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milford, CT,

The other night we recieved 3 inches of rain and my pumpkins really took off. That's the good thing...the Bad thing is they all developed minor stem splits ranging from the middle of the stem to up against the pumpkin. Is this going to be a big problem or is this normal and they usually heal? I loosened the vines to reduce stem stress by cutting some tap roots and proping up the vines. Anything else I should be doing?

7/20/2006 10:36:30 AM

Eau Claire, WI

I culled a pumpkin on one of my plants this week with a big stem split (luckily there was another one on the main vine that was growing faster). The stem split was about 1" long and about 1/4" wide and went right up to the pumpkin. After I cut it off, I cut the pumpkin apart to examine it and the stem split didn't extend at all into the fruit. The fruit had a thick wall adjacent to the stem split. I was glad I had another option but I doubt it would have been a problem later.

You never know, but I suspect your "minor splits" will be fine.

7/20/2006 1:22:22 PM