The Signal to Grow !

Speaking of Lush Green ! This photo is also from late September 2006.

I had taken this photo under the canopy of my Empress Tree; I am holding the same pumpkin shoot my son was holding in the previous photo.

Notice the shape, the 'hook' in the end of the pumpkin plant's shoot...?

Still now, in the beginning of autumn, this pupmkin plant is signalling with it's 'downturned' growing tip, that it has all the intentions to keep growing; this must be some kind of geotropism, since the undisturbed shoot hangs the 'hook' down, towards the ground. And notice the fruit it's STILL setting !

When my other pumpkins, growing in another area, lost this 'hooked' growth in the tips of their shoots, they totally stopped growing. The shoot became 'straight', but still looked healthy. But growth ceased, and suddenly powdery mildew took over these plants.