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Santa Cruz, CA

We have always waited until our baby pumpkins have come down to lay on the ground before starting the slow process of positioning them at 90 degrees from the vine. What is your process? When do you start?

7/7/2007 10:37:34 AM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

pap had some great info on this subject while responding to a post by Crickets I believe.

7/7/2007 12:37:50 PM

Ankeny, Iowa

I usually wait until the fruits lay on the ground before I do anything to them, but sometimes if the stem is long and flexible enough you can try to start positioning the fruits sooner. But don't try to do it all in one day, slowly position the fruit 90 degrees to the vine over a period of a few days to a few weeks depending on the amount of re- positioning required. This helps to prevent stem splits from occuring. I hope this advice helped. Good luck with your pumpkins.

Junior

7/7/2007 7:48:04 PM

Ohio

Creek, Jack Larue doesnt touch the fruit and leaves it where it lays, he moves the vine instead, I tried it last year and it worked better then I thought it would. I moved all my fruit this way this year so far.

Brooks

7/7/2007 7:49:27 PM

Rhode Island

creek

there are several things you can do to insure a safe stree free pumpkin ride thru july, august and sept.

1. by all means when at all possible turn the main away from the side of the main where the pumpkin will fall.
in other words, if your looking down the main from the tip and the soon to be pollinated fruit is going to grow off the left side of the main then turn the main off to the right. ( to create a bit of a horse shoe effect at the fruit) , so that later on the main does not get stressed by rubbing up againat the shoulders as the fruit gets bigger.
2. most fruit will also need to be moved to get as close to a 90 degree angle off the main as possible. we wait until thefruit is at least a mini football size before doing anything. you can move the fruit several ways
a. put a small piece of mill fabric under the fruit, then bank some soil on the side that you dont want to move. as the fruit grows it will push itself over , plus you can also continue bankibf and moving a little every couple days
b. if a few inches is all thats required then forget the fabric and soil ramp and just pick it up and move it an inch a day ( be sure in all cases that the tap at the pumpkin is cut.)
c. some try and place a stick and a piece of sponge along side the fruit to also force it to move a little per day. this will work well to. just a matter of preference

pap

7/7/2007 9:50:20 PM

Santa Cruz, CA

Thanks everyone for the help and advice. Pap, we have one pumpkin going on the 1502 pollinated on July 1st, with a few more down the pike to be pollinated next week on the same plant. We had a cool spring and got off to a slow start but we have a warm September here so maybe we can makeup for it.

7/8/2007 1:46:13 AM

Cornell, Wi

1502 whats that? just kidding

7/8/2007 10:34:47 AM