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Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Highs of 18°C (65°F), lows of 10°C (50°F) and NO sun for three days now! And the same in the forecast for at least another 4 days. Man I am sick of it!!!

Yes, we had some unpleasant weather earlier in the season (both cold/wet and hot/dry spells) but overall it was better than last year. Plants did better than last year and early pollinations came along nicely.

But why, oh why, is the weather turning horrible EVERY YEAR as soon as the fruits should pack on the pounds???
Slightly bad weather really doesn't matter much early in the season and until fruits are two weeks old or so and it also doesn't hurt much later in the season when fruits are almost done growing.
But it DOES hurt during this time of the season! And we get it every year (2003 being a slight exception)... It's discouraging to say the least...

How are you all doing? Come on, you must feel the same! LOL

7/21/2005 5:18:36 PM

Cologne / Germany

I asked somewhere else if 2005 might be a non-cucurbita year for some regions but noone replied. All over my area people have problems setting fruit in their gardens although the temps had not been so bad during the last weeks.

But additionally, with all the plant mutations I had so far on my AG´s, it looks a bad late start can pretty much ruin all your season goals. I still try to pollinate, but the quality of the females (size/lobes) is significantly going down now (like almost every year around that time).

We now have strong winds for several days and no sun, which doesn´t contribute anything to fruit growth either, and the soil is drying out quickly.
This morning I even found one fruit being attacked by mouse or rat or bird on one side, not sure, never had that before.

I know some of you are doing pretty good, but for me it has been absolutely no pumpkin season so far. Good luck to everyone, last but not least, there´s always a slight hope remaining.

7/21/2005 6:39:02 PM

Knopp, Germany

The weather has made a definite impact on my season as well. I had one fruit groiwng 4.5 to 5 inches a day for 6 days, now that same fruit is only doing 2.5 inches. And on top of that, it has a split starting in it's stem. I am convinced it is because of the cold nights we are having now. The last 2 nights we went down to 47 and 48 degrees in my patch.

Enough complaining, this is the game in Germany this year. Somebody will still grow a nice one, my guess is 270-290 Kg's. I will be posting some pictures of my patch this evening.

7/22/2005 1:02:40 AM

Belgium

Same thing over here in Belgium. Growth slowed down and temps will be no higher than 20 °C today. For the next days the same weather is predicted. Only if you have plants in a big greenhouse you can get a big one this year...like Jos!

7/22/2005 2:39:07 AM

Austria

Martin is right. Concerning the weather I`d like to quote Beavis and Butthead: This sucks more than anything that has ever sucked before.

As a newbie, never having seen an AG in reality expecting fast growing plants and fruits, I really must ask myself if this was the right year to start with the hobby. But if the weather gods really want to stop me from being fascinated, the must bring on more than that. Try snow!

7/22/2005 4:17:28 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Don't say that aloud, Heino, or it will happen! With our late pollinations the last thing we could use this year is an early frost in September.

7/22/2005 11:46:03 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

high temp. today was a balmy 15°C (60°C) with some mist and light rain all day. man it felt like in the middle of fall...
right now at 11 p.m. it is 10°C outside, should go down to 7 or 8°C this night.

7/22/2005 5:09:37 PM

Germany (Kirchheim / Bavaria)

Martin, this morning, I listened to a song of Ray Charles in the radio. Normally I like his songs, "but" this time his first words were......"Baby it`s cold outside....it`s cold out there"....!LOL

7/23/2005 7:48:23 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

LOL.... how true!

7/23/2005 9:18:34 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

Martin,
Our weather here is a looooot different than yours.
We have had no rain and a bit warmer temps here than you
but I believe that our cold weather came exactly at a time when it wasn't wanted and it definitely slowed down growth to a standstill. I will be happy here in the hof with a healthy 300 pounder from the 869.5 Calai this year.

Good news is that I don't have to worry anymore about growing ag's after this season for a few years! I will really welcome the break. That's why I gave away ALL of my seeds and fertilizer so I don't get the sick idea to try again next year.
Michel

7/25/2005 4:20:56 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

LOL.... taking every precaution possible!

7/25/2005 4:30:43 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Martin maybe you should change "Got Stelts" To "Got Sun" :)

7/25/2005 4:12:18 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

"Got Sun?" note the question mark! LOL

7/25/2005 4:17:16 PM

Austria

Nice nick Martin! I`m coming back to your post - quote "Don`t say that aloud, Heino, or it will happen!" quote end - Had a hailstorm yesterday when I was in the hall and worked on my boat. I went outside and noticed the sky turning black as night and then the storm commenced. Hail as big as table tennis balls. To my surprise none of the pumpkins was hit (hard enough to split). Two of my threee plants were torn with full force and leaves were damaged of course, but those plants eventually will recover.

7/26/2005 3:17:42 AM