Naked-seeded pumpkin project

[BeanWonderin]

The vines have become too large & tangled for me to get in anywhere, so no more hand pollinations. I think about 10 or so of those have set. A LOT of additional open pollinated flowers have set, maybe another 2-3 per vine. If most of those pumpkins ripen & if I can keep deer & rodents off of them, there might be a decent harvest. So far the pumpkins appear to follow the chosen traits. Enough pumpkins have formed outside the fence that I'm considering blocking off the walkway to protect them.

Looking good @Zeedman! My plants have taken off, finally, and I've gotten a few pollinated. It may be too late to get mature pumpkins, though.

 

[flowerbug]

well i hope the squash i picked yesterday is viable enough. it is mostly orange to yellow with only a bit of green still on it. one of the four patches planted. i have it sitting on my counter here in this room because the deer have been going through all of the squash patches and hunting for squash to eat.

so far this is the only squash in this project that i've gotten close to ready. Lot: 2021-02

will the seeds continue to develop or are they done now that i've picked it?

size is about 5 inches across.

 

[Zeedman]

The seeds should continue to enlarge somewhat. I'm not sure to what extent they would mature though, if the squash was picked too early.. The seeds in my pumpkins last year (from plants which died early due to squash bugs) were green, but poorly developed. Time will tell, I suppose.

No sign of color change visible in mine yet.

 

[ducks4you]

One NICE thing about living in Illinois and living where I live 7 miles from a large pumpkin patch, is that I can ask for pumpkins from friends after Halloween and save the seeds from them. I threw out a lot of seeds that I didn't ferment and only one grew, so lesson learned. I had several Cherokee Purple tomatoes rot on the vine and I will be start their fermentation today.
I have a yearly party on October 9-10th, so I will be doing yard cleanup until then. I may be a little scarce here for a few weeks! Just so you know I didn't get sick, again!!

 

[flowerbug]

The seeds should continue to enlarge somewhat. I'm not sure to what extent they would mature though, if the squash was picked too early.. The seeds in my pumpkins last year (from plants which died early due to squash bugs) were green, but poorly developed. Time will tell, I suppose.

i just found another in the same patch and it is completely orange - a little smaller.

in the next patch uphill i really need to know if i can pick another that is fairly well along in color change or not, because the deer are going through there and eating every other new one that starts to enlarge from a flower bud. so i have one out there in that same area that is color changing and every day i leave it out there longer the chances the deer will find it and eat it. it might be the only one i get from that patch.

the third patch i've not gotten into enough (it's a jungle) to see any yet, but perhaps tomorrow i'll finally be able to look.

the fourth patch was a complete bust. none of the squash in that patch made it at all.

No sign of color change visible in mine yet.

i hope some will start finishing up soon! chances of frost...

 

[meadow]

Can you fashion a makeshift 'cage' around it? Probably not everyone has chicken wire on hand... Maybe a sawhorse with stakes leaning and bound at the top (like a bean teepee)... ?

 

[flowerbug]

Can you fashion a makeshift 'cage' around it? Probably not everyone has chicken wire on hand... Maybe a sawhorse with stakes leaning and bound at the top (like a bean teepee)... ?

that might just be a sign for them to look closer and trample things more. they've been trampling the few bean plants that are left in that garden. i'm getting it all weeded again and i did find a nice red onion from a flowering plant where the flower stalk went around to the side instead of up through the middle so the onion is shaped more like a tulip bulb than a round onion, but it will be delicious when we cook it up.

i'm pretty sure we don't have extra fence of any kind that i can easily move or use.

i can trim some smelly thyme and put it around it and perhaps that will disguise it enough... i dunno. this is going to be a very interrupted sort of day with several people supposed to stop in. we'll see how it goes.

 

[meadow]

that might just be a sign for them to look closer and trample things more. they've been trampling the few bean plants that are left in that garden. i'm getting it all weeded again and i did find a nice red onion from a flowering plant where the flower stalk went around to the side instead of up through the middle so the onion is shaped more like a tulip bulb than a round onion, but it will be delicious when we cook it up.

i'm pretty sure we don't have extra fence of any kind that i can easily move or use.

i can trim some smelly thyme and put it around it and perhaps that will disguise it enough... i dunno. this is going to be a very interrupted sort of day with several people supposed to stop in. we'll see how it goes.

Well best of luck! I hope you're able to get some seed from this grow-out.

 

[Zeedman]

n the next patch uphill i really need to know if i can pick another that is fairly well along in color change or not, because the deer are going through there and eating every other new one that starts to enlarge from a flower bud. so i have one out there in that same area that is color changing and every day i leave it out there longer the chances the deer will find it and eat it. it might be the only one i get from that patch.

Deer seem to really take a liking to squash late in the season. During my late-summer visits to SSE's farm, I've seen how much damage they can do. Personally, except for my earliest gardening years, I've always grown squash in fenced gardens, so haven't had to deal with that issue... until this year.

You probably don't have any floating row cover... but do you have an old dish towel, T-shirt, or piece of any kind of thin cotton cloth you could wrap around the pumpkins? That might discourage the deer, without impeding the growth of the pumpkins. I have a really nice cluster of pumpkins that formed outside the garden fence, and hope to discourage the deer from what would otherwise be a convenient, head-height dinner (note the leaves already bitten off).

 

[flowerbug]

i cut the squash off the plant today, so of the four patches i have yellowing squash from two patches inside where i can keep the deer from eating it. i checked the third patch to see if i could find any of the naked seeded squash anywhere but i didn't see any, but perhaps i missed some as it's a pretty large patch and there's a lot of big leaves.