Interesting pumpkin dilemma

[jasonvanorder]

This year my son wanted to grow some pumpkins from seeds he saved last fall. Made room in the garden for him and he planted 3 hills. 1 hill didnt make it but the other two took off like crazy. Little did I know my wife planted some sunflowers right next to his pumpkins. No big deal. Well now the sunflowers are pushing 10 feet tall and the pumpkins are climbing those nice sturdy stalks like no tomorrow. Noticed last night that we now have pumpkins forming between 6-8 feet off the ground. So now I have 3 options. The first is to just leave everything alone and what happens happens. The second is to ruffle the wifes feathers and cut the sunflowers to get the pumpkins back on the ground. Or number 3 cut the pumpkin vine to spare the sunflowers and break my sons heart. Right now I'm leaning towards option 1 and letting nature take its course that way I cant get blamed for it. Hopefully

[applestar]

How big will the pumpkin fruits get?

I could picture building a tripod or quadpod teepee that come together just above the fruits and hanging slings for them from the top -- kind of like hanging campfire cauldron-pots. You can tie the sunflower stalk to the teepee too to give them a little extra support. Considering the height, you'll probably need cross-braces.

Good sling materials for bigger fruits are cut open nylon mesh onion bags or something like a fish net. You need to secure the sling so the Weight of the fruit won't pull down and kink or break the VINE. The sling should cradle the fruit so it won't roll and size and hanging distance need to be adjusted as the fruits grow and weigh more.

Some people make big-weave net out of pantyhose by tying bunched cut off legs together - macrame-style. They will expand as the fruits grow but are more prone to sagging.

Another option might be to securely position two step ladders with a shelf between them (kind of like saw horses) to rest the fruits on.

[!potatoes!]

pie pumpkins or big jack-o-lantern ones?

support for the sunflowers directly could help, supplemental to pumpkin-cradles. heavy duty stakes, etc. I'd vote for the 4th option of letting nature take its course, while actively trying to help avoid everything coming crashing down.

[jasonvanorder]

The seeds that we saved came from pumpkins that normally produced 50-100 pound fruits year after year. The farm we got them only plants about every 2-3 years and what doesnt sell each year just gets left in the field to grow next season. So I'm not too sure how I'm going to support a 100 pounder 7 feet up in the air. Plus its a huge safety factor. I think once they really start growing I'm going to let gravity take over and what happens to the flowers happens.

[KitchenGardener]

How far along are the sunflowers? If they are already that tall, are they close to blooming? If so, you might make it time-wise if you do nothing and let nature take its course - that is, unless your wife wants to keep the sunflowers intact on their stalks once they've bloomed? I'm thinking if they will bloom soon, let the pumpkins continue to grow, let the sunflowers bloom and then gently bring the pumpkins back down to earth by cutting the sunflower stalks...

[jasonvanorder]

How far along are the sunflowers? If they are already that tall, are they close to blooming? If so, you might make it time-wise if you do nothing and let nature take its course - that is, unless your wife wants to keep the sunflowers intact on their stalks once they've bloomed? I'm thinking if they will bloom soon, let the pumpkins continue to grow, let the sunflowers bloom and then gently bring the pumpkins back down to earth by cutting the sunflower stalks...

I think they have a while before blooming yet. Most from what don't have blooms on them yet. I plan on just letting them slowly come down as they grow.

[jal_ut]

Just carefully take the vines off the stalks and lay them on the ground.

[jasonvanorder]

We have casualties! For the record my wife is 5'9