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Macomb County

In "Judge not, less ye be judged" or it takes one to know one manner, does everyone remember the calcium blanket fad? An example of why, if anyone spun their index finger next to their head towards me, I felt it only right to return the favor.
    By the same objective standard, what could have been a more screwball than to cut or terminate the main vine? Only a real Screwy Louie could have come-up with a real screwball idea like that. But Screwy Louie wasn't so screwy when it worked and now it's just an accepted part of the art, the genius of growing AG's.
    My screwball idea to crush pumpkin vines came from seeing the farmers at Blake's Orchid in Aramada, Michigan drive their tractors across their pumpkin fields to spray them.
I even called them to make sure I had seen right and they assured me that it didn't even slow down their plants. How this could be? Only to discover upon further research, it's routinely done on the branches of several plants to increase the size and weight of their fruit.
    Bigger and heavier fruit? Sounded just like what an AG pumpkin could use more of, so I looked around, shrugged my shoulders and crushed the main vine with the toe of my boot every 4 ft. And just like they said, I didn't experience so much as a drooping leaf and the main vine was fully healed by the next morning. And I hoped on it's way to putting-on 400 lbs. of extra pumpkin weight.
    Did my screwball idea fail? I don't know, all I do know is my pumpkins don't have to worry about stem stress and breaking baby pumpkins off as I try to inch them over the way once did. Because as a result, I know a vine plant is so hardy, I don't have wear kid gloves when I move them and reposition them like I once thought I had too.
    

1/7/2009 9:10:50 AM

Macomb County

Does putting copper rods in the ground to release more N into the soil during lightening storms sound too screwy? O.K., perhaps the grower who told me that starting every July 4th, Martians begin sending down beams that make pumpkins grow, is in a class by himself. However, if I owned a HAM radio, what would it hurt to send messages and request they aim their rays stronger at my patch than the Heavy Hitters'? The Heavy Hitters thought no one would uncover their real secret, eh? Their talk about good seed being just a smoke screen? (Smile!)
    To think too factually, which includes too scientifically, is to think too literally. The result can be "can't see the for forest for the trees" or is that "pumpkin for the vines"? The hidden or less obvious benefits to one's growing skill.

1/7/2009 9:11:04 AM

i like what i'm hearing from you giantjack. but that SNAPPING sound that comes from training a main vine too quickly is a sound I'll avoid if possible.

and if you don't like what you're reading people, please be constructive in your responses, we all win that way.

david

1/7/2009 1:09:51 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

I agree with you David, well said.
Caution should be used when training the plant, especially the pumpkin and the vine the pumpkin is on. If the vine or stem snaps, it can set you way back.

1/7/2009 1:28:52 PM

Midwest

Jack, I'm with you and enjoy reading about your experiences and info. I hope to take other people's ideas seriously and my own less seriously. I'm not ready to injure my plant yet. If I had room for 10 I would experiment with the idea. I guess i'll leave that up to the real men and women of this hobby.

1/7/2009 1:40:46 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Here we go again...

1/7/2009 2:13:50 PM

Knopp, Germany

who in the heck is gving you this advice GiantJack? You constantly say that this grower or that grower has told you this or that, but I want to see names...I can't wait to see that soemone of respect at this site (not me) says he/she advised you.

Or is this how Mr Van Kooten, Mr Jutras, Mr Young, Mr Stelts...and so forth did it?

I will give you one thing though, you have one heck of a way to post, you should right a book....not sure what you should call it though.

1/7/2009 2:31:26 PM

Billerica,Massachusetts

ahh yeah, i don't think i'll be crushing my vines anytime soon.

1/7/2009 4:27:19 PM

wow

1/7/2009 4:43:04 PM

Ohio

Someone punch me for reading this! lol

1/7/2009 4:53:56 PM

Southeast Texas

giantjack let me no how you got out of that straight jacket.

1/7/2009 5:22:35 PM

Cornelius, Oregon

Hmmmm...... In low enough doses, 2-4D can be used as a fertilizer.....No, really,,,, really.

Cutting all leaves off a plant 7 days prior to the weighoff helps stimulate a late push. Really. A frost will do the same thing if the whole canopy os lost, but the vines remain healthy.

A pumpkin can be rotated 180 degrees while still on the vine if it is bellying under to make it belly up. No, Really.

1/7/2009 5:41:27 PM

Ohio

Heck with smashing the vines with a toe of a boot, just go for it and smashed with the bucket of front end loader, the more smashed the better,,, really.

1/7/2009 6:22:42 PM

Columbus,ohio

I know people who have tried what may seem crazy but it worked...I saw the reselts for my self....I won't tell anyone because I will be called a nut job...I am going to avoid that

1/7/2009 6:25:30 PM

North Smithfield, RI

The last 3 star wars movies were very Silly !

1/7/2009 6:28:30 PM

Colorado

I'm waiting for some of the heavy hitters to come clean about this growing technique.Is anybody in the 1500 pound club going to step forward and confess they drove their tractor over their vines weekley?

1/7/2009 7:52:43 PM

Lloydminster/AB

Listen up newbies if you listen to this bozo You will grow fruit as big as his. LittleJack post your real name so we can check out your credentials. This guy is DISINFORMATION.

1/7/2009 8:53:44 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

CoJoe I dont have tractor....You need one too....I seen your vines...ItZ gonna hurt....

Olliee//..

