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Location

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Date Posted

Caceres, mid west of Spain

In my humble opinion, according to the moon, stars and even normal calendary, the best dates for starting seeds this year are:
April 28th
May 7th.
I probably choose the last one.

4/2/2005 3:36:59 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

My moon calendar names the same dates.

April 28th, after 9:30am
April 30th, till 8:30am
May 7th, all day
May 8th, till 6:30pm

Is that the same as in yours, Carlos?

In my opinion starting too early is more of a problem than a bit later, so it will probably be May 7th.

Martin

4/2/2005 5:53:03 AM

Esneux / Liège / BELGIUM

Starting is ...filing, soaking or planting in a media?

4/2/2005 2:11:32 PM

Belgium Europe

I planted may 4 last year direct seeding(in greenhouse).

4/2/2005 4:35:47 PM

France

for a few of my seeds I will use a greenhouse, how many days before can I plant these?
I m'living in south of france and I don't care if the pumpkin came mature too early! (too away from championship, only want to do my best)

4/3/2005 3:26:32 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Sophie,

For me seed starting is the time when the seed gets in contact with moisture for the first time. Can be soaking or placing the dry seed in moist seed starting media. Filing doesn't count.

When I start mine on May 7th, I will soak them from 7am to 3pm and then put them in pots with moist soil, so, all in the ideal starting period.

Martin

4/3/2005 4:42:59 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Interesting, 7th of May seem quite late... I am also considering starting later than usually (mids of April). Probably I have better nerves to hold back... after all it is my fourth season

4/3/2005 12:03:27 PM

Atlanta, Georgia

Hi everyone!
I did a test germination of a few seeds just to get my confidence up again and all of them sprouted so I stuck one in the greenhouse downstairs...somewhat like what Owen is doing...just to see how she survives or not without heat.

My home patch real plants will be the 495 Reiss and 869.5 Calai. I hope to cull that 495 and let the 869.5 grow but who knows? They will be started I guess now on the earlier date of April 28th since I have a heating cable and heater for the home patch. It takes a lot of patience to wait right now!!!!!

Don't worry Martin, another 495 is going in the ried patch too, but I hope you feel good that your plant is the backup for my best patch here at home pal! If possible, I will dig out the 495 instead of culling it and plant it elsewhere. It will depend on how everything looks at that time.

I guess I'll do like you guys and gals and start everything else on the 7th of May. I don't want to start too early and I certainly don't want to lose so many plants this year to frost!

Best regards and go Nesbitt everyone!
Michel

4/3/2005 2:21:18 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Michel,

Maybe you want to consider keeping your 495 backup plant in a large pot like Ingo did it last year... check out his diary! He kept them in the pots very long, then he planted them and got some huge fruits...

Martin

4/3/2005 3:55:32 PM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

Concerning the seeding dates and going a little deeper I would like to follow with this:
Those two I told about are the best ones according with the main objectives of the plantation, which, in our case, of course is fruit. The 25th is a good day looking to flower. The only bad days around that period are the 23rd and 29th; they should be avoided. Further than that, you have to go earlier, to the 19th and 20th of April to find good days for fruit.
About to soaking or to planting the seed on the pot in that very day, I have to confess you that I doubt. Talking with people more experienced than me on this subject, their opinion goes that the biggest influence on the seed come from the moment it goes to the ground, but I think that the moment it awakes is the moment when the cosmic influence can take a bigger role, and as we know that a seed can perfectly sprout in the middle of a wet paper towel, I think that as the crucial moment.
We use to have the seed 24 hours in the towel and then to the pot; but as the 29th is a bad day (it should be avoided for any agricultural operation, because moon pass over the aphelium), I guess the best option is to prepare seeds and put in the towel the 28th evening and to the pot the 30th morning. It let 36 hours for the seed in the towel, which is great as well in my opinion.
I do not have faith on it, but as our hobby is so critical for many aspects, such splits and so, and it doesn’t matter to me to use one day or another, I do watch this point. Why not?

Carlos

4/4/2005 2:45:52 AM

Cologne / Germany

Hi everyone, I also hope to be back for 2005 now. I had a lot of trouble with job qualification etc. since February. It´s a hard time that sometimes make me think about growing pumpkins again. I don´t even have the seeds I was looking for right now.
Hi Martin, thanks for looking at my 2004 diary, it was a good idea to plant in these 12 l buckets, I started in early April and had much bigger plants around pollination time. There´s no problem at all to plant them from these buckets if they are already about this size. Here in Cologne - from my experience - I need the pollination time until early July, so earlier planting is better.

Good luck everyone, Ingo

4/4/2005 7:56:07 PM

Atlanta, Georgia

Martin,
Yes, I saw Floh's diary last year and just looked at it again. It might be an option but I might do it slightly different...

If I cut the bottom out of the bucket and put it upside down
right in the patch I can later either just slide the bucket out if I decide to keep the plant or pull it out using the net if I decide to plant it elsewhere. Either way, some roots are bound to be damaged but I still think it could grow and be used at least as a pollinator...but like I said before, one 495 has a patch already reserved for it im Ried.
That's precisely why I wanted about 3 seeds from it...so I could afford to waste one if needed.

Sorry Floh that I don't have any seeds from your wish list or I would just give them to you without the need for a trade...
I hope you get them, and I bet you will get something if you are trading a 1260!
Michel

4/5/2005 1:58:12 AM