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Syracuse, NY

"We have never considered the pressure within
a pumpkin...nor the vacuum. eg"
Well, that was last year, lol.
Please search
pressure within
and fully read each of the 7 or so posts; we know you're bored, lol---
I've only just begun 'researching' this on Google and such,
but to think briefly about it, we might say '...blew out the blossom end yesterday' which would imply exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe it is also '...blew IN the blossom end yesterday'; Perhaps these combined, pending occurrences on a day-to-day basis just might have something to do with it.
As you know, pumpkins are very susceptible to 'flesh-flexing' and breakage from what ice or glass would also break from. I think it'd be very cool to have a means or device that could be inserted into a pumpkin, yes, sacrificing it from competition, perhaps, to monitor its internal pressures, season-long. We do everything else and it'd be really neat-o.
No pressure. Lol---eric g

9/8/2025 8:18:26 AM

Nova Scotia

Yes big time! You always see many with big internal cracks inside when seeding the giants. Always reminds me of mini earthquakes thus pressure I guess? Good observation.

9/8/2025 9:35:29 AM

Syracuse, NY

Thanks---PumpKuakes, lol---eric g

9/8/2025 9:56:15 AM

Germany

Well, I would go with "ripped apart the blossom end", because it usually happens over the course (or curse, so to say) of a sudden boost of growth. I cannot see any reason as to why a boost of growth should all of a sudden raise or lower the internal pressure in the cavity so dramatically, but I can easily imagine that in a fruit with pretty thick walls around the stem end and dramatically thinning of walls toward the blossom end the flow of juice into the thick walls causes horrible strengthening of those "muscles", whereas there might be limited flow toward (and gowth of) the tissue near the blossom end, so that the latter cannot respond adequately with proportional growth and gets ripped apart.

9/8/2025 11:47:04 AM

Syracuse, NY

Yes, I agree that there are other factors at play. In fact, one of them is exactly that which you speak of, butt I had not added it in.

I SHOULD HAVE. Else, it sounds like I meant that the pressure was the ONLY thing doing the splitting.
Oh, well, haven't ranted in a while.

The added growth, the daily warming and cooling of the fruit, the fact that the blossom end is the thinnest of the flesh and also the blossom itself, prone to rot and under stress like perhaps a knot in a tree limb overloaded with rain weight or where attached to the tree all contribute. Over the (Haha, curse) curse of the long haul, the original air cavity is zero and ends up being probably gallons-large and that air or what it is actually had to come from somewhere. It'll be interesting to find out where and to what extent it contributes - the potential pressure, either weigh. Thanks for your reply. eg

[Last edit: 09/08/25 5:09:55 PM]

9/8/2025 4:42:58 PM

Grittyville, WA

I dont know the mechanism by which they fill with air, maybe its own respiration as it grows... but I've never had a kin depressurize or suck air in when cutting into one. So they always seems to be at equilibrium.

I think downward weight is the main force. Personally I'm in favor of growing on a flat surface but when needed butressing them to help them hold their shape. But butressing has been out of fashion since about the time Notre Dame was built. Genetics, luck, and nutrients are the rest of it. I dont know what else.

Interestingly, cherry growers for example, know how to grow "firm" fruit... some of the firmness or flopiness of the pumpkin flesh may be based on the same nutritional principles the cherry growers (apples, too!) use.

9/8/2025 5:44:24 PM

Grittyville, WA

And in some cases floppy might not be a bad thing, the.floppy ones can contort a lot without splitting... but extra firmness might help too in some cases.

9/8/2025 5:59:40 PM

Syracuse, NY

I was gonna say that 'firmth' should be a word, and was surprised that it is:
'Degree or quality of firmness, firmth is to firm as warmth is to warm.'
If we begin to know when to water, with how warm is OK and/or how cold is too cold, etc., then with the structural fluctuations that Pumpking mentioned, the perhaps unanticipated quaking of the fruit by perhaps moving it or other causes, the pressure within the fruit and/or the firmness of the fruit and yet-other factors, pumpkin splits can be mitigated at least a little more than ever. This sounds like a rant from like 2004 or something, butt this is how things get solved -
by General Discussing them, lol.
PS---THIS is not limited to BES, only. Any and all splits may be caused by what we've said so far.
Thank you all thus far! eg

9/8/2025 9:00:16 PM

Grittyville, WA

Hadn't heard that word before. And... butressing is not a word that should be spelled: buttressing.

9/8/2025 11:21:08 PM

Germany

At least, it isn't spelled buttdressing ;)

9/9/2025 12:24:46 AM

Syracuse, NY

OMG, too funny and oh, they've gotta be useful words somewhere. All those cracks to understand. 3 AM, about to watch a 'serious' movie. I can hear me 1/2-way thru, laffing at this, lol. Oops, already. Ha ha eric g

9/9/2025 3:28:32 AM

Germany

OMG, useful words, yes, and in combination with what you have mentioned it comes to my mind that one needs "buttdressing" to keep "all those cracks" covered somehow. Have fun with the 2nd half of your serious movie ;)

9/9/2025 4:18:07 AM

Germany

I Think when its very warm and gets very fast cold in the night maybe in combination with wind and rain.
Then it is logic that the warm air inside the pumpkin causes pressure because when cooled the pumkin is shrinking a litte. Isnt it?

9/9/2025 10:22:53 AM

Syracuse, NY

Yes, indeed as far as we can surmise; I suppose that the ultimate test of any of this is to attach a pipe fitting to a pumpkin at some inert point such as the 'shoulder' and be able to pressurize as well as decompress this unfortunate specimen, lol. Awww... Repeated ups and downs should aggravate the weakest point, possibly via only this press/vac mechanism. Nowww...what to do to prevent, rather than exaggerate the problem? (I've NEVER used 'exaggerate' in typing, lol - 3 typos!) I suppose 'extreme' temperature moderation, plenty of fert(s) to keep building the fruit (and the plant consistently growing it) as well as sterility of, and a close eye on, the blossom itself for any signs of decay or cracks/damage around it. I'm kinda bringing up those more-obvious points butt I'd hate to not think of something like them. As Little Ketchup pointed out as well (Thank you ALL) the downward weight and therefore perhaps contortioning of the fruit at that area is to be strongly considered.
However, MY fruit that had a blossom-end split was a birdbath, where NO evidence was evident, lol. Maybe it had it coming, as my blue fert was sitting in it...DOH!
Thanks. eric g

9/9/2025 6:11:12 PM

Syracuse, NY

Pumpking, yeah, thanks, read that and busted out at my 5 AM, lol!
It was a dinosaur movie, what I considered to be a really
good one: 'Primitive War', about an already-worn platoon of
actual manly-men whom are dropped in where another platoon vanished. 2:20 hours/mins long, but never a dull moment.
Highly-graphic 'Sucks to be you!' parts, but they ARE dinosaurs...butt, still. VERY good CGI, really. Came outta my house today and a loud thump noise up the street 'bout knocked me outta my skin, lol!
Take care---eric g

9/9/2025 6:21:02 PM