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Nottingham, UK

Hi All, I have a split on the stem of my pumpkin which has thankfully not reached the pumpkin although it might. Its getting bigger as the pumpkin grows. Is there anything I should do and what are the chances of it making it through the season based on the just the split. Here are links to the pictures; day 1 and day 3 of the split.
Its my only pumpkin having remnoved the rest and all the other flowers. It grew an 1" a day until day 19 and then 2" thereafter and measures 35" on day 25. Its on the third secondary vine.

Thanks

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=165598

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=165599

8/2/2011 6:19:06 AM

Cincinnati,OH

Paint it up with some daconil and keep it dry.

8/2/2011 6:01:33 PM

Sourthern Utah

if it keeps growing .. maybe split it on the oppisite side to releave pressure .. and do what ron says and keep it dry..

8/2/2011 6:04:04 PM

Lancashire, UK

Hey Dandytown,

I have the same thing on my kin this year which formed early on. It's dried up nicely now though so not worried about it. I put it down to watering.

BTW, have you got plenty of slack on the vine?

8/2/2011 7:31:05 PM

Germany

Hi, I´ve had something similar earlier this year. There´s an entry in my diary (of July 11th) which shows a bad stem split. Anyway, I´ve kept that pumpkin (at the 924 Wittmann) and it still grows nicely (it is my biggest pumpkin so far) and the split did dry up and hasn´t reached fruit or vine yet. Just try to keep the stem dry. Good luck!

8/3/2011 2:26:52 AM

Nottingham, UK

Thanks everyone.

Pumpking: it was good to see you had an identical problem. I have been keeping it dry to date and I guess it may just be one of those things that stresses us and turns out to be okay afterall. By the way, how on earth do you manage 5 plants? Nice plot!

SMT: Yes I have lots of slack on the vine especially since I terminated the vine at the pumpkin. The vine is resting on an icecream tub about on the second node before the pumpkin and their is plent of room for movement before it lifts off of the tub.

8/3/2011 4:08:07 AM

Germany

To be honest, it´s something like six plants on my patch, but one of them made some troubles and therefore I allowed some of the others to occupy additional area. How do I manage these five big babies? First of all, I spent a couple of hours this winter with pen, ruler and paper, in order to figure out the best strategy how to grow six plants on that patch. Patch size was sufficient for 400 sqft per plant, but it makes a difference if you want to grow them long or wide or on a square, and I decided that they had to set a fruit somewhere between 13 and 17 ft. I´ve added some additional length in my plan, but not too much, as I did not want to keep too much spare room for the main (actually, I terminated them in order to have less strain on the stems), I preferred to fill the additional area with secondaries. Since I started last year with seven plants, but soil was much better this year (and I´m at least two weeks ahead because of an early start), I noticed that 400 sqft might still be too little room for these monster plants. A patch full of leaves and no place to go might be ok for end of August, but not for mid July. Next year I will try to go with four of them. Anyway, how did it work this year?: I´ve put alot of grass clippings on the patch, this mulch layer was great help to fight weeds. Otherwise, I did not care too much about weeds, I tilled the mulch in before the plant reached that particular area (always had a rim of tilled soild around my plants, about 3 ft wide...I always had to be ahead of the root system which reached that area quite quickly), and as soon as it was shaded by the leaves the weeds had no chance (almost).

8/3/2011 6:14:56 AM

Germany

Time saver #2 was to bury the vines quite early. I had taken care to let the male flowers and secondaries become long enough to survive, and then I buried the main. I also removed all teriaries off the secondaries as soon as I got hold of them, and buried the secondaries, leaving only 2 ft of them outside. This got the plants in a well ordered shape, without any troubles like being in need of entering the plant area again for removal of teriaries. Also, it kept the secondaries close to the ground, and made it easier to bury the next sections, as the vines had no chance to grow upward and make it hard to bend down. Time saver #3: We´ve had enough of rainy wether, I didn´t need to water the plants every day. Time saver #4: I still can sleep at night without having done an inspection of each leaf. I just have a look at the stump, the developing females and the overall good impression of the plants...and they did not indicate any troubles. This semi-shabby treatment of my plants allowed to manage 5 or 6 of them by spending about an hour per day on the patch (there were days with 2-3 hours, and days when I didn´t have to do anything).

8/3/2011 6:15:04 AM

Albert County, New Brunswick,CANADA

I had this problem before and if you look through the posts using search (tough sometimes) I found that the solution was to make a cross cut on the ends of the split with a razor knife at least on the end towards the pumpkin so that the split doesn't travel into the pumpkin itself, where the problem gets more complicated.If the split travels in that direction,you may want to consider this, for it would be better than the alternative. There must be lots of posts on this subject I'm sure.

8/3/2011 9:36:28 AM

Nottingham, UK

Pumpkin-eater, I took your advice today and made a cut at the pumpkin end, approx 5mm deep and maybe 1 cm long. I may have overdone it but time will tell.

The new problem is that both today is a very wet and humid day (probably just the right conditons for bacteria etc) and that the cut is now seeping water into the stem split.

Should I just let the new cut heal and dry up and then wash with 10% bleach solution and then dry it all thoroughly? Or should I wash with the solution right away?

Have built a new cover to keep the rain off. Pumpkin grew 4" cc overnight so its picked up a gear.

8/4/2011 9:41:54 AM

Nottingham, UK

Oh I forgot to mention that I have uploaded a picture of the cut to my diary. Should be on soon. Link at top of this page

8/4/2011 9:43:13 AM

Upa Creek, Mo

Keep a fan on it if you can.

8/4/2011 11:30:45 AM

Albert County, New Brunswick,CANADA

Yes a fan 24 hours if you are so devoted and I use captan but use a fungicide and don't be shy with it even tho its messy. Keep dry....then the pumpkin will decide if it will move on. You will have done your best.

8/4/2011 11:56:52 AM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

pumpkin-eater.....a cross cut?? Never heard of that!!

Stem surgery, slicing away from the fruit towards the vine juncture I have heard of and done myself, but have been told that a cross cut is simply a no-no!!

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=140865

8/4/2011 1:31:21 PM

Albert County, New Brunswick,CANADA

A 90 degree cut to the split is what I mean. I found the information from searching this board when I had a problem last year, and it looked just like the picture/link you posted.
Here is my last years pumpkin and I recall doing this,and although it is hard to see because it had healed over some, I did make a scalpel cut on the pumpkin end.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=143798

Hey,I'm not here to argue. People should do what makes sense to them.

8/4/2011 5:58:34 PM

Nottingham, UK

I did read in a post that by cutting along the vine would mean no loss of water. I did get a bit of water loss but I think has almost stopped in the evening. I am more reluctant to put another split in the otherside. Even if its the right thing to do it just doesnt feel right. Almost like self harm.
Will just have to wait and see what affect it has on growth. Must get back and measure just for my peace of mind.
As for a fan.....very funny. We have no electric as mine is growing on an allotment. So I may have to grab a magazine and wind it for as long as my wrist can hold out. Nah..don't think I'll be doing that! :]

8/5/2011 5:21:26 AM

Perry Iowa USA

Dandytown--I don't know what's available,but our patch has no water or electricity so I use a battery-operated Coleman tent fan.It costs $30-$40 plus 4 D batteries and will run around 36 hrs. if running continuously.

8/5/2011 7:25:49 PM