5'8"; largest leaves are 11" Compared to June 28th of last year, this year's lead vine has now fallen 8" behind last year's even though the other vines are about the same as their counterparts in length and leaf width. I guess I shouldn't read too much into V2 going from +6 to -8 of 2003's H3 but I'll keep an eye on it. We haven't had as much rain during this period as last year so maybe less rainwater has something to do with it. However we might get some tonight, even though it seems to be hesitating in its arrival. Instead, it has been sending its annoying cousin wind for the past several hours. I erected bed sheet windbreaks completely around the patch and had to put lots of bamboo skewers in strategic places to keep the vines and leaves from being pushed sideways in the wind. I placed many of them up against the leaf stems to accomplish this. I am also thinking about burying parts of the vines to help out with the wind along with it producing secondary roots. During the last storm a few days ago, the wind knocked the shade cover down on top of the vine bases and I almost had I fit over that one. I carefully removed it but found that the split in V5 from earlier that was not open had opened up about 1/8 of an inch. Four leaves were bent but no other damage was done. I am leaving the cover off now since that happened, especially with the wind happening now. I also trimmed several secondaries off the vines, but left one on V2. I want to keep them from growing too close from the base so they don't crowd; I want them to start where the vines fan out. Last year, flowers began to bloom right about now in the life of the vines. This year they are still small. I wonder if the seeds should be planted on May 15 instead of later. The sunlight does lessen after the summer solstice, which was shortly after I planted this year. Plus I have the harder soil issue this year. I may slip the vines some 36% nitrogen, I'll see how things go.

July 28:
The first male flower opened up today on V4. One is getting ready to open tomorrow on V2. There are many smaller ones too so now is the time for the males to get the bees used to coming around to the patch. I haven't seen any female flowers yet. I replaced the bamboo skewers inside the garden itself with new ones because the old were turning black with what looked like mold. I don't know what that would do to the plants so I played it safe. Also, I spotted a dead mosquito laying on one of the vines. I guess it got a taste of the Malathion on it. You never see a dead mosquito that someone didn't swat, do you?

July 31:
Measurements: V1 is 10'2" long, V2 is 11'2", V3 is 9'6", V4 is 11'2", V5 is 8'4", V6 is 10'1", V7 is 8'10"; largest leaves are 12"
The vines are continuing to grow very well, about 6 inches a day on average. V4 has really thrived with 4 feet of growth in the past six days (8 inches daily average) and is now tied with V2 for being the longest vine. V7, nine days younger than the rest, has now surpassed the runt V5 in length and is not far behind V3. Last year shorter vines outgrew longer ones at various stages too, like how H1 did with H3. Just to list last year's for comparison: H1 at this time (Day 46, July 4th equivalent) was about 10', H2 was 11', H3 was 12' and H4 was 9' (for some reason I didn't do a log entry for the first two weeks of July last year so these are estimates). The blooming of male flowers was only one day behind that of last year's too (Day 43 July 28, 2004 vs. Day 42 June 30, 2003). Also, there is already a female flower on V6 that looks like it will open in just a few days.
The vines also are growing longer than I visualized compared to the space I have so I redirected all of them these past few days. V1, V2, V3, and V4 will grow in the new grassy area while V5, V6, and V7 have been aimed towards the areas last year's vines grew.
I inspected the vines again for SVB eggs as best I could, it is getting harder yet to get into all the areas to look as the vines cover the ground. The vine bases and tips got the best checkup while the middle area got a mostly from-above inspection. No eggs were spotted. However, the entire lengths of all vines and all leaf stems got another treatment of Malathion. I also sprayed the leaf stems from two directions this time. I noticed it doesn't necessarily drip down and run all around the stems as it appears to when you apply from just one direction. Before I even started though, I noticed a few leaves about 8 feet down on V2 drooping slightly, I'll keep an eye on them.
Then, I addressed the powdery mildew issue. The spots started to appear on the leaves just beyond the garden so it was time to act. I bought some Green Leaf Fung-Away Systemic Fungicide, mixed it up with water as it calls for, and sprayed all the leaves on all vines with it, not just the ones with the spots on them. I sprayed until it dripped from the leaves like it said too. That did a number on my fingers, having to squeeze the trigger on the bottle for all that time.
Only a sprinkle of rain fell from that storm a few days ago. More rain was forecasted and that didn't come either. Now hot and dry weather is predicted for this week so I'll probably have to water the garden a lot more, the ground looked cracked even today. I don't mind though, I want the Malathion or Fung-Away to do their jobs and not be washed away instead.

