Oops, sorry those specs are for the male parent. The female was the 1016 Daletas 2001 (705.0 Stelts 1999 UOW x 846.0 Calai 1999.)

Didn't realize this forum was so slow, nothing at all like the tomato forum at this time of the year. On a brighter note, I have 3 females on this plant to pollinate in the morning.

Mark,
That sound like a nice cross, with good size potential.
I hope you keep us posted on its progress.

Douglas

Yeah, well....tomatoes you just watch. These giants your busy working...lol

Sandbagger, I'd probably normally agree with you, but I have just 1 AG plant this year and about 95 tomatoes here in my yard, plus another 81 being grown over 7 or 8 other locations--116 different varieties, almost all heirlooms, plus I do some tomato breeding/crossing too. That's alot of seed saving & fermenting come harvest time.

Douglas, thanks, I'll keep posting as long as I get one growing. I see you & Wayne have this forum pretty much locked up & under control. LOL.

I pollinated 3 today, one in my driveway a few feet from my car out back, plus another secondary and 1 on the main around 16ft out. I'm growing in a hybrid x-mas tree/Saguaro cactus pattern, my 2ndaries on the east of the main are more WNW to ESE then head south like the main, and the west side of the main most 2ndaries run parallel to the main and all tips are lining up in a straight line E-W. I've also done some thinning the last few days but there are some tertiaries near the center that are climbing that are too dangerous to get to. Here's an older sketch from 6/30:

{{gwi:840348}}

The green & yellow circle was the female pollinated on 6/30 but it didn't take. All the females with question marks died off. The wrap-around 2ndary near the stump is now east past the windmill, heading in a straight line towards the mirror on the car and is up to the black 55 gallon drum (the gray & black circle) and there's a female about 2-3ft to the right of the drum, up in the air (that's the strawberry patch), that may opening in the next couple days. All the dark gray is black plastic mulch.

The female at 2 o'clock to the blue container was #1 done today in the driveway. (Just picture all the vines another 5ft longer than illustrated.) The one near the end of the drip line (north of the corner of the garage) has been rerouted and is now about 3ft to the left of the one that aborted. That's #2 today. #3 is on the main about 4ft out from the aborted one.

I was pondering if I should cover the flowers back up; I'm probably the only person for a few miles radius growing any c. maxima, plus I'm only growing 1 plant, but my main concern was the rain we are supposed to get from Cindy. So far, we didn't get any here in the city. I was debating putting baggies back on, a greenhouse umbrella, or leaving them be. I used the greenhouse umbrella on the one on the main, as I can stick it into the dirt. The others got baggies, though I worry about high humidity causing problems.

Mark

Oops, It's not the 852 Wallace, it's the 852 Simmons, from Wallace Simmons. Where's that Lubadub when you need him? lol

I've updated the {{gwi:840348}}. I'm really running out of room--at the top of the drawing not on it is a wooden shed, just a few feet away, plus a wheelbarrow and some 55 gallon plastic drums. Also not in the drawing is a chainlink fence on the right, unfortunately right about where the 7/8 female is. This female was never noticed and was a surprise. I may be able to rearrange the vine to get it away from the fence but not sure how far. Time for a bigger yard.

I pollinated 2 more females this morning. A third one, somewhere in the strawberry patch, swelled up but didn't open... maybe tomorrow, or it may just yellow & die.

Those that just dried up or fell off, plus the 6/30 attempt, are red X'd out. Future females are illustrated with a red F. Those that appear that they may have been successfully pollinated are in green & yellow.

Everything changes, so what appears to be a successful pollination may turn out to be an abortion so fingers are crossed. Only time will tell. Those 4 are about 10 inches circumference now. What I found unusual is that 2 or 3 of the 4 were 3-lobed females, which I've never encountered before. The 2 today were 5-lobe I believe. I wonder what the relationship is between # of lobes and rib width? Any ideas? I keep picturing the 731 Stucker in my mind, (I believe that's the one) which had few but really wide ribs if I remember correctly.

Mark

I just realized I'm off a day, the 3 were pollinated on the 8th and the OP was on the 9th. Will try to correct the sketch next time...

Mark,
I like your plant drawing.
That's an interesting question regarding lobe number and how it corresponds to the size of the ribs. I don't know.

Thanks Douglas. Ironically, the 3-lobe may be my best looking pumpkin.

