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Germany

It´s that time of year when most of the growers have their babies already set or are about the final pollinations. Around pollination time (maybe a couple days later, when the vine has become a bit more flexible) it is time to create an S-curve! You can find some nice examples here:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=222269

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=202290

Far too often (in my opinion) I see pics where the vine is running in a straight line and is already strained as a guitar string in the first days of the baby pumpkin´s life. Now imagine what happens as your pumpkin grows: The fruit will grow in ALL directions, by about 2 ft or more. The fruit wants to push back the vine (by 2 ft or more). YOU need to make this possible by creating an S-curve as soon as the vine is long and flexible enough to do so, and as long as the vine isn´t too long (with too many secondaries emerging from the vine beyond the fruit it will be hard to move the vine).

Also, some growers bend the vine around the pumpkin. NO! You have no idea how fat your pumpkin will become. In some cases the fruit will grow over the vine, in some cases the fruit will just press its walls agains the vine. Both are less favorable things you won´t want to see happen in your patch. Think BIG! Allow enough freedom around the pumpkin.

- Bend the vine towards the fruit (thus moving the fruit out of the extrapolated straight line of the vine by about 1.5 or 2 ft or maybe more if you like.
- At the position of the fruit you bend the vine in the opposite direction.
- After another 2 or 3 ft you can either (1) let the vine continue in this direction, or (2) you bend it back into the initial direction of the extrapolated idealized straight line of the vine, or (3) you let the vine surround the pumpkin, but in the latter case you really need to think BIG, the vine should run around the fruit in a circle of a diameter of at least 6 ft.

7/15/2014 5:40:35 AM

Germany

Another helpful link to S-curve things is that one here:

http://how2growags.blogspot.de/p/blog-page_20.html#_Creating_the_%E2%80%9CS%E2%80%9D

7/15/2014 5:44:26 AM

Germany

The above link contains a link to that pic:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=136019

It clearly shows that the stem of the fruit is still at about the same angle to the vine as it had been from the very beginning. No need to worry about fruit stems being at a 20 deg. angle to the vine. No need to try to move the fruit towards a 90 deg. angle to the vine (which will most likely cause damage to the stem, sometimes the fruit will simply snap off the vine). If you create an S-curve in a proper manner, the fruit will automatically be positioned in a close to 90 deg. angle to the vine system in its back. That really makes life easier. Yours as it reduces the number of sleepless nights, and the pumpkins´ as it helps to keep the stem and vine system free of unnecessary strain.

7/15/2014 5:49:44 AM

Farming- a bunch of catastrophies that result in a lifestyle

Thanks for taking the time to post all this on S curves Pumpking!! That took a bit of doing!
To other new growers- pay attention to this, it's not fun trying to fix it afterwards!!!

7/15/2014 6:32:35 AM

Upa Creek, MO

Thanks Jorg

7/15/2014 7:32:42 AM

Springfield, VT

One item you should mention, if you can move the fruit the vine still can still have a curve put into it. An older vine is tougher and less likely to break, you just have to dig up any node roots and take you time.

7/15/2014 9:03:31 AM

Lodi, California

My vine curve is not as pronounced as those shown in the pictures listed, but at least it is not in a straight line parallel to the pumpkin. A small skin crack showed up on the intersection between the stem and the vine, so I decided to leave it be before I end up ripping my only pumpkin off of it's vine. But thank you for the post, it is very helpful.

7/15/2014 12:17:42 PM

Germany

Wanted to add this pic as well, with a sketch which demonstrates the way the S-curve behaves during the growth of the pumpkin. Just had to wait for the pic to appear in my diary, and now here´s the link:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=222614

7/15/2014 1:48:39 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

I am barely past the rookie stage but I would add this: you can create the S curve, or any vine movement, gradually over the course of a few days. Also, warm weather is better than cold for re-directing the vine. It will greatly limit splits or breaks!!

7/15/2014 3:24:24 PM

Colorado

Put that " don young " curve in the vine- you'll be glad you did. Let the main get about 6 ft past the chosen pumpkin and you can do it all in two days. Don does his in 30 seconds-I'm not that brave lol

7/15/2014 3:50:27 PM

Germany

Oh well, there´s probably much much more to write about this topic, and we definitely should do this. Especially in such a thread, where every interested grower could read the load of info under the right search topic.
Warm weather is definitely a must for good flexibility of the vine (shame on me for I forgot to mention it), and also important seems to be the fact that S-curves work much better with already thin and flexible vines, whereas the water-loaded thick vines, which try to reach for the sky and which already seem to break as they want to touch down (in many cases this is a sign of excessive nitrogen), are the more tricky ones to be shaped into an S-curve.

7/15/2014 4:01:38 PM

s curves are fine. but I like to take it to next level to me its easy to do. I do it all at once many examples thru my diarie over the years and yes you learn about nitrogen as a bonus by feel of vine

7/15/2014 4:13:26 PM

Germany

Absolutely, Don Young has some nice examples of S-curves in his diaries, like that one here:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=160244

And here´s a nice example from Chris Stevens (his WR fruit from 2010), which shows some important things at the same time (how the fruit moves the curved vine as it grows, and that a big fruit can also grow on a healthy plant with rather thin vines:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=147891

7/15/2014 4:31:41 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Soft and squishy compared to rock hard and solid Don?

7/15/2014 6:03:03 PM

Germany

Yesterday I did the S-curving with my 854 Frei plant, and I have taken some pics from different angles.
Agree with cojoe and Don Young, a 6 ft vine is pretty flexible and such an S-curve can be done easily on a warm afternoon.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=222751
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=222752
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=222753
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=222755

7/17/2014 1:07:45 AM

Tasmania Australia

Some good information there Jorg as always.
Always helps us new comers with information before the time comes where we could get into trouble.
keep up the good work.
Appreciated.

7/17/2014 2:01:11 AM

Mission Viejo, CA

Jorg thanks for the great tutorial. Much appreciated!

7/17/2014 11:49:24 AM