Fw: How to clone pumpkins off main vines

HOW TO CLONE PUMPKINS OFF THE MAIN VINE:
 
 
TECHNIQUES AND METHODS:
Successful cloning off the main vines is as simple as burying the vine in some soil, then waiting 7-10 days to cut the new plant from the main plant. Many growers bury vines during the season to give their plant an added root system which anchors and feeds the main plant. To make pumpkin clones indoors {or out}, the same basic principal is applied. Once the original pumpkin begins growing over the container and has a vine long enough which can be placed in another pot, all the grower must do is provide that vine a rooting medium for the plant to do what is natural for it; sprout roots. Bury the entire vine 1/2 inch below the soils surface in the new pot. This is soon to be a new plant, of the same origin as the original plant. Place a heating pad below the pot the clone is in, and keep head on low or medium. The clone pot should be well watered, but not overly saturated. It is helpful to use vitamin B-1, Superthrive plant hormones, and Shultz 2-7-7{with micronutrients} Cactus Plus. Using similar fertilizers will work as well. Both the host pot and clone pot should then be put underneath a shop light which is kept on 24 hours a day. Check the clone plant after a couple days, and keep the soil moist in that pot. The host pot needs little to no water during this period. By stressing the host plant this way, the clone becomes less dependent on the roots at the base of the host plant, and is encouraged to sprout it's own roots. After 7-10 days if you have given the new vine what it need to grow, the host plat can be cut away. Cut the old vine away from the clone as close to the soil as possible. Larger leaves which were buried earlier should be cut at this time. This will allow the new plant to not have to care for so many leaves initially, and allow the plant to root without stressing. You now have a cloned pumpkin plant which has the same genetic makeup as the host plant it was cut from! This process can be done again and again and again.

BENEFITS OF CLONING:
The uses of pumpkin cloning are simple. One can keep a good genetic plant alive for a new season and not worry about seeds. Also, if the grower has a short growing season, cloning can help get a jump on the season by allowing flowers to develop earlier than normal. This is because a newly spouted seed takes time to start flowering, and a clone is already producing them at the base of the plant.
 
POSSIBLE LONG TERM USES BY CLONING:
Imagine if the Checkon's plant was cloned! Since the plant produced only 34 seeds, having a clone off of that pumpkin plant would have allowed them to cross it this season and have more seeds from this wonder! Growers also may wish to keep a clone through the winter which they liked as a possible pollinator for the next season. Cloning just may be the next way to reach a 2,000 pound pumpkin.
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