From

Location

Message

Date Posted

ft. smith,arkansas

I have a main vine that I had to train into a horseshoe shape because of a fence.The secondary vines on inside are starting to cross one another and the main vine.Should I prune the secondaries or would this take away energy that would be used toward growth of the pumpkin?If I dont prune would this cause vine stress?

7/13/2002 6:52:23 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Hey Rookie if its an AG terminate the ones that are starting to cross now. let the outside of the U grow as long as you can. It's early yet but once the vines tangle up in August you'll have a mess with tertiaries etc.and no way to get to them without stepping on the good vines. Once there if you get there you won't be able to tell what vine your cutting. This is one of those stitch in time saves nine things. I let the vine get out of control last year and wish I had known better. Chuck

7/13/2002 10:48:39 PM

Los Angeles, CA

Let me get this straight. Then its OK to prune secondries if they're cossing over other vines? Also where do you make the cut, and should you treat the wound? THANKS in advance for a response.

7/16/2002 9:29:41 PM

Mineral Virginia

I went ahead and pruned a bunch of secondaries this morning myself. While I like the added space it affords, I'm still concerned about the effects. I went with the every other one approach off the main. Interestingly enough, while some of them were as long as 8 feet, not one had a female bud on it.

7/23/2002 11:45:22 AM