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Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Our weather keeps being crazy this year!


First we got 5 frost nights from May 22 to May 27 with temperatures as low as - 3.9°C!

With the exception of a handful of nice days the weather was very cool and sometimes also very wet during all May and June and plants were at least 2 if not 3 weeks behind past years.

In addition to that we got severe hailshowers for three times during June!

Then we got a week of nice weather at the beginning of July when I did my first pollinations.

But the next week was terrible again! Lots of rain and very cool weather with highs of about 15 to 16°C and lows at 4 to 6°C. My pollinated females almost stopped growing and some of them aborted and rotted. Females pollinated during that period didn't take.

Just 3 days ago our high temperature was 16°C and my plants were getting used to it. But then today the temperature went up to 34°C - almost 20°C more in just 3 days - and the plants didn't stand that. New growth on almost all vines wilted heavily...

And now that our weather is warmer we get terrible thunderstorms every day with storms and massive amounts of rain...!

I did not have to water my plants once since June 5 (I had to water from planting time until June 5 because the plants were under a cloche where the rain didn't get in...) except for two times when I fertilized them and had to use some water to dissolve the fertilizer.

continued

7/18/2004 6:04:28 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

continued

Just 2 hours ago I got a call from Rainer Krautmann. He told me that they got another terrible thunderstorm yesterday with storms, hail and more than 80 (!) litres per square meter in just half an hour! Many basements were flooded...

Right now I am looking out of the window and can see a flash every few seconds and it's not raining, it's pouring!!!

I will have to do two more pollinations in the next two days but time is running out...

Rainer told me that out of his 9 plants only 3 have a fruit set on it and each of them is not even tennis ball size and he is not even sure if they will keep growing.
On all other plants there are females showing at the vine tips but it will be at least another week until he can pollinate them.
And he usually is getting frost in the first or second week of September at his location which would leave him just a little more than 6 weeks for fruit growth this year.
Not ideal for growing a big one...

And Michel, it would sure be funny if the biggest pumpkin at Ludwigsburg weighoff this year would weigh 21 lbs! Maybe we can get to 100 or 200kg but I bet we will not see a new record this year...

How is everyone else in Europe doing, especially in Germany?

Owen, Peter, Michel, Werner, etc.? Have you fruit sets that you are sure that they are growing and didn't abort and rot?

Best wishes to all and make the best out of this weather!

Martin

7/18/2004 6:05:08 PM

Knopp, Germany

Good report Martin, I think you have captured well how most of our season is going.

I am not sure if I have any set. My 11 Jul aborted already. I got 2 from 14 July that might be okay, but won't know for sure for at least 5 more days. I pollinated one yesterday, and one this morning. Those are all on the 805 Pukos. My other three plants will not be ready till at least this weekend. Last year I already had fruit going into the 200 pound range, what a difference a year makes.

By the way, did you here about the tornado in Duisberg last night. That is not far from Ingo, I wonder how he is doing?

7/19/2004 1:20:36 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

Summer has finally arrived but I'm still not sure about any of my pollinations yet or if they took. The whole month of June and the first half of July were a complete write-off this year so we are all basically off to a 6 week handicap at least in my area of Germany. If the rest of summer is warm then we still have a chance for some big pumpkins but I doubt we'll see a 1000 pounder this year.
Best regards!
Michel

7/19/2004 1:50:00 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

I must add that the plants this year are very healthy and I'm still having a blast growing them as usual. The only problem here at the home patch is a kranky neighbor that can't stand the stink of my fertilizer and is constantly complaining. I actually had to tell her to f-off yesterday and it pains me but I'll continue to do my own thing regardless of the neighbors. It only stinks for about two hours till it dries off the leaves. It's always something...

7/19/2004 1:55:36 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

The weather seems to vary a lot thruout Germany and we had the same frost here as Martin but no hail yet this year and a lot less rain than Hilpoltstein where Martin is also...
We need about 250 Liters of slow rain to catch up to normal and replenish the ground water but it won't happen unfortunately. The spring water I usually use to water my plants has already dried up this year and that's WAY not normal but I have other sources of water fortunately.

