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Bemidji Minnesota

When cutting the main vine for a “Pitchfork Pattern”?

I saw this in another post…Had a few questions about it, as I have not tried it yet, but it may help me this year.

Pap, at what point in the growth of the fruit do you make the descision, and cut the vine after the fruit?

DO you wait until it is basketball size or so, or as soon as you know for sure you got a set fruit growing?

Also, do you cut the vine in one cut, or do you cut half one day and half the next like when you cull a fruit?

Can this cause fruit to abort?

5/30/2009 10:58:59 AM

Buffalo, New York

some people let the main vine grow all season long til october.

i will cut mine when they reach the end of the patch, about the 20' mark.

5/30/2009 6:10:02 PM

Rhode Island

meathead ( i love the handle )

be sure to wait long enough that you can be reasonably assured the fruit is not a dud. last year i culled for the pitchfork when the pumpkin was around 50 pounds and i got ------.
this year any plants i go pitchfork on ill wait and choose at 100 + pounds.

i use all the same criteria whne picking for a pitch fork as i would for any other growing style. the best shaped,most productive of the pollinated fruit stays. the others go.

if you do plan on trying this method pls keep in mind that until you know which pumpkin you will keep you need to allow some third stage growth off those sets of secondaries just before each pumpkin on the main.

you will know within a week or so which pumpkin you want to roll the dice with so no need to worry about pruning the third stage growth as mentioned above.

you can really let your immagination go wild with a lot of different patterns off that last set of secondary vines if you prefer however,the bottom line is and always will be the size of the results

no matter how hard you try or how well you position the main it usually will get in the way if you get a biggin on the hook. the pitchfork is worth a try, especially for newer growers who have problems managing stem stress.

good idea to cut half the main one day and the rest the next.--good question

5/31/2009 7:22:14 AM

Bemidji Minnesota

Thanks Pap!

If all else goes right that is what I will do this year. What I like best about it is not have to move the fruit so much early on, and less stem stress.

Trying to get her perpendicular to the vine can always be risky, I think even the best get that nervous feeling. This way, if she is growing parallel to the vine, we don’t have to worry about moving her, we just remove the rest of the vine, and allow 2 secondaries to grow more. Ingenious.

5/31/2009 11:50:57 AM