Keeping in Cool When Things are Hot in the Pumpkin Patch

Forecast here is for 5 days of 100 degrees.  That is very hot for Midway.  We usually don't see those temps at all in a year.  I often hear from growers, especially new growers that they are seeing issues with their leaves flagging.  That is a clear sign that either you are under watering or the leaves could use some misting during the heat of the day.  When I was in Denver, I had a hose end timer that was attached to a sprayer that went out about 25 feet and it was set to go off about every 20 minutes.  That worked nicely.

In the greenhouses I have some foggers set to go off about every 15 minutes during the heat of the day.  I like these foggers because the mist is very fine.  You could walk through it, feel cool, but not wet.  To much moisture could increase disease pressure so with the foggers running every 15 minutes the leaves have enough time to dry off between mistings but at the same time not enough to heat up.  I see almost no leaf burn with this setup.

Yesterday I added shade cloth to the greenhouse.  22% shade cloth will add additional shade to help keep the greenhouse a little cooler.