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Petaluma CA

Wow this pumpkin thing is fun. Yesterday I pollinated my first female, the second one will open tomorrow. I have 3 plants growing with 3 main vines. in a small area 6 by 6 feet. my question is i have about 6 vines growing, Is this normal? will the plant keep growing more vines? i read about people pruning vines? is this necessary? will i get female flowers on the smaller vines (secondary) please help i am lost.

Paul

7/20/2002 12:17:59 AM

Greencastle, PA

Paul,
36 square feet isn't big enough for a tenth of an AG plant, let alone 3. It is normal to have multiple primaries, each growing secondaries. Pruning and training vines is essential, esspecially in a small area. Grow the main as strait as possible and let a secondary grow at each leaf node perpendicular to the main. More vines will grow off the secondaries, these are the tertiaries, pinch them off before they even get a start, they just make a tangled mess of everything. Females will grow on every vine on your plants if the conditions are right. Good luck.
Tom

7/20/2002 12:50:28 AM

Puyallup, WA

BP Head,
You're pulling our leg, right?

7/21/2002 2:24:16 AM

Petaluma CA

No let me explain, no body told me this thing was going to grow huge.my original plot is 6 by 6. well my vines are now 15 feet long (one is yellow?) most, over half of the vine has grown out of my plot onto hard unkempt soil (we have clay here starting at one foot down) hard as a rock. so today i went out in 90 degree heat and dug up outside of my plot, and wet it real good. I am nervous to disturb the dirt under the main vines, so I started right where the new growth is coming in.

I have learned a lot so far this year, next year i will be more prepared and know what to expect

7/21/2002 3:15:06 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

BP Yikes! I tried to stuff a whole plant in 15X15 last year! It's impossible to do if they're growing... This year I'm only growing half a plant triming all secondaries off one side and I'm losing that battle. You're gonna have to let it run off the 6X6 spot. I think if you look into past posts SmallPatch had 10x10 and did pretty well. Your gonna need to do alot of pruning but three plants is out of the question. Keep the best one. and give it as much room as you can. Next year you'll know better what a plant can do. WILD ain't it. Nobody believes it till they see it! Good Luck

7/21/2002 3:41:12 AM

porterville, calif.

I have 2 plants growing at my daughters house. She has a limted area to grow too. It is about 10 ft. wide and 35 ft. long. In the last 10 days both vines have covered about 25 ft. I have been keeping all of the seconary vines trimmed off. We are going to keep just 1 or 2 Pumpkins on each plant and just letting them set on the mains. So far no fruit has set. Except today there is one on the 633 blair . It looks good so far. There is alot of female flowers showing up now. In 2 or 3 days we showed have all the females we need pollinated then hope for the best. It is just amaising how fast they grow once they get started. The plants at my pace are just starting to take off. From seeing what thye have done at her place I know morw what to expect . Im geting every square ft that is my garden area really for the explosion of plants when all 5 get going.

7/21/2002 4:06:12 AM

Mineral Virginia

Hey Alexsdad, how is your plant doing that you cut the secondaries off of? I have some crazy crowding going on and am faced with the same issue, but don't want to throw the plants into shock. I don't plan to cut all the secondaries, just a few to keep things a bit clear. Anyone have any comment?

7/22/2002 8:49:52 AM

Western Pa.

funnydad from funny name, Viginia,

I wouldn't worry about sending the plant into shock. It won't hurt to cut some secondaries off, and all tertiaries. I have already done 2 drastic prunings, and am in need of a third! Remember, pruning promotes growth!

kilr

7/22/2002 11:09:27 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

Hey funnydad, I've been growing just one side of the plant on half the garden. when the main gets across the gardens diagonal and make the turn will be growing the other side of the vine, It's hairy at best and hopefully the last time I have to do this, I believe it slows down the plants ability to throw healthy females early but letting it grow wild didn't work either. I just had to prine back everything that was growing up the fences from being gone a couple of days. I'm trying something new. digging ditches down deep and allowing both secondaries grow then will terminate the ones and bury them that the main vine as it grows over them...we'll see. looks pretty funny seeing just male flowers sticking up out of the ground! chuck

7/22/2002 1:19:45 PM