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South of Buffalo

Had 4 straight days of high temps and humidity, high 80's low 90's with night temps in the mid high 70's. I was at mid 30's/day for daily gains over the weekend and that has decreased daily with the heat to about 20/day. Never experienced this before is it normal? Watering was consistent with the soil dryness maybe a bit too much.

temps are breaking today and for the next week back to high sof mid 70's thanks

7/30/2015 8:07:50 AM

South of Buffalo

also, sprays and drench's have been used weekly (companion, kelp, manganese sulfate, daconil, merit, bifen, tko). No sign of disease or bugs. healthy looking plant.
Only difference is the temperature

7/30/2015 8:12:19 AM

Germany

How old is the fruit? Different plants with fruits of significantly different age (maybe 5 or more days), but same behavior of their growth curves as a response to the weather?

7/30/2015 8:15:11 AM

Germany

If it´s the heat, then the fruit growth might be shifted more towards the night time. In our rather cold climate here I found that the OTT gains between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. were similar to the OTT gains between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., whereas other growers (probably from locations with higher temperatures) have made the experience that their pumpkins grow over night but don´t do much during daytime. Hence, your observation could indeed be temperature-related.

7/30/2015 8:18:29 AM

South of Buffalo

1738 Barron, 34days old

7/30/2015 9:07:48 AM

Germany

Definitely too young for deceleration due to age of the fruit. Sometimes the fruit slows down after it developed a hole (like blossom end or stem end split), but then (at least according to my experience) it would slow down more and more, not just shift into a somewhat lower gear for a couple of days. Don´t water too much, some flagging leaves (if that happens to your plant) aren´t a cry for much more water as long as they recover very fast in the evening, it´s simply self protection of the plant.

7/30/2015 9:28:03 AM

South of Buffalo

No holes, I looked it over. Ill back off on the water which I may have overdone with the heat for a awhile and see how it does with the lower humidity and temps that are forecasted for the next week.

7/30/2015 10:07:45 AM

Alex, IN

I had the same issue with all four plants, dropped from mid 40's per day in gains to mid 20's. Was watering about 75 gallons/plant every other day, upped it to 100 gallons/plant everyday. Applied as a split treatment 50 in the morning, 50 in the evening. Will see if it helps...

7/30/2015 10:31:30 AM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

I learned that watering in the evenings with cold well water slows down gains. They grow mostly at night and I think the cold water slows them down. I now fill black plastic garbage cans with water and let the sun warm them for evening watering. If I need more water, I use cold water in the morning after growth has slowed down.

7/30/2015 11:21:27 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Fruit only grow at night.

7/30/2015 12:58:47 PM

Eastern Pennsylvania

Did it grow 20/day for just one day or has it slowed like this for several days in a row? Because you tend to squeeze a bit too much from the tape 1 day it makes the next look crappy. If it is several days of slowed growth then there is a trend. It is hot as hell here and my pumpkin is only making modest gains but I doubt that's from the heat lol.

7/30/2015 1:52:23 PM

South of Buffalo

It has slowed for 4 days with its lowest being today 20# with the heat as the only abnormal variable. Yesterday it was 96 on my weather station about this time of day 230, and today we are 76 with low humidity. So we will see if it increases.

7/30/2015 2:40:08 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

So if true > Only growZ at night, means 4 poundZ per hour if its growing 48 lbs a day....??? A POUND every 15 minutes? I remember one year I had BiZ's timer set 12 hours off and it was watering at night - 11,12,1.. that pumpkin did good that year...hmmmmm

7/30/2015 3:38:13 PM

Buffalo, New York

I tell you every year Jeff, stop taping everyday....you'll go nuts

7/30/2015 4:04:06 PM

South of Buffalo

haaaa, I know you do Jeremy but I cant help it

7/30/2015 5:09:35 PM

Anchorage Alaska

what happens ..if you grow in a place that doesn't really have a night ..in the summer ..umm

7/31/2015 1:31:29 AM

Germany

Apparently I need to repeat what I have written before: In our rather cold climate here I found that the OTT gains between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. were similar to the OTT gains between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. (I had made a series of OTT measurements every 12 hours for a couple of days, some years ago.)
Growers who currently have a nicely growing fruit which is maybe 25-30 DAP (when you can really see it grow every hour) and you have daytime temperatures in the range 65...80 F, just give it a try and measure OTT at 6 a.m. and at 6 p.m. for a couple of days. Do you come to the conclusion that the pumpkins only grow at night?

7/31/2015 2:54:09 AM

Central Minnesota

I tested this last year in my patch with regular measurements. After 9 AM I have next to no visible or measureable growth for the daylight hours.

7/31/2015 11:39:01 AM

Germany

...with the daytime temperatures I have mentioned, or was it a time when temperatures had been higher? Anyway, good to see others also try to find out about that. But Dale made a good point, because if "daylight" itself would be the key which switches off the growth, then he wouldn´t be able to grow his monsters (unless he shaded the patch for many hours to simulate a longer night).

7/31/2015 3:57:09 PM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

If they only grow at night, northern growers would be at a disadvantage, but clearly they are not... ;-)

7/31/2015 8:12:41 PM

Marshfield, Ma, USA

From observations I have made over the years,they do most of their growing overnight, but do grow during the day. My growth indicators have always told me this.

8/1/2015 9:04:13 AM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

Here's a time lapse video of a young squash growing. Didn't take night pictures (dark.), but you can see growth from 7am to 7pm, just like 7pm to 7am. Just one fruit in one patch, but something to consider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXrffguWqbY

8/5/2015 3:39:58 PM

San Diego

My pumpkin is growing both night and day, but the growth at day is 1/4 the speed of that at night.

8/5/2015 3:52:27 PM