Hard to say from the unknown size of the tree how much 1.5" is but going by my 3 year old trees I would say it will be fine on its own. I think even my 3 year old dwarf tree could deal with 1.5". But that would be enough to plan on replacing my 2 year old dwarf grafts. My roommate is good about weed eating trees to death. It's only a whack here and there (except for the new tree that he debarked clear around once), but a little bit every week for 6 months adds up. It took a lot of yelling to get him to stop weed eating the trees at all.

Those are male flowers. It's pretty normal for the plants to start to produce those first, and then the female flowers, which grow into a pumpkin, will start in about 2 weeks, roughly, after the first male flowers open. It varies somewhat from variety to variety on this. And yes, it's normal for the male flowers to only last the one day. Hand pollination won't help, because there isn't any fruit yet to pollinate. You'll recognize the female flowers when they form -- they have a baby pumpkin at the base of the flower. Until then, you can pick the male flowers to cook with if you want, as they serve no real purpose at this point. There isn't much you can do beyond what you're doing. Just keep watering and you should be fine. I assume you probably don't get frost for at least a couple of months yet? If so, you should have time to get pumpkins yet. The extreme heat may have contributed to the plants not getting female blossoms yet, but that is changing now for you as well. Yes, you can keep burying the stems, they will root in and help the plants grow better, and act as an insurance policy of sorts against vine borers in the main stem. MG weekly is probably fine, too, but you might want to seek out a formula that isn't super high in Nitrogen (the first number) -- something like a tomato formula would be good, higher in P and K, the second and third numbers. But, if you don't have that, plain old 20-20-20 will work. Good luck.

Flowerlady this sounds wonderful! I don't care for coffee but occasionally I do like a serving of tiramisu. I think I have to try this for the holiday. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

Sure it's a little too late, but I've made this one before and it's delicious! Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars Makes 6-8 servings Cake: 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix 1 egg 8 tablespoons butter, melted Filling: 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 8 tablespoons butter, melted 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg fresh whipped cream, for serving 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan. 3. To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey. Serve with fresh whipped cream