August 6:
Measurements: V1 is 13' long, V2 is 15'8", V3 is 12'2", V4 is 13'2", V5 is 10'3", V6 is 13'4", V7 is 10'8"
This has been disaster day in the pumpkin patch. First of all, it was a totally clear and scorching hot day yesterday with a 99�F high. Today, I noticed that had caused burning on the vine tips on V3 and V4. I guess I'm going to have to shade the vine tips when it gets that hot in the future. I wonder now if they will recover and/or form another main tip a little further back. It has also been so hot that the female flowers have been aborting when around pea-size.
Then, an extremely heavy and destructive thunderstorm came through. At first there wasn't any wind so I didn't put up the windbreakers (I had taken them down a few days ago since the vines have spread so far). But after a few minutes of heavy rain winds picked up to hurricane force, blowing all the vines and leaves completely sideways and laying down on the ground. It was probably good I didn't put up the windbreakers anyways with that wind speed, they probably would have collapsed onto the vines like the shade cover did a few weeks ago. I have not seen a storm like that in years, not even when Hurricane Claudette passed nearby last year. So, after the rain stopped I rushed outside and constructed dozens of U hooks and propped the vines and leaves back up with them. Half of the leaves must have their own U hooks now. A few leaves also broke and had to be removed. A small tree branch also fell, taking out a few leaves in the garden itself. After I finished, the patch looks o.k minus a few leaves. Burying parts of the vines has been something I was procrastinating on, this may spur me to do so now to help stabilize the plants from future strong winds. I suppose I should have taken a picture of the damage before I fixed it but I was more in a hurry to correct the problem, plus I didn't want to get the camera wet. By the time I finished, it was getting dark so I couldn't spray the vines with Malathion. Fungicide might be in order too since the leaves will likely stay wet tonight. I also definitely need to not spray the last few feet of V3 and V4 to help main tips reappear. I already avoid spraying the last foot of all vines. The upside I guess is that the rain will help water the plants and keep it a few degrees cooler in the coming days.

August 10:
I pollinated the female on V6 today with four flowers, one from V1, V2, V4, and V6. I must have spent about ten minutes in all swabbing the stamen with the pollen. With only one bee flying around I wanted to make sure this pollination was successful. It will be probably be awhile before I regain the population and trust of the pollinators. Did I say systemic pesticides were bad? Anyways, the temperature only got around 90�F so I didn't worry too much about the heat, besides I did the work early at 8:00AM so it had time to take hold. I performed an experiment though and an ice block placed nearby cooled things down to 83�F but only on one side of the pumpkin. I removed the ice thinking that uneven temps may cause the pumpkin to pollinate and grow unevenly. If it has to be done in the future due to hot temps, two blocks will be needed. There is another female a few feet further down that looks like it will reach maturity in about a week.
In other news, V3 and V4 have produced several secondaries at their ends. They are growing rapidly and several have tiny female flowers on them. So, I guess things are going to be o.k. for them, I just need to train them in the right directions and perhaps trim some of the smaller, non-productive ones off. I redirected V7 to grow in the same direction as V6 to make room. Finally, V2 is still growing faster and larger than the rest. Its leaves tower over the rest but strangely it hasn't produced a viable female yet. If and when it does, it should be a producer of big pumpkins.

