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Springfield, MO

Brain-storming about sag lines (aka Dill rings)... My impression is that they seem to occur as the pumpkin grows longer in a fruit without a sufficiently curved arch along its longitudinal axis to adequately support the weight of its own "roof". If that is true, then could one drive a couple of posts in the ground at the blossom end and attach a board between them to prevent the elongation of the pumpkin toward the blossom end...in essence, creating a buttress to not only help support the roof, but perhaps even enhance the curvature of that longitudinal arch.

Somebody with an architectural back-ground chime in on this :-)

OK, now shoot me down!
Chris

8/28/2004 1:51:59 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

OK...try that next year and let us know.

8/29/2004 6:49:48 AM

An additional support board would probably be necessary at the front end to prevent the pumpkin from pushing itself forward toward the stem end as it elongated. Board would need to be probably 2 inches thick, and posts driven deeply to withstand the pressure.

Just a brain storm...Chris

8/30/2004 7:26:48 PM

Given a choice, I'd rather choose a seedstock that doesn't produce pumpkins with sag lines in the first place!

9/2/2004 3:08:12 PM

Sequim, WA

That board idea may work Chris.....Then again it may produce other stresses on the fruit causing other undesireable results. I have also thought that using a tie down strap around the circumference of the fruit may bolster it a bit as well. The wider the better. I don't have any pumpkins that are doing that this year though so I have no way to test these theories. I have noticed that once they have some size to them though I can measure some considerable circumfernce gains without any corresponding gain in length or width. I'm not sure how that happens but the numbers are there in my notebook. I would love to see one grow through the season in time lapse photography like the old Disney shows used to show the blooming of a flower. I could give us a better understanding of what the fruit are doing as they grow. I also think that some of these internal crack occur inside the fruit long before any evidence appears on the outside so you would have to make some sort of prediction as to which ones this could occur with base on the shape of the growing fruit.

9/2/2004 4:29:15 PM

C N Y

well put, Chris M.
it would be neat to see how a pumpkin would grow if forced to do so between two walls of, let's say, concrete.
out would pop a bagel. yeah, i know, good luck with that! eg

9/2/2004 5:06:32 PM