From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Buffalo, New York

i went out of town for 9 days and when i left my A.G. main vine was about 6' long, got home today and it is now like 11', only 9 days later.

unfortunately, most of the secondary vines are going everywhere (crossing eachother) including up my firewood pile on the one side.

i think it is time to start looking and picking out a pumpkin to grow.........obviously the main vine i should look at, and 90 degrees from the vine, correct, i plan on keeping 1 extra also, possibly on the main vine or a secondary..............any advice on which one to leave is gratly appreciated....

jr

7/9/2007 2:17:22 AM

In The Patch (Cambridge, Ohio)

Hi Jeremy, I would recommend pollinating numerous pumpkins "on the main vine" starting at about 10ft out. Observe them growing to see which of them seems to grow the fastest. Since you will not be pollinating them all on the same day maybe do some basic measurements such as how big around they are starting the day after pollination and keep track of them day by day so that you can compare the growth rate history that you have kept track of on the first pumpkin you pollinated, with the others to compare the rate at which they are growing. It seems that not all pumpkins on the same plant have the same growth potentional and some may even stop growing for seamingly no reason at some point. Something else you should consider is that there is always the risk of your pumpkins aborting in the first stage of their early growth. If you just pollinate one and get rid of the rest right from the get go you could end up with no pumpkin or trying to get a late pollination later.

As for the pumpkin (female flower) being 90 degrees off the main vine, you can train any of them to do this. Use styrofoam or dirt and gently push the pumpkin 1/4" a day or so and you will be able to train it to go out straight before the pumpkin grows large enough to cause a problem. DO NOT try and do this early morning when it is cool as your vines and everything on your plant is likely to be more brittle at this time and break easily. Do this in the heat of the day and do it slow and gently and it will straighten out over the course of a week or so.

As for the vines, they can be trained the same way as above using the same procedures. If your tendrils (little piggly tails coming off the side vines) are all mangled and stuck together just cut them apart and gently start bringing the vines out 90 degrees from the plant of where it is you want them to run.

Best of luck and hope you grow a big one!

7/9/2007 3:42:20 AM

Buffalo, New York

ok guys, noticed today my main vine about 10' out has a break in her...........what should i do, i also did prune a bunch of other vines off other vines

7/9/2007 11:20:00 AM

Benson, Vermont

Horizontal or verticle break? Or in other words is the break across the vine or along the vine?
Does it go all the way through or is it a partial break?

7/9/2007 4:52:41 PM

Buffalo, New York

it is across the vine, about 10-12' out from the stump and about 4-5' from the tip.

it is probably a 80% break.

i am thinking of cutting it at the break and burrying it since i have no females on the ain vine after it or on secondarys after it.

7/9/2007 5:16:58 PM