It only takes minutes after application for soluble fertilizers to make their way into the plant's nutrient stream. Many nutrients need to be in the nutrient stream constantly for the plant to grow normally. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are considered mobile nutrients and are readily borrowed from one plant part to sustain other parts, particularly strong sinks like new growth o flowers/fruit. Calcium and boron are usually considered immobile nutrients, and need to be in the nutrient stream at all times for normal growth to occur. Sulfur, chloride, copper, zinc, manganese, iron and molybdenum are intermediate in mobility, and only under certain circumstances are intermediate elements mobile. The mobility of the intermediate mobile nutrients is usually linked to the breakdown of amino acids and proteins in older parts of the plant under low nitrogen conditions and their movement to younger parts of the plant via the phloem stream. Again though, unless nitrogen availability is good, these elements are mostly immobile. That it rains doesn't mean all the fertilizer you applied is washed from the soil. Elements attach themselves to colloidal surfaces and tend to remain there to some degree until they are exchanged. Cation exchange in soils occurs when root hairs utilize proton pumps to pump hydrogen ions (H+) into the soil. The hydrogen ions effectively displace the cations that are attached to negatively charged colloidal surfaces, making the cations available then for root uptake and incorporation into the nutrient stream. AL

Thanks for all the helpful info! I don't know what kind of pumpkins they are, I simply harvested and dried the seeds from our last Halloween pumpkins, which were bought at a road side stall. I guess as long as the plant is healthy and the buds aren't falling off, then patience it is :) On a side note, we were pleasantly surprised today by our very first two female flower buds on our cucumber plant! They haven't bloomed yet, but they're coming in!

true story, I went to the garden Sunday afternoon. The zucchini plant was wilted and laying down. Poked around the base of the vine and found a very large soft spot with a vine borer in itI cut out the borer with mmy pocket knife, leaving a 2-3in. slice in the vine. The vine is pretty much hollow in that area. I tossed a snall amount of soil on the wound and heaped a pitch fork of compost over it, then poured about a gallon of water over it (instant compost tea). Momday morning the plant was almost standing again. Tuesday the plant was standing an the leaves were almost fully opened up. And the small zucchini, about an inch long was about3 inches long. First time I tried doing that, worked fast

While this is up, I want to add my two cents. ;) How quickly the first true leaves grow depends. They can take a really long time to grow, or they can grow really fast (like the day after they sprout). There are a lot of factors: - Warmth (this is a big one) - Fertility (if you've got wood chips in the soil, it's probably going to slow the growth by taking nitrogen out of it; if you don't have wood chips, you shouldn't need to worry about this much, if at all) - Light - Watering (if they dry out a certain amount, they won't grow as fast, and if they're too wet too long, that's an issue, too) - Shock (If the plants are shocked, such as if their leaves get scorched, they may grow more slowly.) With my seed-starting method (I grow them outside on a table in full sun, and take them inside when it's too cold outside), what makes the difference most is temperature. If it's cold, they take a long time. If it's warm, they grow true leaves very fast. I'm sure there are other factors I haven't mentioned.