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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Monday, September 30, 2024
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BlossomDown
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Gourd Zone, WA
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Entry 76 of 90 |
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Ive posted a lot already, and this
is going to be a really long post. But there's no way around it. Here it goes.
Earlier this year, I anticipated a possible fall frost prior to the weigh offs. I knew that the pumpkin crosses I was playing around with were planted so late they would barely have viable seeds. So my goal was to dodge at least one frost because I figured this might extend the season by a week or two and give them the time they would need to mature.
Also, I figured the bushel gourd might benefit from being covered. Steve covered his WR bushel gourd in September and his climate is probably warmer than mine so I figured that covering the gourd plant might be part of my plan.
Last of all, I am trying to learn what I need to learn to be able to grow a large & special pumpkin sometime in the future. I want the knowledge of what works and what doesnt as far as getting the most pounds possible. I know that August and early September can be an easy do-nothing period where the weather and temps are basically perfect for adding pounds but then the weather often gets a bit sketchy around mid September.
So last night was the first frost and it was a somewhat hard frost. But I had two ideas that I tried. One was to cover the plants with the heavy greenhouse plastic I use for solarizing and making the grow huts. The other was to steal from the orchardists playbook and simply burn the cold air away (whats the term for this?). Orchardists will literally light fires around the perimeter of their orchard to protect their trees from damaging frosts (at least in the old days, maybe now they use irrigation and windmills now).
So I had this idea in my mind and last night I finally got to try it. I stayed up for a few hours from about 1:30 am to 5:00 am and burned a large pile of brush I had accumulated. I had other brush piles placed strategically around the patch as well but the main brush pile kept me busy enough (I think its not really wise or even legal to burn multiple piles at once.)
So was it worth the effort?
The greenhouse plastic worked 90% ish. It broke a few leaves dragging it into place and a lot of leaves got frostbitten where the were touching the frozen plastic. The fire wasnt perfectly aligned for the smoke to drift over the east side of the patches so it was maybe 50% effective.
Both the smoke and the uptake of the coldest air at ground level is what protects the crop. I think the fire was a partial success, even if it only raised the temps by half a degree, then it did help. But it wasnt as effective as it could have been. I think more, smaller fires would be both more manageable and more effective than one large fire. They could still be lit one at a time, each one might burn for 15 minutes. Probably, lighting 3 small fires per hour would have some protective effect.
In conclusion, there was some frost damage, but it was mitigable with these methods. Cont'd next page -->
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