Archive through February 29, 2008

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Author Message   Suzyqt1968  Supporting Member My Favorite Photo My Garden Journal My Weather My Garden Posted on Saturday, February 16, 2008 - 10:45 pm EST :    I've been enjoying reading of your progress. Could you perhaps rig something up like what they have at Disney? These are grown indoors. Suzyqt1968 - Washington, Zone "7-8"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Sunday, February 17, 2008 - 02:00 pm EST :    I had not thought of that Suzyqt1968 the problems that exist are that my lighting system as it stands produces too much heat to train these plants vertically. I thought yesterday that the addition of the 1000 watter was a good idea, today I am not so sure. The top leaf has produced a neon color which I assume to be photo bleaching. (I cant find pictures of it online) It started with the addition of the 1000 watt light on a longer time scale. I tried to ramp it up gradually but it appears it may have been too much. I have not even turned the light on today to see if the leaf rallies. Having no data on this kind of thing makes guesstimating how much light these guys need a difficult proposition. I could do two things here. One is leave the 1000 watt in but move it further away from the plants hoping to generate less light and ramp them up even slower. I will chart their responses and the hours that the light is on. The second is scrap the light entirely and run this whole operation of fluorescents. Both of these seem like risky propositions. I want to make sure they get enough light but at the same time I don't want them getting too much light. Using fluorescents would have the added benefit of the ability to train the plants vertically when their runners start to fly off the main plant, I do worry that this will simply not be enough light. Fluorescents need to be very close to the plant in order to become effective, that will be a large problem. I'm off to talk to the light techs and see if I cant get some answers here, I will post some pictures and further ideas a bit later. I need more data before I can conclude anything though. Ill keep ya posted! Thanks all, Bond Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Sunday, February 17, 2008 - 02:38 pm EST :    Perhaps also a nutrient deficiency? maybe they are trying to tell me something here... I gave them a half dose of nutes 8 days ago at 24-8-16 if it was an over use of nutes I think it would have shown before today if it was an underuse of them I don't know exactly what they would look like. Heres an example of what Im talking about you can see the edge is kind of neon green or a yellow hue. the leaf before this one also shows a lightening on the edges just like this one. Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - 05:44 pm EST :    CRAZYYYY!!! This plant is like an animal almost, I did a little experiment the other day where I put the long part of a plastic coat hanger in the soil with it touching one of the tendrils. I thought it would take at least a day for it to wrap around there but I then watched it curl around the coat hanger 4 times in a matter of 5 minutes. It was truly a sight. Had I had my head about me I would have taken progressive pictures as it was going on but I was too amazed. The plant is looking good it has started its mecca to the inside of my room, the leaves have started to grow over the sides of the container and are looking healthy, I have seen some tiny bite marks on one of the new leaves but there is no webbing between the main stem and the fan leaves nor anything fishy looking going on the terminal bud. Ive set up sticky traps for the bugs but have considered taking them down due to the amount of times I have had to peel them off my face. I have adjusted to the light problem of photo bleaching with the 1000 watter by setting my timer to give them light for an hour on an hour off and it seems to be working well for them. My hope is to get it to the point where they can take an entire day of light before the vine has grown directly under the 1000 watt. I want them to be used to it. I don't know if its the HPS or the natural course of the plant but the past few days has shown a great deal of vertical growth. Its starting to look more and more like a vine and less like a bush. Any suggestions on how to improve or ideas are always welcome, Happy growin! Bond Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 - 06:24 pm EST :    My pumpkin plant is growing teeth. can anyone tell me what these baby shark teeth looking things are growing out of the calyxes? they don't appear to be flowers. Its only been 38 days from seed to here so I donno I would think its way too early for that. I haven't seen this on any other pumpkin plants online. Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Loretta  Supporting Member Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 - 09:35 pm EST :    That might root if it were touching soil. Loretta - NJ, Zone "6"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2008 - 12:16 pm EST :    is it a root? or the start of a root maybe? man time for some more research Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Sunday, February 24, 2008 - 03:38 pm EST :    I have run into a bunch of problems within the past few days which I dont really know how to deal with, I buried all of the tap roots which started to show, I watered with more nutrients and am preparing a new bin for these things to grow into. The issue is that the new leaves are comming out a neon color with a natural dark green stripe down the middle. I will do everything I can but it does not look too good for these guys. Only time will tell I suppose.The leaf that is shown here is what the new ones are starting to look like and I really just don't understand why??? Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Seil  Supporting Member My Garden Journal My Weather My Time Posted on Sunday, February 24, 2008 - 10:09 pm EST :    It could be a number of things, a nutrient defficency or the light or too much or too little water. All you can do is try some different things and see if something helps. Seil - Michigan, Zone "6"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 04:22 am EST :    Thank you seil, I have come to know a good many things about my plant and myself over the past few days, tragedy has struck in many a form with these plants. With midterms approaching I did not have the time to do more for the plant, post more, ask more questions. But from the questions I did ask I have realized that this is the exact non science I have endeavored upon, it is the unknown, and with that may come defeat or success but either way it will be with just the basics at my side. I have obsessed with this and that and what could it be but in the end I must stick to the basics, I have given it nutrients in a form I consider reasonable, I have given it soil and water and air and light in plenty, and if it will not grow, such is the course it will take. Not that I will stop learning, curtailing thinking my ways and thoughts and ideas, oh no!, but I have learned to separate myself from the pumpkin, my identity from the pumpkin, my pride from the pumpkin and in that have learned a great deal. Because the leaves were suffering I tried to put some soil under the budding tap roots that had grown with the vine out of the container. But the weight of the Terminal bud must have been too much because the vine snapped near the edge of the container. I was pretty pissed. But then I thought it might be better that way, more of this unknown for a while. I have no idea what it will do, if it will survive or what, but either way I'm happy to have been a part of it, of this thing. I get to live with a plant in my dorm room, a crazy weird finicky babyish but husky vine in my dorm room. I get to watch life happen, and it has been worth everything. Ill keep posting if you all keep watching and we will see where it goes from here Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Heirloomgardens  Supporting Member My Favorite Photo My Garden Journal My Garden Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 07:02 am EST :    It's hard to say what is happening, but I thought you might find something to think about at these links: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg0620120526748.html http://en.mimi.hu/gardening/chlorosis.html Search this page until you get to the section about "Iron": http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=57&bhcd2=1203940065 This page also describes various nutrient deficiencies: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/horticulture/greenhouse/pest-disease/ general/cucumber-nutrition Another similar site: http://osuextra.okstate.edu/pdfs/F-6000web.pdf Heirloomgardens - Massachusetts, Zone "5b"   Loretta  Supporting Member Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 10:36 am EST :    Iron was my first thought too. PB, you don't have to force the vine down to root at every node. Are you still going to line up adjacent tubs or are you going to let it go as is? Loretta - NJ, Zone "6"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 12:28 pm EST :    All of the pictures that I saw online looked like Iron but it also said that it was a realatively rare thing to happen. As it is the vine has been pretty well crunched I dont have a picture right now but the length of the plant is from the middle to the end of the tub. I made a clean cut with some scissors. I dont know what will happen next but it appears that the nodes in the very center right where the trunk is have begun to grow. I dont know if thats where the new vine will come from or not. The origional fan leaves look absolutely fantastic though. Im sure its been really beneficial for them to get all of the attention. I think that the root structure was not well developed enough to take care of the growth that was demanded on the plant. It said that Iron schlurosis is also intensified by bright lights, and highly alkaline soils. I tested my soil a while ago and it seemed fine, I dont know why it wouldnt be, but it definitly looks like iron deficiency. Ok, so, this weeks missions are 1. get a iron supplement after research, 2. get a more accurate ph tester so I dont have to guess at what shade of green I'm looking at. It's finals time here, so I have not time but they just have to tough it out till wednesday. Thanks a ton heirloomgardens and loretta you guys are the best. Ill post back on wednesday, Bond Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Growit  Supporting Member My Favorite Photo My Weather My Time Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 03:21 pm EST :    Wow! Hi Bond. Just trawled through all the postings on this thread. Interesting experiment you have going on here lol! I am no expert on pumpkin growing Bond in fact I have never grown a curcubit of any kind but I do know quite a bit about nutrient deficiencies. This is a site I used when studying this subject. