What's wrong with my oumpkin?

[Plantman]

Hope everyone is well.
I have 6 orange stripe cushaw growing.
It's first time I've grown agrosperma.
They taste really nice as courgette
One of the better vines I've been using to polinate my female flowers with won't keep a female flower.
As soon as they appear they are yellow, and have started to wither before even coming close to opening a flower.
I'm thinking now this one is a bit high strung, and I should rogue it out.
If the others are going ok, enough water and no obvious mineral deficiency, then any hints to why this vine can't offer a viable female flower?

[Adrian]

The firsts fruits are often not viable.She is sensitive at the photoperiod,the days are maybe too long.
How much female flowers did you have per plant?

[Plantman]

Hey.
It's only 14 hour day here, I live at 31°s so we don't get really long days.
This vine started to show female flowers at least every second internode and last week a female flower each internode.
They are yellow when little more than a matchstick.
I culled two other vines for only having make flowers and poor vigour
I think it might be magnesium deficiency actually.
I treated them with Dolomite lime, micronised Dolomite and cal-mag hydroponic solution.
I think I'll hit them with Epson salts.
Some of the older leaves are showing tip burn that I think maybe slight zinc lock out through magnesium deficiency.
The newest 2/3 of vines are perfect looking and vigorous though, so I don't know why just this one would keep aborting
No end rot on any of the Pepo pumpkins in same garden either.



## I did a bit more research and don't think it's a mag deficiency as I have no chlorosis.
We had a cyclone tail off over here last week
I didn't need to water the garden all last week when normally I have to daily.
I think maybe the roots got a bit oxygen stressed.
This is my most vigorous vine, so should have good root mass.
They are growing out of a brick herb planter, 8'*3'*3', not straight into the soil

## I thought about it some more. While they got a nice bit of moisture over last week, they never looked saturated. The leaves didn't look droopy ever.
For what ever reason, if the plant throws it's next two fruit, I'll cull it.
It's not fit to ths environment, certainly doesn't need to donate it's pollen to next season's plants

[Plantman]

When i looked at last pic above,  think I worked it out.
I live in western Australia.
Average temps this month are 32°/90f

I had other fruit growing over the pavers, so didn't think how hot they would get.
The fruit doing well ( pic #2 ) goes into shade early arvo, but the others get quite a blast from midday onwards.
The first pic is a fruit I just culled because it is withering.
The seed end feels cool to touch like a cucumber. Top 2/3 of the fruit feels warm in my hand, and is withering. I think I am baking them.

I've got a lot of chilis n strawberry growing in same spot, and know they get stressed.
My biet alpha cropped a whole season without missing a beat on those pavers, but the Boston picklers I planted to replace them are coming through now, bitter and a few aborted flowers.
The spookies growing there are doing ok, but get the earlier shade

I'm going to run dwarf Cavendish in 40gal bags there next summer, to cut the heat on that side of the house.
Cheers

[Plantman]

Baby cushaws make the best zuchinni

[Plantman]

11 days since the rains began.
The orange stripe cushaw vines are pumping away, no issues.
The spookie vines are half white with PM.
The Pepo has thrown most of its female flowers lately also
It's definitely the heat causing the abortions.
I just didn't notice because the c.pepo had started setting fruit two weeks earlier than the cushaw.

# jarradale is throwing 20" wide leaves after the cyclone.
Jarradale is only an hour's drive from here, so she should fit in.