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Omaha, NE

My vines are growing like crazy and are about 10 feet outside of the garden area, in to the grass. I don't want to tear up all of the grass, is it okay for the pumpkins and vines to grow on the grass. The little "grabbing" vines are knoting around the grass. If nothing else my husband won't have to mow in that area.

Karen

7/21/2001 5:57:23 PM

Mid Michigan

Hey Karen........mine are doing the same thing. I way under-estimated the patch size for these when i started out back in March. I did start roughing up the grass with a rototiller when it first got out of the patch, but now i'm just letting it grow. I have all my pumpkins on the main vine, so any secondaries over six feet are being cut, and i dump a pile of black dirt on them. The vines do send out tap roots from the bottom, and they have a hard time getting in the ground thru the grass. We're both living with it, but it's lesson learned by a 1st year grower on my part...next year the patch will be big enough! I have one last female to pollinate this morning at the end of the main vine ( which is 12 to 15 feet outside the patch area), and then i'm cutting, and burying that vine next week too, and covering with dirt. I hope this helps........good luck! Cuzbiker

7/22/2001 6:44:37 AM

Omaha, NE

I kind of figured that they would grow outside of the patch area. But there was no way my husband was going to let me dig up that much of the yard. We are on a corner lot and have a big yard, but not quite out in the farm country of NE. I checked on my first pumpkin yesterday, and it fell right off the vine. It was only about 2" around, I picked it up and it was rotten on one side. Could this have been from growing on the grass or maybe the high 100 degree temps we have been having for the past week?

Karen

7/22/2001 12:40:31 PM

Mid Michigan

I guess it could've been from that ( the ones i have gowing out of the patch, and on the grass haven't done that tho).....after i'm sure that the pollination took, i put about a 1 foot square piece of 1 inch thick syrofoam under my pumpkins......haven't had any rot, and fall off yet......except for the ones where the pollination was unsuccessful for whatever reason....altho they didn't exactly rot on one side, they just kinda sriveled up. I always try to keep about 3 feet of vine on either side of the pumpkins uncovered, and with no tap roots so there's a little play in the vine as the pumpkin grows too. I've been burying the rest of the vine ( even the parts growing out in the lawn) with black dirt/top soil......there are nice, big tap roots making it into the ground thru the grass too.
I went out to check on mine a little while ago, and all 4 plants were way droopy with heat stress ( it's 92 degrees here right now).....so i started misting, and they all perked right back up. I guess i dont know ebough about it yet to tell you for sure why that pumpkin rotted.....hopefully you'll be able to get a few more pollinated soon, eh?
Cuzbiker

7/22/2001 4:55:47 PM

Omaha, NE

I just posted two pictures to the gallery. One of my small pumpkin patch growing out into the grass, and the other of what I hope to be a pollinated pumpkin. I have been leaving the pollination up to the bees though. The weatherman said the heat is suppose to be dropping in to the 80 in the next few days. The temp has been in the high 90s, low 100s, but heat index has been up past 110 for the past 6 days. I have been misting and watering the pumpkins yesterday adn today around 2 or 3pm. But I can't water them until I get home the rest of the week.

Karen

Karen

7/22/2001 5:28:33 PM