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Cucurbit/intro.html Very helpful for identifying leaf disorders. It is the best I have found on line. Hope it helps. Click on a picture to enlarge and find out what the problem could be. The uptake of nutrients is a very complex affair and you may not have a lack of iron in the soil (or whatever you decide it is from the pictures) but a lack of another nutrient which inhibits the plants uptake of iron so once you have identified the problem try to treat the cause not just add more iron as this will not solve the underlying problem. I love the picture of you feet and the pumpkin. Quite surreal lol! Growit - Hants UK, Zone "8/9"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - 04:42 pm EST :    Ok, after researching it is apparent that it is either A. a iron deficiency or B. a manganese deficiency. I went to the botany professor at my college and she gave me 40 ml of SeQuesterine iron to use in my next watering and recommended that I use it around the edges of root development. The great thing about this type of iron, she said, is that the plant has no trouble taking it in, as opposed to trying to absorb it through the soil. I will add 10 ml to my next gallon and see if that helps. As for the fan leaves they are truly getting to be giants. There is a slight yellowing around the edge of the leaves that I will be keeping an eye on and taking some daily photos of to check and see if it worsens. I will post some more photos on Wednesday so you all can check out the growth, thanks again for all the help. bond Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2008 - 08:23 pm EST :    I watered today with 10mls of Iron and I suppose time will tell if it has worked.I am thinking of cutting all the new bad leaves so I have an idea if the iron has worked or not, any thoughts on doing this? The new ones are deformed and look even worse than the new ones on the part that fell off. I guess I will just have to wait and see what works and what does not. I have also removed the shop light and have started just using my big light. Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Friday, February 29, 2008 - 07:35 am EST :    Pictures finally! As you can see the new growth looks incredibly neon, I dosed them with the Iron yesterday in watering. We will see what comes of it. The leaves are just getting so gigantic. I am so proud of the big ones, I wish the little ones would learn from their parents. anyway, Ive included some of the deformed leaves in the picture to give a better idea of the kind of thing thats going on, the new leaves just look so neon and almost translucent. Tell me whatcha see Bond Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Stephie  Posted on Friday, February 29, 2008 - 10:28 am EST :    I may be wrong...and I hope I am...but you may be experiencing the side effect of potted pumpkins. Being deeply rooted and voracious eaters, I am still skeptical about a pot-bound pumpkin. Stephie   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Friday, February 29, 2008 - 12:38 pm EST :    I thank you for your idea but I doubt that, I ran into a fellow over at big pumpkins.com who had planted clones into a pot that was 3 foot by 10 inches wide. He re-rooted at each node where the tap roots came out and he now has a 9 foot pumpkin growing under one measly shop light. I have a good deal more soil than this man. He used just regular old potting soil and has been doing it in his basement. I can still dig my hand down a good distance before I get to any roots. I think perhaps I have over-thought the process though. Of course you may be right and I may be wrong, I will never deny that, but I really doubt that is the issue. The plant is large but i have seen much larger plants growing out of much smaller pots. I'm befuddled, from what I could gather he used just regular soil and a plant cutting. I suppose it could be that the soil is not light enough and does not drain the water properly which could cause damping off but then we would see it in all the leaves not just the new ones. Ill post back in a few days with some updates and we will see if this little experiment has paid off. I will research root bound plants today and see if there are similarities. Ill post back in a few days, Bond Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"   Pumpkinbond  Posted on Friday, February 29, 2008 - 01:49 pm EST :    CMV CMV CMV CMV! Cucumber Mosaic Virus transferred by aphids, looks exactly like this. Chances are if I have a lady bug then I have aphids. Im chopping off all the neon leaves and praying for the best. Ill post more in a few days when I get some new growth!!!! Pumpkinbond - north carolina, Zone "?"

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