Payson Pumpkin People Update: Oh, the Horror of it All!

And an olla update also at the end.

FROM STEVE; our Payson Pumpkin People Correspondent:

8/8/2019 12:18 AM

We consulted this week with our pumpkin champion mentors, Dean Baker and Al Gibson, about the non-performing plants in the PPP patch, out at Flowing Springs.

Recall the issues:

Plant 1 was removed from the patch a month ago to give the other two room to roam.

Plant 2 has grown vines ok, but has produced no blossoms – not one.

Plant 3 looks healthy, wealthy and wise, with tons of blossoms and good long vines stretching out over the patch – but all the blossoms (but four) are males. All the females have been pollinated, with two producing fruit. One of the fruits is doing well, doubling in size every couple of days, and showing nice vigor. The other fruit is a dude, no growth, just sitting there. We apply this mixture, weekly: fertilizer at 20-20-20 at a rate of 1:1,000 plus micronutrients, insecticide, fungicide, etc. This is about 1 cup of fertilizer to 60 gallons of water applied with a sprayer. The soil is right at 7.0 pH.

What’s going on?, I asked our mentors.

The answers are interesting, and here’s the summary:

Plant 2 is sterile.

Fruit 1 on Plant 3 is aborted (must not be Catholic). Concentrate on the healthy pumpkin.

Here are the specific answers:

Gibson, a 50-year pumpkin grower (yes, started in his teens) and multiple champion over the years in Ohio: “Cut fruit one, go with the second fruit. Fertilizer application is fine.”

Baker, president of the Arizona Giant Pumpkin Growers:

“Male flowers are like teen age boys. They show up early and continue to hover — in hopes they can find a female. They will continue to be there throughout the season. Once I’ve pollinated 2 or 3 flowers and see they’re growing ... then I just cut out the males because they annoy me.

“I am concerned about the plant that hasn’t produced any females. It might be sterile. I had that happen to me a couple of years ago. It was especially aggravating because the seed was a former World Champion. (Found out later a number of people had that problem with that particular seed). At some point you’ll just have to decide — too late. And rip it out.

“Concentrate on the plant with the fruit. Is one doing better than the other? If so, take the other one out and focus on the one plant. Work to keep that one going until October. Shade the fruit. Use fans to keep it cool during the day.

Also –

“Keep the one that is growing. The other one seems to have aborted. Cull all the females that you aren’t keeping.

“You might consider increasing the feeding schedule to 3x weekly (or every other day). The plant will eat it up.

“It’s also time to start burying vines. They all should be buried by mid-month. You want everything to go to the fruit. You don’t need any more salad.“

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Payson Pumpkin People

8/10/2019 3:00 PM

To paysonpumpkinpeople

Quick update: Pumpkin 1 was removed from the garden today, Pumpkin 2 is doing fine, 2x growth this last week, and a newbie, Pumpkin 3, showed up yesterday with natural (bees) pollination.

Come ‘on guys, grow! Maybe 70 – 80 days left in the season.

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Payson Pumpkin People update: Oh, the horror of it all, part II

8/12/2019 12:21 PM

To paysonpumpkinpeople

We took the road less traveled out to Flowing Springs yesterday, a 2.5 hour trek through streams and over mountain trails that was spectacular.

The Road Less Traveled To Flowing Springs-1

The Road Less Traveled To Flowing Springs-2

The Road Less Traveled To Flowing Springs-3

To find some critter has been munching on the pumpkin! Not an insect, not a disease, but we suspect a rabbit or squirrel. We put some protection on them, and then found this solution as well:

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Payson Pumpkin People update

8/16/2019 1:12 PM

To paysonpumpkinpeople

Waiting for you, wrabbit! The trap is set.

Meanwhile Jenny’s neighboring melons are doing just fine.

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Payson Pumpkin People update

8/20/2019 6:41 PM

Stalking the amazing wild Black Raspberry, where at 7,000 feet altitude we found them past their prime, but in abundance at around 7,700 feet up on the Rim.