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Simi valley, ca

I cant decide which to keep ? some say farther more plant to push pumpkin, some say vine is thiner & harder to get nutrents that far>they were germed on april 28 so eather would be in time frame , i poll-ed on 2nd july the 14 ft, next will be at 18 ft on aprox 10--11th ,. the one at 16 ft tomarrow 4 th or one at 19 ft on aprox 9-10 th !!! ?? need to decide so i can start training vine !! oppionions please ,thank you !! ??

7/3/2005 8:03:02 PM

Ohio

Fish, they all sound like they are at excellent distance,if it was me I would keep the one that has the best shape and the one that is gonna be the best angle to the vine.

Brooks

7/3/2005 9:36:17 PM

Rhode Island

you need to let the pumpkins tell you which stays and which goes

this is each growers decision and without seeing the positioning and size of fruit compaired to dates from pollination it would be foolish to tell you what to do

its kinda premature to talk about pumpkins that have not even been pollinated yet much less decide now which you should keep

dont worry about the vine
keep it straight for now and you can move the fruit if necessary

7/3/2005 10:25:54 PM

Joliet, IL

i agree with dick about just keeping the vine straight and moving the fruit later. i still try to throw in a slight curve while training the vine if possible where a nice female is positioned. but these are the problems i have encounteed while making "s" curves.

1. the dreaded snap
2. the female grows straight up in the center of the main because the vine has twisted a bit while making the curve. this leaves for even a shorter stem later as it has to reach over the main to lay down.
3. the main itself can become harder to train with the slight twist in it and a straight vining plant will now become an upward reacher after the slight curved twist.
4. curving too much for every female prior to pollination can lead to messed up secondary training as the inside of curves have secondaries grow closer together now to a point eventually as they grow out.
5. the female wanting to flop over to the other side of the vine giving the worst case scenario for shorter stemmed pumpkins.

7/4/2005 5:27:29 PM

Joliet, IL

pollinate them all in a straight line and if you have one on a curve with nice stem placement better for you. you can alway cut 2 to 3 tap roots on each side of the pumpkin, loosen the vine to a nice slack, and slide it away from the main vine gently, just a little each day while they are over 10 days old. you can create a nice area for your shoulders to grow in this way with out worrying about curving your vines. some may say they do not wish to cut the tap roots so close to the pumpkin. but remember, the water doesn't go from the roots into the pumpkin, but rather to feed the sugar factories in the leaves that send the juice back to the pumpkin. so cutting these tap roots close to the pumpkin on the main for slack wouldn't directly effect your pumpkins growth i would tend to think. might be wrong on that one.

you have to make sure all tap roots are cut, and really got down in there and feel the slack in the vine prior to movement. do not move it until that vine has some nice slack and is adjustable.

this is all just from my personal experience and some may have better luck curving the vines by the blossums and would not agree with moving the pumpkins later. this works for me and just sharing some thoughts on the subject.

7/4/2005 5:27:51 PM

Simi valley, ca

i just wanted to say thanks for your replys !! thank you

7/5/2005 1:51:17 AM