Sorry it's been such a long time since I posted here. Now I'm seeking some opinions. Since last time, the two 5-lobe fruits failed to take, the bowling ball sized fruit by the fence rotted off, and all 3 fruits are within an inch or 2 of each other. Here's the latest drawing:

{{gwi:840348}}

The vines really went crazy on this plant and the vine that fruit "B" is on also started climbing the drums, thru a CRW tomato cage not being used, and is now almost to the roof of the garage--with a female that may have gotten pollinated about 4-5ft off the ground, in/on/thru the 7ft tall tomato cage. Other secondaries did similar near the fence, as well as one climbed a rope on the front of the shed and is to the roof. Here's a photo from a 2nd story window from a week ago, though it's hard to even see the plant:

{{gwi:840350}}

OK, now for opinions. I'm culling to 2 and then later to 1. The smallest of the 3, by about 3" OTT, is "B". The vines climbing up to the garage are from this one. There's very few leaves within 3ft feet on either side of this fruit--most leaves are the ones climbing.

Does anybody think they are contributing much photosynthesis to the plant since they are after the fruit?

If I cut fruit "B" off the vine, how much would they contribute to the other fruits?

If they wouldn't contribute much, what if I cut the vine BEFORE the pumpkin, and see if the vine it's on supports the fruit by itself? Kind of like freeing up juice for the other 2 but without actually getting rid of the fruit--one for the porch.

All three fruits were on a 1000+ pace using the Ailts-Landry Pumpkin Pacer 1000 tracking spreadsheet up until about 4 days ago and are only growing 2-3" circumference daily now; the fall-off appeared to coincide with some pruning around the time when temps went into the 50's at night, and I'm not sure if it had to do more with temps or reduced photosynthesis.

The main vine was terminated and has very few leaves after the fruit as well as for 3ft or so before it.

Theory says to go with the one on the main but the one by the car looks better shaped as well as stem to vine position. Also, it would be less work getting it out of the yard too. That's why I'm so hesitant on culling to 1 and making the decision which one.

Here's the last few days growth on Pumpkin "A" in circumference:

2.56"
2.36"
2.17"
2.36"

Here's the last four on Pumpkin "C" on the main:

1.97"
2.56"
2.95"
1.57"

Both have the same circumference but "A" grew more than "C" did. They are almost flipflopping for the lead back & forth.

I'm looking for opinions on:

how much effect the climbing leaves & vine would have on "A" & "C",

which way to cut Pumpkin "B" (off the vine, or, vine off the plant if there's not enough benefit to keeping the vines above) and

if I should wait to see if "A" & "C" show one clearly pulling out front of the other, or just go with lobes or main vine?

Should I take "position A" that the more leaves, the more photosynthesis and more energy to grow, or should I take "position B" that I should terminate any vines, get rid of the climbers and the ones behind the car & in the driveway, and even remove any flowers, all to direct energy to the fruit, even if the secondaries end up 8ft long?

Large trash pickup is August 14th. LOL.

Thanks for any comments.

Mark

I feel like the duck in that Aflack commercial where Yogi Berra does some yogi-isms.......wha????????////
so heres my opinion.....start the car up and move forward 25 feet...grow more vines in that spot. Cull A, then B....grow C. I wouldn't try to keep a porch pkn with such a small plant. Yes, I think all leaves will contribute to the fruit when terminated and down to one fruit. Terminate....grow the C.

Better yet, sell me the car!

Haha! Did you see the photo? Car's staying put, no alternative. So you would take the main over a faster growing fruit with better shape & vine position? Here's what's left of the main & stem/vine position on it:

{{gwi:840352}}

Here's pumpkin "A" at around 17 days:

{{gwi:840354}}

Are you saying "small plant" meaning the entire plant, or are you saying small plant to support a porch pumpkin if I cut the vine off the main and turn it into a separate plant?

Sandbagger, where abouts are you in NY? Do I know you from Mallorn or BP? Is this Dorito Glenn?

Mark

Mark,
I don't know what advice to give you. They both have great shape for A.G.s. I agree, that pumpkin A has a little better shape. I'm wondering, if you terminate all the vines, and stop any new growth, would it matter if the pumpkin was on the main, or a secondary? Wouldn't all the "juice" go toward the pumpkin? Of course, it seems to be conventional thinking, that a mainvine pumpkin is usually preferred. It's a tough call. I think someone on that other pumpkin website, stated that they had a pumpkin grown on the main, and one on the secondary, of the same plant, and the secondary one ended up largest. Also, if and when you cull, you may wan't to cut through the stem a little each day, over a few days, to prevent the other from a huge growth spurt, that could cause a split. I probably wouldn't let the lobe count be a factor, personally
I won't comment on your other questions, as your guess is as good as mine.
Those pumpkins look like they'll have great color, when mature. I admire how well you use the space available to you. It looks very nice. I may have to keep that seed in mind for next year. Good luck!

Douglas