Mater Auction, Bidding begins Today April 21 and is open until Sunday April 28th. at 9:15pm. EST.

Lot. 1 A & B - 2013 Spring Mater Auction

5.0 Timm 09. > 3.8 Timm 06. 3/pkg
4.90 Nieuwenhoff 12. > 4.62 timm x self. 4/pkg
4.42 Landry 11. > 7.33 Hunt Delicious. 24.25" CC, 10/pkg
4.41 Timm 09. > 5.32 Timm 08. 3/pkg
4.39 Timm 09. > 5.58 Timm 08. 3/pkg
4.29 Timm 08. > 3.90 Catapano. 17/pkg
4.19 Montgomery 12. > 5.07 Boudyo x self. 9/pkg.
3.85 Landry 11. > 7.33 Hunt Delicious. 23.25" CC, 10 seeds.
3.85 Hain 12. > 4.42 Landry 11 x Self. 10/pkg
3.81 Sundin 12. > 4.91 Lyons 11 x Self. 10/pkg
3.61 Sundin 12. > 4.42 Landry 11 x self. 20/pkg

First attempt at pear gourds germinated OK now how much room do they need.
We still have frosts in UK so do i wait until all frost have gone or will they be OK under a cloche.                           
                                           

They can take light frosts and will be ok. Not very hard to set up a quick hoop house over them and they won't need much heat.

some early for putting cabbage out isnt it,, do you have heater cables,,

Ben I actually have done a couple of articles here is the second and most updated version. After a couple of years of research I coined the phrase of "Xylem Cavitation." Hope this helps you.

Water Movement in Pumpkin Plants.
By, Russ Landry, GVGO summer news letter 2012.

What I need to know is why does my plants stump and main vine area have a white foamy liquid dripping from it? What is cavitation? How is cavitation caused in plants?  How can I help my plants to avoid this condition?

In the past we have often thought of foaming stump as a viral or fungal condition. In fact very little was understood of the condition or its causes until recently. As pumpkin growers we constantly strive for ever increasing size and girth of our burgeoning fruit. The questions we ask are now resolved as more becomes known about this size limiting and often fatal plant condition.

Xylem cavitation of pumpkin plants is the formation of vapor bubbles in the flowing liquid in an area where the pressure of the liquid falls below its vapour pressure.  The term I am using is called inertial cavitation. It?s the process where a void or bubble in a liquid rapidly collapses, producing a shock wave. Such cavitation often occurs in pumps, propellers, impellers and results in pock marked damaged resembling small pits and fissures in the components.

 In the vascular tissues of plants conducting rivers such as pumpkin plants main vines, inertial cavitation damages or ruptures the channels & cells of the river we have come to know as the Calcium Highway.

Pumpkin vine, xylem cavitation or as we have come to refer to as foaming stump ultimately reduces a plant's capacity to move water and nutrients from the soil to the leaves and sinks.  Its primary cause is one of unsustainable canopy transpiration rates during high heat and low humidity. The result is in lowering of the xylem hydraulic water pressure causing cavitation, embolized (gas-filled) bubbling and ultimately whitish foaming stump percolated from the damaged vine stem.  

Leaf stomatal closure prevents further cavitation and desiccation of leaf tissues by reducing transpiration. However this reduces fruit growth by slowing carbon fixation or sink storage.
 
 Several precautions can be taken by growers to protect plants and allow for normal canopy respiration of xylem flow and transport exists.
 
1.   Provide a micro climate for your plants: Growers who mitigate the effects of hot, dry days often experience less problems with foamers. Reduce transpiration by using shade covers to lower air temperatures. Water mist to lower air temps and increase cooling evaporation.

2.   Supplement the leaf surface environment: Use anti desiccant sprays such as CO2, Lithovit and or Relief to control high transpiration.

3.   Supplement the soil moisture: Ensure adequate soil moisture levels are maintained at all times.

4.   Provide of all plant nutrients in the soil: Test solubility of all soil nutrients, focusing on calcium and other micro nutrients. Note, simple soil tests do not address soil water solution deficits of nutrients. A & L labs can run separate soil tests to determine solubility of elements.

Sunrise > This morning I was greeted to a dusting of snow on the ground. Needless to say after Thursday's thunderstorms and mid 70's temperatures the huge change to this morning is darn depressing. Spring is here it is just uncertain and very changeable. Hoop houses will be constructed in the next day or so and I should be in the ground by the end of next week. This would be about two weeks ahead of normal for me.

The season has barely begun and already I am on pumpkin time. Arise at 5:15 am this checking the lights and timers.

Sunrise was 6:27 I had forgotten how much I looked forward to getting out of bed tending to the plants each day.

I wonder how many growers are already on pumpkin time!

Would like to hear from you. 

Would like to hear from anyone testing with cabbage or any other plants.
I have placed some posts at BP in my diary for growers to review.

Cabbage 1 Update > Best cabbage is doing well. Bathed in light its just about ready to go into the garden. Doubled in size in the last two weeks.

Cabbage # 2 > Not as big as its brother it is however doing very well and just about ready for hardening off. The treatments I talked about at the GVGO seminar appear do be working very well so far. I have two controls growing as seen in the next picture.
 
Cabbage Controls 3 & 4 > not nearly the development seen in the first two which have had nearly two weeks of treatments.

These have just been re-potted this morning. I will stop the standard treatment and switch to the test regime as there appears to my thinking to be a stark difference.

Hope others within the club have noticed the same outcome.

Just a thought.   I'm sure the members won't mind if you rip some pics off of growers diaries on bp. 

Hi Y'all

We need your Photos. Giant Kins, Squash, other giants or not so giant (regular vegetable gardens). Patch prep, hoop houses, crazy fun stuff, whatever...... Email them to us and we will up load for you. gvgogiants@gmail.com


The Facebook page has taken off. If you haven't "Like" the page, What are you waiting for?

If you need a Facebook page for yourself to view it just follow the link on this page, it is real easy to set up. https://www.facebook.com/pages/GVGO/140780926101331

Thanks Nate and Jenn

Got it, Thanks John.