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New Jersey

Good morning all. Diary updated. Momentum was high since planting - thrilling to say the least! The plants keep growing, just cleared out plants to make room for our 2 big plants, the males flowered June 20-21 and I assumed the momentum would keep building with the females, pollination and growing. It has slowed and I haven't even pollinated yet. I have one non-minisule female (photos) that hasn't grown much in 1.5 weeks and is closed shut. The other females are teeny tiny (photo). There aren't as many male flowers now. A critter is chomping on my leaves, and my pumpkin dreams are shrinking. Please advise.

7/10/2018 8:38:28 AM

Syracuse, NY

You can...get some miracle-gro with the chemical composition 15-30-15, OR some 'Blossom Booster' 10-50-10; as long as it says it's for big, beautiful blooms and is a water-soluble product, OK; water your plants like crazy with it. you've nothing to lose and for once i'd like to hear that somebody tried it and it worked. i know i have in the past, and it's the first thing i would do, IF i had low and poor flower counts...i will be doing this very soon, myself, i swear! use a hose-end sprayer (like 10-12 bucks) instead of a watering can---hand-held watering in my opinion would be very tedious and un-motivational therefore; OK, probably 1 tablespoon (follow the directions, no maybe this or maybe that, MTMT, lol) per gallon of water, say...several times a week? probably 2 times, (MTMT) until you are sure that they've EACH gotten about 2-3 gallons of H2O + that fertilizer i mentioned @ EACH watering - water-soluble - maybe someone KNOWS of a granular that can be watered-in of the SAME composition, but my guess would be that it would apply INconsistently; in any event, i wish i could bundle-up two Whizzer sprinklers and send them to you but alternatively, try what i said and i hope you are in Blossom City by the end of another week! PS---you probably have a rabbit, a woodchuck or a raccoon, possibly a deerie-poo...i had this this morning when i saw tracks, get this, alongside the road in loose, powdery gravel, in front of one of my patches; MY tracks from yesterday were there, raccoon, possibly a fox following the raccoon, and deer tracks. All of Nature! SO, look VERY closely, from a distance, for any TRACKS before you visit your plants each time---good luck---eg

7/10/2018 11:33:41 AM

Eastern Pennsylvania

Just saw your response from the previous post. How far are you from route 31 between Clinton and Trenton NJ? I pass thru there every Thursday and I could have a first hand look, if you would like.

That female looks about to open but it could be hard to tell in a picture.

7/10/2018 3:09:36 PM

New Jersey

Thanks for the offer - this is a great community. Very far from I am up by the NY border. Update: Female shriveled today with heat hope she can come back. Eg- I see deer footprints. Deer everywhere here, even the highways:( I’d be happy to get 1 pumpkin!!!!!!

7/10/2018 6:05:27 PM

Syracuse, NY

well, if Orangeneck does make a house call, you'll be sure to be well-informed after tea and crumpets, and ever since i had my growing tip bitten-offa my 1585 Werner, i've been putting lawnchairs over the tips of a (few) of my other plants. i only have about 4 lawnchairs and barely a place to SIT now, lol---if i have a REALLY important pollination on a 5th plant, i'll have to put my picnic table over it, lol---what i did once for a friend's pumpkin patch was put up a fence that enclosed the entire patch (about 20' x 50') with deer fence attached to uprights every 8 to 10 feet or so; it was 7' high and stapled to the uprights (2" x 3" x 8' each, attached at the ground level with deck screws to 2-foot pointed pieces of the same size wood (2" x 3") that were pounded-in with a sledgehammer and each had a diagonal for support, but that might not be necessary), wow, more work to type it out, lol, and more explanation available.
very happy with it when i got it done! anyway, if the deer (i hope those were DEER eyes looking at me from the corn field! too many monster movies, lol---) nibble on anything else for me, i'll have to practice even MORE of what i preach, lately...i know, why wait? yeah, you're right, lol.
aside from that, there are also motion-activated sprinklers (as in 'impact') that a friend of mine has; every time i pull-into his driveway = splatter! later--eg

7/10/2018 11:50:21 PM

Syracuse, NY

just for fun:
it'd be funny to have a hose-end sprayer with Miracle-Gro in it in front of one of these things so that when an animal triggers the sprinkler, it waters/fertilizes the plant! HA!
g'night---eg

https://themecountry.com/reviews/best-motion-sensor-sprinklers/

7/11/2018 12:10:00 AM

Grittyville, WA

The regular miracle grow has more variety of micronutrients than the bloom one. They lose momentum when they run out of nutrients or when the uptake by the roots is limited by dry ground or any sort of damage.

7/11/2018 1:52:49 AM