7/19/2004 2:47:33 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Owen,
Yes, I just read about the tornado in the Duisburg area.
Here is a link to a nice report...

http://onnachrichten.t-online.de/c/22/02/78/2202784.html

They also have some pictures there.... Unbelievable how much damage a tornado can do in just a few minutes!
Just two years ago nobody could imagine a tornado in Germany...

Best wishes,
Martin

7/19/2004 4:39:32 AM

Knopp, Germany

You are right Michel, the weather lately has been different from one village to another.

Thanks for the link Martin.

Maybe the change in the climate is what we need to break the 1000 lb barrier in Germany. Now all we have to do is adapt our growing styles to fit the change. You know taller wind breaks, early season hail and cold weather protection, late season full patch greenhouses. Actually no different then what others throughout the states and Canada are facing.

Sometimes humans can be pretty pathetic, if we were having a heat wave right now, we would probably be complaining about that also.

7/19/2004 5:04:31 AM

Cologne / Germany

Hello everyone, the sunday tornado from Duisburg was only a few miles away from me. Heavy thunderstorms went through here in Cologne, I had several lightning strokes around the patch, but the soil managed to drain all that water pretty good. I placed some shopping boxes over fruits and tips in case of hail.

My suggestion to everyone having that much moisture is to remove the petals of the pollinated females as early as possible. After 2 or 3 days I found some mold around the blossom end.
Now let´s hope for some bowling ball sized stuff in October -)

7/19/2004 5:37:21 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Hi,
let me add that in Slovenia the weather situation is quite the same as in Germany. Until recently the night temperatures were below 12 °C and last Saturday the max day temperature was 13 °C!
I hope that with a bit higher temperatures and enough rain we get “Atlantic” climate during the rest of the summer.. Jernej

7/19/2004 5:38:43 AM

Esneux / Liège / BELGIUM

In Belgium we have the same weather : cold nights, rainy f-days, storms, hail and so on.
I have made 5 pollinisations (first was made the 8 of july) and the pumpkins are still like tennisball...
It's a sunny day, today, and the temperature is great. So I suppose that we will except some snow tomorrow....

7/19/2004 11:00:45 AM

Germany (Kirchheim / Bavaria)

Hallo Martin,
I have fruit sets, but...............
my plants and these fruits suffered much more hail damage than you can see in my diary (some of the last pictures). I "had" one fruit on my 940Mombert98 (x1026Holland and around 11.5 feet out on the main)- this fruit and many, many others were destroyed by these terrible hailstones. One hour after the hail, some fruits were "not" destroyed and looked very healthy ("I thought"). But 2-3 days later all my pumpkins showed very small holes, scratches...
Immediately I treated these wounds with an antibiotic called "Chloramphenicol". I hope that this will prevent my fruits from bacterial rot. But I think that only two of my fruits will survive. My biggest fruit at the moment is the following cross: 1056.5Dueck00x940Mombert98 -circumference = around 25inches (the main vine of these 1056.5 plant was cut by hailstones at 12 feet and now the last secondary vine is growing as the "second main").

Better luck to you all (Sophie, Martin, Michel, Owen, Werner, Ingo, Sergio,......)

P.S: I`ll never give up and I always hope that "time is a great healer!

7/20/2004 3:46:45 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

"I`ll never give up and I always hope that "time is a great healer!" ....... well said Peter!!!

I am very sorry to hear about the damage the hail has done to your patch!

I also had hail this year (actually three times) and if the plants were not protected they would certainly no be in the condition they are now...

My fruits are also not growing well and are smaller than yours!

I guess you will beat us all again this year!!!

I had very bad experiences with fruits that had been damaged by hail in previous years.
If they have any holes, scratches, etc. at that early age these will dry and harden out and become major problems as all such fruits went down due to splits for me.
The skin will just get too hard and it is no longer able to enlarge at the areas that were hit by hail. Since then I have always immediately removed any fruits showing hail damage. A late set is probably better than an early set with hail damage that will split a few weeks later...
Just a thought...

Best wishes,
Martin

7/20/2004 4:34:20 PM

Knopp, Germany

Sorry to hear about your bad luck Peter, but, it sounds like you have the right attitude. That is how I have felt since my germination problems, "just don't give up"!

August and September will be great months this year, mark my word.