August 18:
Measurements: V1 is 21' long; V2 is 27'; V3 is 19'; V4 is 18'; V5 is 17'; V6 is 21'; V7 is 18'
The average growth has been about 7.5" per day based on the above measurements minus V3 and V4. Those two have several secondaries each growing now and I'm taking the most promising one on each as the measurements for V3 and V4 as stated above. As space is getting very limited, I'll have to soon prune off the V3 and V4 secondaries that are not producing good females. Seven vines now seem too much, I have been forced to trim off all secondaries except for a few because of it. Five vines, maybe six, would be better for the area in question for this particular variety. Growth is similar to slightly above rates last year (Day 64 August 18, 2004 vs. July 22, 2003).
Several pollinations have taken place. August 10 was the first on V6, that was a failure. I used three males, one from V6. August 14 on the same plant was a success (so far, it is softball size now). Three flowers were used, all from other plants. August 16 saw two, one on V4 and one on V7. V7 seems a success now (with it at golf-ball size). V4 had a smaller female, probably because of it being a secondary, and it is now at pecan size. Then August 17 saw three pollinations, a small one on a V4 secondary, another small one on another V4 secondary, and another regular size on V6. I couldn't get to these until noon so it is a toss-up as to whether they will be successful. I used three flowers for each, none from selves. I also placed blocks of ice next to and a bowl over each to cool them down since it was later and hotter. I was able to keep temps in the mid 70s�F around them versus the 90�F outside. I also sprayed all the females except for the first one with Green Light Tomato Bloom Spray II like last year. I also sprayed a few nearby leaves and they strangely bent over because of it. I took a picture of it. I have quit spraying the leaves as a result.
V7 has really started to shine in terms of growth and pumpkin production, and to think it was the runt starting out! V6 is still growing but the new growth looks like the vines from November/December last year. The leaves are no longer opening up. In order to help both with their respective situations, I buried several feet of each vine with soil and applied Miracle-Gro Transplant Solution to help roots grow in it. As for sheer growth, V2 is now towering above the rest. It has always been the biggest but it is now six feet longer than the second longest vines. Its leaves are larger at 14" and one towers as much as 23" above the ground! V2 has a female around the 24' mark opening tomorrow, it will be very interesting to see the size of pumpkins it will produce.
No SVB damage has been sighted. There are a few small spots where dry and crusty brown mush-looking stuff exists but no other activity is visible. One spot does have a small hole in the middle but the stuff is still dry. The Malathion hopefully is keeping the SVB away. It now takes two evenings to spray all the vines and I did half of them last night. It thunderstormed today but I am thinking of just letting what I sprayed be until next time, there is just not enough hours to keep up when it rains like that. I'll spray the other half tomorrow and all the leaves need fungicide as Powdery Mildew is making its reappearance in the older part of the patch. Also, it seems the older leaves are living longer than last year, probably as a result of the fungicide.
Finally, a few words about fertilizer. I have been adding a high nitrogen and phosphorus dose weekly to help growth as well as flowering. The next time will see a pullback on nitrogen and focus on phosphorus as we are now heavily into the flowering and (hopefully) fruit setting stage.

