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Colo.Spgs.CO. Pikes Peak Chapter @ [email protected]

Got down to 34 degrees last night and barely missed the freeze, now it is 36.5 at 1:00 am in the morning with clear skies 63% humidity and zero wind. It is going to be a long sleepless night as I will start misting the second it hits 33 degrees and continue until the sun starts to rise. I wish they made a cheep misting timer with a built in thermometer that comes on automatically when set for a certain outside temperature. I bet they make them but I will bet they are way expensive...Happy Weighing

9/18/2006 3:15:05 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

James,

Mine got toasted! Digital said 34 but leaves said otherwise, Not all got it, just the 1204 Kline on the outside, but again this AM it was 34 again and Ill need to check once I get home in the daylight. So you mist? Maybe I should of been doing that, I need to learn some colorado secrets......All the plants up at the Nursery got toasted too but we need to patch prep big time up there so we now can get started early. Hope everyone elses patches are OK its just been one of those years for me......LongBeard says its the second year curse.....Glad I got it out of the way.....tonight its supposed to get down again.....should I turnon my misters?

9/18/2006 8:53:33 AM

Colorado Springs, Colorado

So, what are we Colorado growers supposed to do after the frost? Do I cut off the forst bit leaves? What ointments or chemicals will I have to apply to protect my fruit from being damaged? There seems to be new leaves coming in, but I don't know whether to cut them off or keep them on due to the fact that a lot of my leaves, but not all of them, are frost bit. Please help.
I know I should keep the pumpkin on the vine, but when comes close to the 7th of October, what should I start to do. This is my first year going to the weighoff. Thank you's to every one who has helped me out this season.
PS: Sorry Wiz, I'm not going to be able to compete at your weigh off in Littleton.

9/18/2006 12:37:29 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

BeHemouth,
Keep them on, keep it plugged into the ground. Mine are the same, I lost a great deal of leaves but as Tremor has posted the plant knows when it is cut off the vine and we will have some warmer days coming, still some time to go, we have had a very early frost this year but its still adding energy to your pumpkin.

9/18/2006 1:47:42 PM

Beach Park, IL.

In general, what is the temp for frost/freeze to occur? 40's, below 40, 30 something??? I also wondered, it is supposed to be in the low 40's for the next couple of days, will it do any damage to the leaves? I have tomatoes & peppers, will it do them in???

9/18/2006 2:17:15 PM

Sioux Falls, SD [email protected]

frost at 32
tomatoes damage easily right near 32

pumpkins need to be under 32 for couple hours to have appreciable damage, i thought, but da wiz sez different

it can be 37 on the side of the house and freezing in patch

9/18/2006 2:36:05 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

I have found that peppers/ tomatoes are a bit hardier than mellons/ cukes/ pumpkins.....I was right at the hairy edge as not all the leave in the patch got hit, and it appeared to be a single plant with taller leaves and left the Reiss alone, leave next to the house were unaffected. 32 is the magic number but it also depends on wind and dew point too at the edge. Tonight I will mist like 400SF suggests to keeps thing warm....if it goes to a hard freeze there is alot that can be done. Strange weather this year...

9/18/2006 3:21:23 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Should read hard freeze not alot can be done....lets hope it dont go there

9/18/2006 3:22:47 PM

Denver, CO

Mine got hit Saturday night into Sunday morning. Outside temp was at 37 but because of my yard configuration, it sloped downward to the plants which are against a 6 foot wooden fence, the cold air "pools" and it got to 31 at the base of the plants. It has been one heck of a year. On the bright side, I didnt have a whole lots leaves left to get frosted considering the hail storm the previous week took out 90% of my plant! Given the damn weather here in colorado, I will asumme that the last remaining 1% of my leaves will subcum to a massive sunburn next week when temps hit the high 100's. (Is it appropritate to cry . . . or is that not allowed like in baseball???)

