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Antwerp, Belgium

Hi,

My pumpkin is still growing although much slower than a few weeks ago.

I read somewhere one's got to slow down on fertilizing at the end of the season or even stop it at all. But how much less? Half, a quarter or even less of your summer fertilizing?

Thanks in advance for any answer!

9/5/2014 10:36:51 AM

Eastern Pennsylvania

No way not here, I am pushing potassium, kelp and cal-mag like crazy from now till the weighoffs.

9/5/2014 12:14:36 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Im emptying the shelveZ on LordOlderBunZ....

9/5/2014 1:02:37 PM

Torrance, Ca.

Until the bitter end I'm told,,,,, until the bitter end.

9/5/2014 1:30:00 PM

Colorado

Slow down a little,when its cool and the plant has old leaves it cant consume as many nutrients.If you overdue it youll get the opposite effect. Less is more.

9/5/2014 2:20:35 PM

Colorado

Slow down a little,when its cool and the plant has old leaves it cant consume as many nutrients.If you overdue it youll get the opposite effect. Less is more.

9/5/2014 2:21:11 PM

Colorado

Also,some nutrients may be less available in cool conditions. Prob.Nitrogen and phosphorous. You may not want to back off on those.

9/5/2014 2:30:10 PM

maybe just me
but I burn plant down at very last of season
meaning toss a lot on knowing it will be hard on leafs/ what good are leafs after october

9/5/2014 4:13:05 PM

Eurasia

No cojoe! No nitrogen into the soil in August or even later in the season! Nitrogen is that stuff, you always have mobilized in soils during the summer, when they are mucked up for AGs. The only way to offer nitrogen to plants after July is to spray foliar aminos. With nitrogen to the soil, you get bad seed. And AG growers do enough yet to worsen seed quality! I have sprayed aminos, potassium and magnesium with phosphites on 8/17 and 8/28. That works for best seed quality. I only breed for seed and do never grow for weight.

9/5/2014 5:19:02 PM

Muddy Waters

Im pushing these to the end.I think it will be hard to overfeed them with the cooler temps coming and typically more rain in September around here.havent watered in 5 days now.I look at the leafs they will tell you what they need if you listen very carefully.Kinda like Ma Ma Bubba.You must listen very carefully.lol

9/5/2014 5:31:48 PM

Torrance, Ca.

Ludwig,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, lol

9/5/2014 5:47:46 PM

Eurasia

When you spray Ca with B in the late season, your seed becomes too hard, so you have to rasp and file your seed before soaking it for propagation. I never do such fetish. I just lay seed into coco-substrate to let germinate it like in the jungle.
I did tries with Ca/B in July and August two years ago: this makes splits at the blossom end, around the stem and even on the ribs.
When I grow hard shelled pumpkins to make a drum of it, I spray Ca/B when the fruit is big enough, with the effect, that this fertilization chocks off some growth hormones.
And so you better spray Ca/B only for flowering in May and June. In July and August you might spray calcarb upside and under the leaf too, but only once or twice a month.
I´m bored of so many split fruits here in your diaries, so I wanted to tell you the main cause: you stop growing at the ends of the fruit but pump so much water into the walls with the help of fish and seaweed at the same time!

9/5/2014 6:11:51 PM

Central NY

Geez Ludwig...who peed in yer Cheerios??

9/5/2014 6:30:30 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

I'm in the same boat, with my pumpkin slowing down. I had been letting the tertiary vines grow, but now I'm starting to terminate a lot of them. I tape a sharp knife on a long pole so I don't compact soil on the roots. The ones I can't reach I will let go. I am foliar feeding tomato food which has nitrogen and phosphorus, some trace nutrients and is higher in potash mixed with molasses. I figure the extra sugar on the leaves will signal the plant to send more nutrients to the fruit. I only use about 3 tablespoons of fertilizer at a time but I apply it about 4 times a week. I don't want to put a big shock on the pumpkin all at once but keep a slow steady feeding. It seems to work on my long gourds so I'm trying it on pumpkins. Time will tell if this works.

9/5/2014 7:56:20 PM

Sloughhouse

My kin has slowed up also. Still hot in north ca. Temp still in 90s. What should i do?

9/5/2014 11:19:12 PM

Eurasia

Hi Iowegian. Spray a little Mg too, and all the tertiaries will develop chlorophyll to feed your pumpkin.

9/6/2014 7:47:19 AM

Eurasia

Hi neaner. Spray potassium and magnesium with much phosphites and only a little nitrogen.

9/6/2014 7:50:26 AM

Holton, Michigan

I grow for BIG FUN. Lol....... try to beet my personal biggest. I empty my shelf as we'll. and then some it's always hard to see em slow down last season I had one keep splitting and sapping a month after ott stoped at 277 and weighed on a feed scale #625. That one got frets the hole time 😃

9/6/2014 8:02:31 AM

West Paris Me.

I would love to have 3 fruit at the end of the season so that I could push one of them very hard. But as always, I have one and if I blow it I'll have nothing to bring to the weigh off. I am certainly fertilizing but I hold my breath every morning until I check it all over.

9/6/2014 11:34:23 AM

Rhode Island

kathy
once your daily gains get into the teens there is very little chance of a pumpkin blowing ---- unless of course you have a pumpkin that has dill rings (internal cracks)if so i would reduce my feeding schedule to half in early sept and a quarter the last two weeks in sept on out to one week before picking.
also if heavy rain is forcast late in the season? cutting off a few scondaries will help reduce the intake of to much water which again, if the fruit has some imperfections?,could lead to splitting.
pap

9/7/2014 9:01:52 AM

New England

Mine blew two splits yesterday and I haven't been spraying any foliar nutrients at all due to lack of time and it wasn't doing impressive gains either the last two days. all in the gamble I guess. Temps are supposed to tank this week here so no more nitrogen for my plants this year.

Good advice Pap, thanks! I think I might have to hack off some secondaries

9/8/2014 9:15:21 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Im with you Don...LeaveZ are over rated...

9/8/2014 10:07:23 AM