August 24:
The August 17 pollinations were failures, it is interesting how a few hours make a difference in pollen and flower viability. August 14's and 16's are doing well. They are now larger than grapefruit size. August 14's is lopsided, growing more on the right than the left, strange. There was a pollination on August 19 on V2, the pumpkin on it is now apple size and elongated. There was also a wound on that pumpkin the other day that oozed clear sticky fluid and then healed up. I didn't see anything around that could have fallen on it, I wonder if it was a result of growing too fast? So, that is four pumpkins currently. Then, there have been several female flowers that yellowed and shriveled before they could bloom, probably from a few hot days last week. I fertilized with Miracle-Gro Bloom-Booster (10-52-10) exclusively to help the situation. The females appearing now look healthy and let's hope they make it to maturity and produce some more pumpkins.
I also had to rearrange the vines because of crowding (another reason to plant only five or six in that size of space). One vine on V4 (the one with the pumpkin) was redirected across V6 and V7. Skewers were used to elevate it above those vines and to keep it from laying on them. A few leaves were also trimmed as to not conflict with others in the same area. I want it to grow in the area that V6 is not filling because no more leaves are developing on its strange new vine growth. Oddly, there is a "Siamese" female flower growing on the tip of V6, I took a picture of it. Another vine from V3 was curved around to the area opened up by the previous action but it will need to be terminated after about a foot or two of more growth. Then, another vine of V4 was untangled from a secondary on V2 and both were placed side-by-side to grow alongside V2 Main. So, hopefully the crowding problem has been solved for awhile.
Finally, the weather has been interesting the past few days. One day saw sustained winds all day long in the 20s mph with gusts in the 30s. It blew over part of V2's secondary but the leaves reoriented themselves before I could get to it, it looks fine now. Then, we finally had several hours of steady rain without wind, my favorite. It nicely watered the garden and grass.

August 26:
Well I was going to spray for SVBs today but then noticed that many of the older leaves were just about dried up and/or covered with Powdery Mildew. So, I trimmed off all the leaves in the first three to four feet of each vine. I sprayed the other leaves with Fung-Away. At first it seemed the older leaves were lasting longer than last year but now it is about the same. We have been having some pretty humid mornings.
I soaked all of the grass and ground the vines are running across with the hose for several hours. I think this may help the female flowers, since the vines are rooted in the ground they can get more water that way. I was hoping for some more rain to do it but things couldn't wait. I am also watering the bases and buried sections now with Bloom Booster exclusively. I also did some precision watering on several leaf stem roots beyond the pumpkin on V2, hopefully that will help it and produce some more viable females further on down. I may also start adding more potassium soon.
Finally, I missed a female flower blossoming on V1. Since it gets the noon sun and previous females have yellowed before maturity, I had written it off. I still plan next year to make all vines grow towards the tree to get them out of the midday sun. However, that one flower surprised me when I found it in the late evening. I sprayed it with Tomato Bloom Spray II and am now hoping the bees were able to pollinate it for me.

August 30:
There was a pollination on one of V3's secondaries today. I sprayed it with Bloom Spray II in the evening but afterwards I began wondering about it. When I sprayed the nearby leaves as well as the female on V6 and V7, the leaves laid down for several days and then popped back up but crookedly. Then, such vines soon failed to produce leaves on new vine growth. When females on other vines were sprayed but not the leaves, the vines continue to grow o.k (at least of today, keeping fingers crossed). Now, V6 and V7 have had their own genetic and growing problems early on so I am not sure but it does warrant some experimentation. I'm going to lay off the spray except for vines that have little room left to grow anyways. There is another female blooming tomorrow on the other secondary of V3. A few other females on other vines are starting to look promising too after a period of female wiltings, probably from hot and dry weather. The female I missed on V1 is now golf-ball size. The Siamese flower on V6 is yellowing, probably because of that strange vine.
I also had to rearrange some vines. That secondary with tomorrow's female on V3 was curved back towards the opposite direction, it was growing back towards the garden. V1 was growing back towards the garden too, I redirected it to grow parallel across the front of the garden. I will have to elevate it above some of the other vines that it will cross. I also have to take into account having enough space for possible pumpkins between those vines. Tomorrow's flower is in a perfect position. However, I had to remove a female flower on V1 because it would have grown on top of other vines. When I did, water dripped from the wound. That is a testament to how much water a pumpkin uses. Also, I redirect the secondaries of V2, V3 and V4. However, V4's was the smallest and just didn't have enough room so I trimmed it off. The V2 secondary and V3 secondary was placed side-by-side. So, V4 only has one secondary now with a big pumpkin and not much growth beyond it. V6 and V7 have ceased producing viable new vine growth. So, that leaves V1, V2, V3, and V5 as vines with which one can expect continued growth and development of more female flowers.
Spraying for the SVB is taking a lot of time now too. I usually can only do one vine a night. I also spray Fung-Away when I see certain areas that need it. I also watered the covered part of V6 with Miracle-Gro Tomato Food yesterday. I hope the potassium will help the smaller fruit on it reach a harvestable size.