1/7/2009 9:07:42 PM

ordinary,VA

1/7/2009 9:29:16 PM

ordinary,VA

I agree Lisa see post above

1/7/2009 9:29:30 PM

Western PA

Jack is right about new growing techniques that may be frowned upon now but may become the norm in a few years.

Now by no means am I agreeing that crushing vines is a good idea, I would think you would be asking for an increased chance of disease and rot to set in where the crushed area is located not to mention the plant would be using resources to heal the wound. But who knows………. By crushing the vine it could stimulate the plant to draw more nutrients out of the ground and through the crushed area in attempts to heal the wound and maybe it will send those extra nutrients down the line to the fruit…… I can’t speak for anybody else but I won’t be trying the vine crush method this year!!!

Jack your posts are creative and fun to read, they can also be very misleading to new or newer growers that are trying to obtain reliable and proven growing techniques.
You always seem to draw a lot of funny comments too.

Good new year to all

1/7/2009 11:03:34 PM

Vancouver Washington

It's like a collage art class- these posts just keep getting more esoteric and absurd. Usually entertaining for awhile - then you realize you have to see the body of work by this student.....and then the depressions sets in and you start looking at the clock...or towards spring in this case.

1/8/2009 12:20:30 AM

Gold Hill, Oregon

i just don't know what to believe anymore. lol
!!! lol!!!

help me!!! help me!!!

1/8/2009 5:35:59 AM

Ohio

Jack is on the Ripley's believe it or not growing techniques of how to grow pumpkins, and as you can see some growers are thinking about trying it!,,lol. Don't waste a good plant/seed on these absurd observations, the guy just posts to annoy people, as you can see by all his other posts he will never reply to a post he started, instead he will just clog the boards with new post that make no sense at all. The guy knows nothing about pumpkin growing, so newbies, please dont listen to this guy.

1/8/2009 5:44:29 AM

Minnesota

two blondes living in oklahoma were sitting on a bench talking.....and one blond says to the other, "which do you think is farther away......Florida or the moon?" The other blond turns and says "Hellooooooooo, can you see Florida...?????

1/8/2009 8:25:26 AM

fog,,do you have a brother in Eastpointe, Mi ?

1/8/2009 9:02:13 AM

Minnesota

Let me guess, you don't like blond jokes,,don't let me stop yuh, read more about running over your pumpkin with a tractor will promote growth. Your not mad at us Minnesotans because the Vikings won the Division title are you..The Pack was I think last place.

1/8/2009 9:24:57 AM

bliss,n.y.- heart of Wyoming County

Maybe crop circles are the best place to plant pumpkins? lol

1/8/2009 10:01:51 AM

Ohio

lol!!!!!!!!

1/8/2009 12:07:33 PM

Ohio

The Vikings?,,,, what does that have to do with vine smashing, and you being Jacks Brother?,,LOL!

1/8/2009 12:12:47 PM

Columbus,ohio

Hold up....yes ....it is probly not the best idea to run over your vines with a tracter.....But how do you know it dosn't work....Have any of you tried it....I f I had extra plants I would be tryong crazy ideas out the wazu....Ufortunitly I only have enough room for one plant and I won't experimant with anything that could harm the plant. I would like to see someone try it first them we can trash giantjack for his tested ideas.

1/8/2009 4:17:22 PM

Walton N.y.

damn it bill i told you not to tell our growing secrets !!!! now everyone will want to have aliens come and put crop circles by their patches and with mulder and scully out of the fbi and the lone gunmen dead who'll save us now

1/8/2009 6:38:01 PM

LMAO randy !

1/8/2009 6:57:51 PM

[email protected]

1/8/2009 7:15:14 PM

Eastern Washington State

What about foliar applications of birth control pills for maximum weight gain. Also try to get the plants to quit smoking. Right before weighoff, apply extra salty potato chips for maximum water retention. Make fun of me all you wish, but these techniques have been proven to work, at least with humans anyway.

1/8/2009 8:46:44 PM

nOVA sCOTIA

Winter Rye circles. Now were talking. lol

1/8/2009 11:51:20 PM

bliss,n.y.- heart of Wyoming County

Randy-
Just don't let them know they have to be the grey aliens with 5 tentacles.. they empty their ships poo tank in the crop circles.. It has that wonderful green glow after sunset.. lol...

1/9/2009 8:03:32 AM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Do center-pivot irrigation circles count?

1/9/2009 8:20:55 AM

Colorado Springs, Co ([email protected])

well, i dont know about crushing vines, but, i think the toilet paper trick would have to work. you take toilet paper and rub the pumpkin with it twice per day. It has to work because my wifes butt has gotten huge over the past few yrs.

1/9/2009 1:32:08 PM

hah!!!
thanks, (Will) and Richard B.
now i have TWO jokes to tell my coworker on Monday!

truth be told, i'll bet that Nature designed the pumpkin vine just like it is so that the plant will survive
just such an event. probably only ONCE, lol,
but how often could it happen in a natural environment?
once the vine were to be flattened-out, its ability
to BE crushed diminishes dramatically, whereas the next time it gets stepped-on or whatever, it is similar to
two computer ribbon cables on top of each other;
not much can be done to it without a tremendous increase in force. anyway, i suppose this could 'draw attention'
to the injury from the plant and possibly bring-on a
fight-or-flight response of more pronounced growth, similar to that initiated by
pruning of the plant in a 'regular' regimen. EG

1/11/2009 12:05:48 AM