My big Long Island Cheese pumpkin stem broke, but not all the way off. It was growing half way up on my fence and, as the weight increased, it sunk lower. (I should have given it a support, but forgot.) Finally, the weight pulled the pumpkin all the way to the ground, but the vine couldn’t stretch quite that far. It has partially broken. I don’t dare touch it. It seems to me there may be enough intact stem for it to ripen. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Its a nice big pumpkin and very early in the season. Even if it doesn’t make it, there is still plenty of time for others to set and ripen.
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I would leave it alone too. I've seen lots of things ripen with broken stems, and sometimes the stem even heals itself!
I grew some Cornichons (cocktail gherkins) this year one of those got accidentally snapped over and it is still growing and setting flower so…as Rachel said perhaps they can heal themselves.
Marian (LondonUK)
Duct tape….no kidding. One of my large tomato stems broke about 1/2 way through while I was planting it. I put it back together with duct tape and all was well. I am enjoying wonderful tomatoes.
Great! I like the duct tape idea. But I'm afraid to touch it.
Last year I had one pumpkin snap off in August. I just kept it on a shady step and hoped for the best. It lasted as a fine decoration until Christmas.