9/18/2006 7:45:25 PM

Sioux Falls, SD [email protected]

Once I set up the sprinkler to buy me a few hours
I got up at 3am, temp at house was 37
Hose was froze solid enough that it wouldn't run
I turned it on anyway, watched it drip slow 10 min.
Finally said screw it and went to bed
When I got up sprinkler was running and patch did not freeze
Yep it can be spotty

9/18/2006 9:27:53 PM

Riverton, WY

I've had some luck with sprinklers keeping frost off leaves, and have found if you drain all of the water out of the hoses the night before when you're setting up the sprinkler, the water will flow freely the next morning even if the hoses are frosted over. I also keep lots of blankets on the pumpkins AND keep all of the vine coming into the fruit covered with mulch and/or blankets for a few extra lbs of growth.

9/18/2006 10:30:15 PM

Cheyenne, Wyoming

We got down to 28 degrees on Sept. 1st. Since then, we've have three other nights below 30 degrees. On Friday, when I measure the pumpkin again, I'll be able to tell you if a pumpkin can grow with all the leaves frozen off the plant.

I tried the sprinkler thing on one of the 28 degree nights. The leaves were frozen solid the next morning. It looked like there was no damage. As the day warmed up, the ice melted and the leaves curled up and died. I think the sprinkler/mister approach would be plausable at 30 or 31 degrees, but at 28 degrees it won't make a difference. No heater = no leaves.

John

9/18/2006 11:46:03 PM

Colorado

It only got down to 36 in Longmont last night, but I used the following frost blanket:

http://www.territorial-seed.com/stores/1/Frost_Blanket_6_X_50__P4545.cfm

I'll be curious to see how it does when it gets even colder.

Not very practical if you have a big patch, but I have less than 500 sq. feet...

Pumpkins are done growing for the most part anyway... but at least this way I should be able to keep them on the vine until the big day.

9/19/2006 12:20:14 AM

Colo.Spgs.CO. Pikes Peak Chapter @ [email protected]

I managed to save 2/3rds of my leaves as it hit 31 degrees this monday morning, but they are looking pretty rough and weathered.More patchy frost is predicted for tonight and the weather service is calling for another cold front coming in on wednesday evening with a posibility of more freezing temps on thursday and friday. This weather stinks.. I guess we will all have to limp them along until the final day at the scale

9/19/2006 1:44:17 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Yes I agree, Colorado this year just wants to be a PITA, took a 3rd day in a row hit, I sprayed my Argo-K on what was left, I did have one patch under trees that was pretty well left alone but as James said another is coming......Keep them plugged in until our weigh-offs come up. Im planning on cutting a week earlier than the weighoff due to getting my moving crew all together. Good Luck.

9/19/2006 10:22:08 AM

Colorado

Dodged another frost bullet last night but the weather
report is not sounding good for Wed and Thur nights.
Their talking possible snow in the foothills. Keep
them growing Indian summer maybe just around the corner.
Da Wiz and I lost 6 plants at the nursery. Tough to
see perfectly healthy pumpkins hanging on vines with
black leaves.

9/19/2006 11:57:48 AM

Colorado Springs, Colorado

How do you "mist?" What is this misting you all talk about?
400SF, your bucs are in a mess. 0-2 what's going on?

9/19/2006 11:06:48 PM

Colo.Spgs.CO. Pikes Peak Chapter @ [email protected]

just misting with water Behemoth 27 to prevent freeze damage, and you must have marc confused with me as he is the buc guy I really am not into pro football.

9/20/2006 2:46:20 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

BeHemoth.....Misting system
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=54051

Im gonna kick this up a notch next year adding another row of misters, may try to fertigate with these also but at 60 microns I dont want to plug the things up. Check out dripworks.com

9/20/2006 9:10:15 AM

Colorado Springs, Colorado

yeah, I was driving home after I sent that, and i was like, man, I got the wrong guys mixed up, my fault. Sorry James, I should know better. You like college then?
Can you just spray the plant without the misters, or do you have to mist the plants, and when do you do this? Thanks Wiz for the advice and I'll take a look at the website.

9/20/2006 4:01:15 PM