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Tasmania Australia

Hi, just looking for some advice on this if anyone can help me out.
On one of my plants, i have one shoulder of the pumpkin just starting to rub up against the main vine after the pumpkin,
The question is, will it effect the pumpkin growing rate much it i cut the main vine off just before it touches the pumpkin?

I have been slowly moving and bending the vine back every few days to try and keep it clear, but now the pumpkin has kind of just about caught up to it and can't really bend it back much more.
Just was a bad choice or fruit selection as it wasn't positioned ideally on the main when pollinating, but all up did look like a very good one to pollinate.

Just happy it wasn't other way around where it touches the main vine before it get to the pumpkin.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.
Cheers.
Peter.

2/2/2018 5:25:04 PM

Wisconsin

Can you post some pictures?

2/2/2018 5:37:07 PM

Plainville, Connecticut 06062

Peter how big is your fruit? You can get some help and move your fruit at a better angle away from the main stem? If you have buried the main past the fruit you can remove the dirt on the main be careful with the roots and move the vine back further away from the fruit and rebury the main vine being sure to water the main after you bury it. You can also take a piece of 12 inch 1/8 inch rebar or something similar and stake it in the ground about a foot or so behind the main where it is close to the fruit and tie a piece of sheet like material around the main to the rebar and tighten the sheet so you pull the main away from the fruit then tie it off. Make sure you do this on a sunny very warm day late in the afternoon when the plant is very pliable. If you do this in the cool morning you probably would snap the main! You can also move the main up or down to a better spot on the fruit that may give you an extra inch? I would not cut the main unless all else has failed and the main is so tight that it could snap at the stem of the pumpkin? The main vine past the fruit will feed back to the fruit and assist with putting on some pounds in the late part of the growing season. In the past several years I have been in your position on a few occasions with fruit and I left them tight against the fruit as there was nothing else I could do and in my opinion they did just fine to the end. Mother Nature sometimes has a way of taking care of matters such as this! GOOD LUCK.

2/2/2018 6:26:09 PM

stoughton WI

you may have to cut a few roots to move it away from the kin, but i would stick a small peice of styrofoam in between to keep it from rubbing on the kin first. move styrofoam every couple of days to keep from getting a rot spot. do this on a warm sunny day so vine will be a little more flexible.

2/2/2018 7:23:06 PM

Upa Creek, MO

I've snapped a stem off adjusting a vine before and it really sucks so be careful. Cut some tap roots on the main after the kin like Rick said and see if it moves. Get down in there and really evaluate the situation or the pressure it's putting on the stem (stem is #1 priority). Additional weight being gained due to the main after the kin won't matter if there is no stem. If you have multiple sound fruits... let it ride.

2/2/2018 7:43:11 PM

Grittyville, WA

Bend it farther or cut off as little as possible. But don’t stress the connection to the pumpkin when bending it farther. It would be better to have the vine break than the connection to the pumpkin!? I had one plant that bled for hours... I don’t know if there is some time of day/ product that would help it heal faster. I tried like cornstarch and finally gave up and just threw dirt on the cut... But then you also have to give your plant a pep talk and say, ‘Listen up you worthless weakling, you no good runt, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger...!”

2/2/2018 10:11:48 PM

Grittyville, WA

...he said ‘any’ advice so that means I am free to give bad advice :)

2/2/2018 10:18:52 PM

Tasmania Australia

Thanks for the replies,
Forgot to add photos on what i was talking about, here are a few:
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=286190
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=286191
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=286192

As you can see, i have for some reason managed to get it pollinated and set all in the wrong position by a long way, not too sure what i was thinking at the time,

It isn't overly large as i was a month and a half late getting it in the soil due to very wet conditions here at the time.
Weight of it is estimated to be around 270 pounds, so not overly huge.
Not sure if i can actually move it now, but wasn't too sure what would happen if i removed the main after the pumpkin, weather it would just stop growing all together or greatly reduce the amount it is growing.
Will on be on the vine for around another 50 - 60 days.
Yes any advice is welcome.

2/2/2018 10:57:40 PM

Grittyville, WA

I’d say push it a couple inches toward the vine coming in and rotate a few inches counterclockwise. Do so carefully but you have tons of room as far as these things go. Just be aware any tension and move it in a way that does not increase the tension. From the pics it looks like turning the pumpkin an inch or two every day will solve the problem. I think u can make it with the main on still connected... good luck. On the other hand if you cut it it certainly won’t stop growing it may even continue to grow just as well as before. If you are getting intense sun my guess is the pumpkin will continue to grow well/ about the same.

2/2/2018 11:35:17 PM

Grittyville, WA

Keep us posted!

2/2/2018 11:37:36 PM

Tasmania Australia

Cheers, Thanks for advice,
Will give moving it a tad tomorrow around midday, and also the next few days for a week and see how i progress with it.
Very hot sunny days here, 75 -80 F, Gets plenty of shade as i have made up a rough 4 ft x 4 ft frame with shade cloth over top and half way down all sides.

2/3/2018 4:09:01 AM

Germany

A couple years ago, in one of your threads, I mentioned the S-curve.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=14&p=506968

Now, a couple of years later you probably found out how the S-curve works and you put them into the vine, I guess. From the pics I cannot tell whether there´s a proper S-curve or not, but if it is, then you shouldn´t have any troubles. You probably just need to remove the tap roots from the leaf nodes next to the fruit (one or two leaf nodes in both directions along the main vine) and then the pumpkin and stem should be able to lift the vine and bend it into the right direction without and greater troubles.

2/3/2018 5:11:58 AM

Tasmania Australia

Yes you are correct, you did mention to me about the S -curve and has been good advice,
The vine has the S-curve in it, just the fruit was not ideally positioned in the best position on the vine at the time, Ideally i guess the fruit should be sitting like a T from the main, mine was sort of at a 45 degree angle, It was a tad hard to get a good photo of it, just a bad mistake i made with this particular plant, something for me to remember next time, others are fine.

2/3/2018 5:44:36 PM