The 1566 seems to have slowed down a touch on the main but the side vines are growing like weeds. This is an exhausting part of the season as vines are trained, buried and bamboo shoots are used to stake the vines down. There is a nice female at about 10' and another female at about 12' 4 inches that just appeared today. Should be ready to pollinate around July 6th. The 12' one will probably be my keeper if it looks good as I will only grow one pumpkin on a plant. A keeper in my book is a 4+ lobe flower, with no bad deformities that pollinates and seems to grow well. In about 2-3 days I'll setup a shade structure to cool the pumpkin to help it pollinate and grow.
All of the females on the 1566 to this point are long and skinny shaped things. In the picture to the left you may see the female (aka the next state champ or bust). I like long shaped pumpkins because I believe it decreases the risk of some types of splits. If this female pollinates and becomes my keeper I will call it BubbaBoy.The root system on the 1566 is really impressive. Whenever I trench for the vines I find tons of little white pumpkin roots everywhere. I hope this means a equally massive root system that runs deep and far.
1 comments:
Looks great! I didn't get my pumpkins planted early enough to do much. I'm so envious! Vee at www.postcards-and-pumpkins.blogspot.com
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