7/21/2004 1:04:56 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

Sorry to hear about your bad luck Peter!
Use more Remay next year...LOL Just kidding!
Try to look at the bright side of life though...
Maybe you'll enable one of us other growers to experience
extreme happiness
with a twenty-one pound pumpkin win in Ludwigsburg this
year...

There's still time and the season isn't over yet.

I just think that the idea of a pumpkin-boat race in Germany this year might be just a bit difficult. Sorry Steff

7/21/2004 5:32:06 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

I'm really feeling crazy this morning I guess.

How much flotation would a 21 lb. pumpkin have?

I'd be glad to strap a chicken into my 21 lb. pumpkin boat and just let her go downstream. I wouldn't even want the pumpkin back since the chickens aren't laying any eggs anyway...

We just need another 5 pumpkins now since I have a total of 6 chickens.

Now I'm going out to till. This is madness!

7/21/2004 5:36:25 AM

Leerdam, The Netherlands

Same thing in Holland.

Much rain low temperatures windspeeds over 100km/h
I have done polinations on 15 and 16 of july but same as you all not even tennis bal size and not sure if they will grow.

Wish for better weather for all of us.

Good luck,

Iwan

7/21/2004 6:19:03 AM

Leerdam, The Netherlands

Same thing in Holland.

Much rain low temperatures windspeeds over 100km/h
I have done polinations on 15 and 16 of july but same as you all not even tennis bal size and not sure if they will grow.

Wish for better weather for all of us.

Good luck,

Iwan

7/21/2004 6:19:31 AM

Leerdam, The Netherlands

Same thing in Holland.

Much rain low temperatures windspeeds over 100km/h
I have done polinations on 15 and 16 of july but same as you all not even tennis bal size and not sure if they will grow.

Wish for better weather for all of us.

Good luck,

Iwan

7/21/2004 6:19:44 AM

Leerdam, The Netherlands

Same thing in Holland.

Much rain low temperatures windspeeds over 100km/h
I have done polinations on 15 and 16 of july but same as you all not even tennis bal size and not sure if they will grow.

Wish for better weather for all of us.

Good luck,

Iwan

7/21/2004 6:19:54 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

Iwan,
We got it the first time...LOL!

7/21/2004 1:25:59 PM

Leerdam, The Netherlands

Sorry my pc did not react.

Maybe 4 wishes in a row bring some good.

Iwan

7/21/2004 4:56:58 PM

Cologne / Germany

"August and September will be great months this year, mark my word."
Owen, I marked it -)

7/21/2004 7:01:52 PM

Cologne / Germany

"August and September will be great months this year, mark my word."
Owen, I marked it -)

7/21/2004 7:03:17 PM

Cologne / Germany

Sorry for posting that two times, but perhaps it works -)

7/21/2004 7:05:18 PM

Knopp, Germany

lol

7/22/2004 1:04:29 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

This year's weather really sucks!

After 10 days (July 16 to 25) of pretty decent summer weather with lots of sunshine, daytime highs of about 25°C to 32°C (77°F to 90°F) and night-time lows of about 16°C to 19°C (61°F to 66°F) we seem to be back at our "normal" 2004 German summer-weather.

Todays high temperature is 15°C (60°F), no sun and some good rain showers. Low temperature last night was only 10°C (50°F).

Fruit growth just recovered slightly during past few days but seems to be pretty much shut down again now.

Forecast is not looking good as well....

Peter, are you ok? Haven't heard anything from you for one week!

Martin

7/26/2004 10:59:29 AM

Germany (Kirchheim / Bavaria)

Hallo Martin !
I`m "ok", but I have to do a lot of work for my employer; so I have not enough time for my pumpkin plants. I have only two "bigger" pumpkins, but you know that they have small holes or some scratches. I think my 1056.5Dueck x 940Mombert cross will keep on growing, "but" the main vine shows a very deep scratch 20inches in front of the pumpkin; that`s the reason why it`s growing very slowly (I guess 15-20kg at the time). My 940Mombertxself cross is growing faster than the 1056Dueck, but I think I have no chance to keep on growing this pumpkin until September, because one hole on the surface is too big (80lbs. today - OTT). - I`ll show pictures In my diary as soon as possible.
Good luck to you all - Peter

P.S.: I have new fruit sets, but I think they will get not more than 300 or 350lbs.

7/27/2004 4:27:37 PM