September 2:
There has been a female blossoming everyday for the past four days. August 30 saw one on a V3 secondary, August 31 on the other V3 secondary near the garden, September 1 on V5 and September 2 on V3 a few feet down from August 30. I didn't spray the V5 female with Bloom Spray II so let's see how that does. August 31 isn't looking too good though. There won't be any more female blossoms for the next day or two. I've also seen one bumble bee and one honey bee every morning flying from flower to flower, so the systemic pesticide must be filtered out enough now.
I probably won't measure the vines now until the end of the season. Vines are running everywhere and even though I am doing a good job so far in not stepping on them, I still don't want to go into the middle of the patch anymore than I have to. I do want to mention that while V5 is growing well, its leaves and vine-thickness are strangely smaller. I'm thinking this is probably from it being planted near the border of the garden instead of in the center (root confinement).
This is Day 79, equivalent to August 6, 2003. Comparing the two, vine lengths are about the same. Pumpkin sizes are better this year along with pest control. Powdery Mildew is about the same but this has been a bad year all over the country concerning that.
I finally completed spraying the vines with Malathion and Fung-Away. It now takes me almost a week to make the rounds. No SVBs have been spotted. However, I'm having to spray some of the remaining oldest leaves alot to keep Powdery Mildew at bay. I will probably have to do some more trimming in a few days.
I fertilized the bases with Bloom Booster again, along with some leaf-stem-base roots a little further down. I watered the rest of the patch with the hose until the ground was soaked. It has been cloudy and quite cool these past few days but rain has stayed off to the west and south. I'm figuring these temps are good for pollination. However, I also did some strategic watering with Miracle-Gro Tomato Food (potassium) on V4, V6, and V7's leaf-stem-base roots. The only thing in store for those vines now is to get their pumpkins as big as possible before harvest. I also trimmed off the leafless parts of V6 and V7 that kept growing so more energy can go into their pumpkins. I also trimmed off the secondary vine of V4 that I redirected across V6 and V7 since its new growth started lacking leaves too. It works, V6's pumpkin grew faster in the past day than it has been growing.

