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Ray, North Dakota

The pumpkin plant that is. heh heh.

A cold year has limited me to one pumpkin that has stopped growing around the 250 mark. I have had no growth since last weekend. Plant is relatively healthy, and the fruit has no breaks or splits that I can see. Do I pull it and save it for Halloween, or should I give it some time.

Weather has been good up here. Mid 70's daytime and 50's at night. Garden is not dry, there is plenty of moisture underneath. Can anyone explain this? Thanks

9/19/2008 6:04:06 PM

Going Green

I am first year......all I can tell you is that I have a clay loam soil. Excellent soil sample. Pumpkins vines grew out 14-20 feet but were not very big! The pumpkins pollinated in July grew to 100 pounds rapidly and then they just sat there growing very little! I went to the garden center and he said that the soil wasn't permeable and wasn't releasing nutrients to the plants. He suggested that I put a box of powdered soap per 5000 sq. feet! What the heck! I did it and within three days the vines grew another 10 to 20 feet. The leaves grew three times larger and the fruit which had been aborting started hanging on! In 20 days the new pumpkins were larger than the pumpkins that had been in the patch for 40-days! With August 16th pollinations I have pumpkins better than twice as big as the July pollinations because I went to the garden center and August 5th and applied the soap shortly after that!

9/19/2008 8:57:55 PM

Ont (jjb22hornet@hotmail.com)

herbie I had a squash that stoped growing at 252 Lbs. It turned out to have a large split under the pumpkin and it had started rotting from the inside out.

m3f3 I would like to know more about this box of powdered soap. What do they call it?

9/19/2008 10:02:51 PM

South East

if it stopped growing it wont start up again. Pull it and keep it safe.

9/20/2008 12:43:59 AM

Ray, North Dakota

Thanks everyone. Hopefully it is not rotten.

What kind of soap M3?

Hopefully I can get some seeds after year 3! It should have some, the fruit is almost 60 days old.

9/20/2008 8:35:07 AM

Going Green

I used Purex. $2.94 at Wally World

9/20/2008 3:44:16 PM

Going Green

My experience is that my plants which were pretty small spread out and grew leaves three times the size of the ones originally on the vine. Futhermore Pumpkins grew 10 pounds a day. The ones which had been on the vine for over 30 days did not grow but the vine and leaves became healthier! The leaves had been a foot off the ground and now they are three feet off the ground! Even at this late date I am experiencing major vine growth and have to pull tips off secondaries on a regular basis.

9/20/2008 3:53:30 PM

Ray, North Dakota

Why would soap increase growth? Strange.

Is it some kind of surfactent that helps absorb foliars? Anyone have any answers?

9/21/2008 6:22:55 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

My best guess here herbie is that soap has what is known as a dipole moment. Detergents act with a double positive molecule to separate negatively charged particles(dirt) from clothing. I'm pretty sure that, if indeed soap DOES increase nutrient uptake, this is why.

If you were to place a drop of dish detergent on top of a glass of water with dirt on the surface, you would see the dirt separate from the detergent droplet.

I'm no chemist and I've had just enough college chemistry to make me dangerous, but if indeed soap improves nutrient uptake, this is probably why. It makes sense that certain charged particles would be untied.

May be a far-fetched idea, but it has me thinking as well.

9/21/2008 9:24:52 PM

Going Green

According to Jim At Jim Garden Center....the soap conditions the soil making the soil more penetratable! According to Jerry Baker master gradner.....the soap not only conditions the soil allowing the roots system to expand but the soap on the leaves cleans the dirt and grime from the leaves allowing for better photosynthisis!

9/21/2008 9:43:27 PM

Ray, North Dakota

Interesting. I'll keep it in mind for next year.

9/22/2008 10:05:09 AM