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Iowa

here's my question....if you remove a pumpkin from the vine and take it out of the weather, sun, wind ect...do we know for fact this fruit would lose more weight over a week or two than a fruit that was left connected to the vine after the growth has stopped?here's my take.....i'm thinking you might lose more weight sitting in the patch if we can assume we are getting nothing from the vine, so i guess my thought is sitting in the garage on the cool floor out of the elements you may get less evaporation.
has anyone ever weighted a pumpkin (on the vine) after the growth has stopped and returned a couple of weeks later to weigh it again.
i guess the real question is....after the pumpkin has stopped growing do we know for fact there is any benefit to leaving it on the vine....how do we minimize our weight loss from the time it finished growing untill its time for the scale?
do we know its best to leave it on or do we think its best?
marc

9/13/2004 1:45:41 PM

No Place Special

Marc, Dont know the answer to your real question but I wouldn't set it directly on the concrete floor of the garage. I think the concrete might try to absorb moisture from it??? Atleast set it on a skid. Are you guys considering taking one of your other pumpkins off the vine or trying to figure how to best keep the "Boulder"? Good Luck!

9/13/2004 3:33:37 PM

Iowa

no, i dont think we will be experimenting with the remaing pumpkins......i just didnt know if there was any proof that leaving them on the vine was the best option. i'm just wondering if once the juices stop flowing....thats it, no more benefit to be had....remove the pumpkin! find a cool dry place to store then.

marc


!

9/13/2004 5:42:23 PM

Azores,terceira Island

I have heard that even when growth stops that nutrients still flow thru the fruit, but i dont know for sure....ryan

9/13/2004 5:56:01 PM

Rhode Island

petey
never cut off the pumpkin untill you are ready to go to the scale
pumpkins are a living thing and will start the dehydration process as soon as it is seperated from the vine
thats why fruit weighed from one week to the next will loose between 4 and 6 lbs
if you must cut the pumpkin then yes store it on a padded skid and keep a moist sheet on it for several hrs a day to keep moisture from evaporating
a good coat of wiltproof between weighoffs will also hold in moisture ( you can wash it off before it is weighed if you need to )

9/13/2004 8:49:35 PM

Iowa

yeah...i know everybody say's leave it on....but what i'm saying is do we know that dehydration process dosent start as soon as the pumpkin stops growing....the only way we would know for sure is to weigh one on the vine after its stop growing go back and weigh it one or two weeks later on the vine. do we know it holds its weight or do we think it holds its weight while attached?

9/13/2004 9:20:02 PM

New Brunswick

Yeah...great question. Soooo....just how much weight would a say 300 pound pumpkin weigh one month after cutting from the vine??? I entered a couple in a Provincial exhibition. They placed fith and sixth (out of six) LOL. They weighed slightly more than the two remaining in our garden do now. So am wondering just how much weight they usually lose after being cut? I plan on entering a couple in our local fair weighoff, and wonder if I should go with the ones still on the vine. (I stand a better chance in our local fair).....I think....*grin*

9/13/2004 9:42:43 PM

Wv

Mine also hasnt shown growth in 2 weeks and i was wondering the same thing.

9/13/2004 9:52:58 PM

[email protected]

If the vines vascular system is intact, then the chance of additional weight gain is real even if the outer dimensions aren't increasing. But for sure, as soon as the fruit is cut from the vine, it's weight goes down by the hour. This is very well documented. If it has to be seperated from the vine, then shrink wrap, water jugs, & cool damp sun free storage are the only means of reducing moisture loss.

9/13/2004 10:13:10 PM

Sequim, WA

I have had measurable gains in past years when frost killed all the leaves on the plant two weeks before the contest. Granted they were small, but the roots continue to pump up juice until there's nothing left to push it through. As long as you can protect your fruit from varmints I would leave it on. Even if you aren't measuring any growth, as long as it isn't rotting, it shouldn't be losing anything.

9/14/2004 12:38:39 AM