September 6:
The August 30 pollination was a failure; the others around that time were successes.
Another four-day stretch of pollinations is taking place. Yet, this has been a strange past few days weather-wise too so it will be interesting how it affects pollination. September 4 saw one on V3 secondary near the garden. It was pollinated around 8:00AM and then a thunderstorm popped up around noon, filling it with water. I was unable to get to it until the evening at which time I drained the water. Then, one occurred on September 5 on V5. It was pollinated at 9:00AM and then I discovered that the morning sun shines straight down on that spot. It got quite hot too that day. Then, today saw one on V1. Pollination took place around 7:30AM and then an unexpected downpour occurred shortly after noon. I got to it a few moments after the rain started and covered it with a lawn table. Between that and sideways rain some water still got in the flower. I figured a container would just blow off of it and that tying the petals shut would probably still let water in (even though I may try the latter in the future). I drained the water after the rain stopped (a few hours and inches later). Well, at least the whole patch is well-watered now, I saw one vine even underwater while it was pouring down. I also had to wash mud off most of the pumpkins. There is one more pollination tomorrow on V3 secondary far from the garden before the next lull in female blossoms.
In other strange news, today's storm was from a cold front that just may bring a low temperature in the high fifties sometime this week! This is very unusual for September around here, this must be a taste of the frosts and freezes growers up north have been experiencing all summer long. The storm also did a number on my old leaves. My oldest remaining leaves have been suffering from Powdery Mildew (and age I suppose). I've been keeping the problem at bay with spray as much as I can but the leaves still have been turning white and dry/brittle in many various spots. The raindrops today completely shredded those leaves. The "dead" spots were punched away leaving the "living" parts. The pattern that was left on those leaves look like what hail would do, it is the weirdest looking thing. It also looks as fine screen wire in some places. I'll take a picture tomorrow before trimming them off and post it in the gallery. All vines experienced this on their oldest leaves but V3, V4, V6, and V7 were the hardest hit, losing several feet of leaves each. The healthy leaves were left undamaged by those raindrops. Yet, the rain/wind did blow over part of V2's vine and I have to prop it back up with my "U" hooks. Now that it is going to be humid, I'll have to spray the newer leaves to keep the Powdery Mildew at bay. It has been very damp in the morning this summer too, strange weather.
Finally, it is still a productive season though. V1, V2, V3, and V5 are still growing many inches each per day. The oldest four pumpkins are nice sizes and will probably get even bigger with all that rain. V4's August 16 is round and about the size of those small basketballs. V7's August 16 is about the same size but a little flatter and thus wider. V1's August 19 is a little larger than cantaloupe-size and slightly oblong. V6's August 14 is still growing very slowly at slightly less than cantaloupe-size (right side still growing faster) but losing half of its leaves will probably call for its harvest soon (12 somewhat good leaves left).
Also just to note the younger pumpkins. V3's August 30 is apple-size. V5's September 1 is lemon-size. V3's September 2 is egg-sized. V3's September 4 is slightly smaller. Then the most recent were just pollinated.

September 9:
I trimmed away those battered leaves. The parts that were left were starting to dry up too. So, most vines are now bare on about their first eight feet of length. There is a big bare spot in the middle of the patch. While trimming I noticed that a new section of the main vine just beyond the pumpkin on V1 had a four-inch area on top that was rotting. I immediately cut that vine off an inch back to the nearest leaf to make sure I got it all. There is a secondary vine growing at that leaf junction so that will have to be the new main. The rot was only inches from the pumpkin so I didn't even want to stop to take a picture of it. It didn't look like SVB damage. I cut the vine open and found none. It was just browning at that spot and turning mushy, strange. Oh well, it is in the garbage now.
I sprayed all of the older leaves with Powdery Mildew with Fung-Away.
Then, I fertilized the vines. I used Tomato Food (potassium) on V4, V6, and V7 since those only have their singular pumpkins, which I likely will harvest next week since I don't see any more growth. If this doesn't start them back up, they definitely are ready. Their vines are not even producing flowers anymore so they will be removed too after their pumpkins are harvested. I played it real tricky in watering just the section of the garden where their bases are. I then watered some leaf-base roots further down on the vines. V1, V2, V3, and V5 got selective watering too but with Bloom Booster (phosphorus) to help their younger fruits set (well, V1's is closer in age to the three above) and to encourage more flowers. That one female flower I mentioned in the last entry wilted the day before it looked like it would open, weird. There is another a few feet down that may open soon, hopefully the Bloom Booster will help. I'll now put the Bloom Booster away for the season though and use Tomato Food on them too next time.
Finally, I redirected some of the vines. I moved V6 and V7 out of the way since they will be removed soon. I moved V3's far secondary so that it will grow back into the older and now bare area of the patch. It now crosses V7 but will have that room to itself once the latter is removed. The "new" main of V1 now will grow in the same direction of V4 since that latter will be removed in days too. Then, V2 will grow straight alongside V5, which is growing back towards the tree. V5's secondary has been terminated since it has no more room to grow. Even though I didn't like Powdery Mildew taking out the older leaves, the space problem with V1, V2, and V3 has now been solved.

Go to Part 3

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