Support for Hanging Squash

silvertipgrizz
silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited October 2020 in Vegetables

Early spring I noticed, while still quite cool here in zone 7b, a plant, and robust at that. As the weeks passed I realized though slow growing in the cool early spring weather it sure looked like a squash. And even later up to about 3 weeks ago it's beautiful leaves and small 'squash' reassured me it was a squash plant and I was so excited to have a vigorous beautiful plant so early...

I finally realized not long after that, that the beautiful squash was not a squash....but a rather large round thing that would not stop growing....yes, it is a pumpkin..

Something had to be done quickly before it broke from it's stem so I did the only thing I could do at the time to secure it and I am not satisfied with my solution...planned to be temporary until I could figure out a better way.

I used a flour sack kitchen towel and it works but it covers the entire pumpkin so I can't watch it change colors when it does finally start to ripen...still getting much bigger..poss about 8 pounds already.

Would it be safe for the pumpkin..so as not to cut into it's soft skin, to weave a 'basket' or 'net' to stabalize it to full growth or would it cut into the skin and ruin it?

I am open to all ideas. And grateful for your time if you have any ideas.

Comments

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭

    The net idea sounds like a winner. I just saw some pumpkin hammocks and they looked very sturdy. I'll have to remember it because we also have a mystery vine which just may turn out to be pumpkin.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I have seen people use old nylons or panty hose to hold up melons when doing vertical gardening. Different sizes for differing produce?

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    What a fun problem to have! I feel like I've heard of people using nylons for this sort of thing, but it does seem like you'd have to use a few to really hold up to the weight.... I also wonder about making something out a laundry bag or nut-milk bag -- just something sturdy that would also be see-through.... Hmmm. Well, please keep us posted on what you decide to do!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Merin Porter

    @frogvalley

    @torey

    I found pictures of pumpkin hammocks so I think I"ll try that tomorrow.

    as an aside...I just noticed today another one on the other side...if I had even suspected this was a pumpkin I might have trained them another direction so I could at least reach them to secure them..

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭

    the plastic netting bags that onions come in work just fine. That's what my mom uses; it hasn't damaged the skin yet.

    I should send you all the picture of the stealth squash that attacked me.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @blevinandwomba Please do send the pictures.

    How many bags would it take to hold what is looking like it is going to be at least 12 pounds..and still growing?

  • erikawinterton
    erikawinterton Posts: 98 ✭✭✭

    So exciting! I love pumpkins. I hope you keep it safe!

  • naomi.kohlmeier
    naomi.kohlmeier Posts: 380 ✭✭✭
    edited July 2020

    The things we do for our produce! 😉 I agree with using old nylons. Another thing that might work is one of those triangular nets that are put up in the corners of children's rooms to hold toys.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @erikawinterton

    @naomi.kohlmeier

    I'm working on an idea and will let you know soon how I resolve it.... I noticed this am that one corner of my make shift support had slipped a bit. It is a beautiful pumpkin and I think I have figured out what it is and how it came to be where it is..if I am correct I am going to have a very beautiful pumpkin and one that is awesome for pies...and roasted seeds.

    Thank you both for your ideas!

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz We've always just used one bag, but maybe we never had a squash as big as yours.

    I just tried to post pictures of the attack squash but I got a message saying I was blocked out of the network and had to reopen in a new window. I will try again later.

  • Cornelius
    Cornelius Posts: 872 ✭✭✭✭

    I have either zucchini or pumpkin growing in my garden right now. I saw a few flowers but either deer, bunnies, or a ground hog ate them. I even have a small fence around my garden. I feel like they are just being spiteful now.

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭

    Just out of curiosity, what would happen if it was just left to hang? I remember seeing some hanging produce on Gardeners World. They got very long.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @frogvalley I have been watching it close as I noticed it kept growing and is a pumpkin and not a squash...It is quite heavy. I"m guessing around 12 pounds and it is above my head so it was not easy redoing the 'hammock'....it is so pretty, and I think I know poss one of 2 species, but it looks like a cheese wheel, still green and still growing...and lo and behold, there popped up another one about a week ago and it is growing fast and already the size of a softball so I will be placing another hammock soon.

    To nice a species to risk it dropping from its own weight as it would just explode all over the ground and be lost as edible I fear...

  • Sheila
    Sheila Posts: 108 ✭✭✭

    I have successfully used pantyhose to support everything from cantaloupe to watermelon. I take a pair of pantyhose and drop the melon (or pumpkin in this case) into the waistband and pull it about 2/3 of the way over the melon. Then tie the legs of the pantyhose to the trellis or fence, like a sling. I have successfully supported a 16 lb watermelon this way.

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭

    Well, I figured out why I couldn't post the picture before. Here's a squash in a onion bag with yarn to reinforce.

    Then, here is the attack squash. This is when it was still young and innocent and hadn't yet learned about sneak attacks.

    Later it learned to camouflage itself, so it could thump me in the head when I went through the gate.

    See? A very cunning disguise. (Actually, I really did smack my head on it hard, but I did from the side where it was in plain view. But that is an irrelevant detail. It was still being sneaky, hiding in plain sight.)

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Sheila thanks for the very clear instructions... I now have a second 'squash' that is a pumpkin on the same vine..growing fast..the first one is already turning orange..or brown not sure which it will be yet. I'm going to use your method on the new one that now is bigger than the palm of my hand and growing fast..thanks again!!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @blevinandwomba Your structures are interesting..thanks for the pictures. I would like to know how you built the short a frame covered with wire if you have the time and inclination to describe. The reason..a youtuber couple I watch took pallets and built some that looks like yours and I can't find the vid where he showed interested watchers how they put them together and my interest in them is that I can make them without pallets but with the general idea cheaper with scrap wood I already have...for my late summer crops of peas and beans...

    Your pictures are interesting and the squash is pretty.

  • Bryce Langebartels
    Bryce Langebartels Posts: 47 ✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz Thanks for this feed! I have watermelon and cantaloupe that are growing on trellises and hadn't decided yet how to support them. Now I have some good ideas and I think I'm going to start with the pantyhose method. I'd love to make some nets for them eventually, but don't have time for that this year.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This is what my pumpkin is, at least I am pretty sure because the leaves are exactly what mine look like, and the pumpkin at present looks just like this one:

    ok it does not look like this one except the shape. It looks like the one right below this line. It is very pretty and quite heavy.

    @Bryce Langebartels I have a second one growing on another cattle pannel..same vine that is how much this plant has sprawled. It is about 5 pounds and 2 days ago I did the panty hose thing...I enclosed the pumpkin in the 'panty' part and tied it up just below the waist band..then I took each leg and tied in oposing angles to the pannel over head the pumpkin...The plant is being eaten up by squash bugs but only a few of the stalkes/leaves have died and both pumpkins look great, wtih the smaller one still growing and the big one just waiting to finish ripening so it can tell the stalk it's ready to pick... have fun with yours.

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. My dad built the A-frame out of two-by-fours. The pictures below will help, hopefully.

    That's a heavy plastic netting attached to it. It's actually starting to fall apart, but we've gotten a lot of use out of it.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2020

    @blevinandwomba Thank you!! This is going to help loads...and I"m getting ready to build them and hopefully get them planted before Friday. Thank you so much!

    Way better than using pallet wood..