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Santa Ynez California

Hi. I was looking at some of the grow diaries and Papi said he had big leaves and that that meant the plants were getting too much of something. Ours have about 20-24" wide leaves but the whole plants look very healthy. Is this a problem - the big leaves? If so what are we overdoing it on hahaha. Thanks. Steve

6/11/2009 12:00:26 AM

Midway, UT

Leaf size can be a genetic factor or it can indicate too much nitrogen or both. The problem with big leaves is that the leaves are taking up a lot of energy growing salad that could potentially take away from growing fruit when the time comes. It is a real balance. I can't say if your leaves are too big or too small. Your soil or tissue tests would best tell you that.

6/11/2009 1:48:04 AM

Leaf color is a better way to judge than size imo, dark "blue green" leaves indicate excess N.

As Jamie states, leaf size is usually genetic if the soil is in balance and growing conditions are favorable.

6/11/2009 6:11:00 AM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Agreed with Dan. I've got 2 plants going in the same patch and one has huge/tall leaves and the other has smaller/shorter leaves....must be genetics.

6/11/2009 10:26:25 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Plants growing in low light will make larger leaves. Leaves are sun-catchers. Limit the direct sunlight & the plant responds with bigger leaves.

6/11/2009 10:51:02 AM

Cduross1@rochester.rr.com

My 938 has large leaves, but so did the 1423Wallace it was crossed with from last year, my guess is in this case genetic. My three other plants in the patch have smaller leaves but growing at the same pace.

6/11/2009 11:38:17 AM

President - GPC

Bingo Tremor......

6/11/2009 11:57:46 AM

Hamilton Nj

i have 2 plants one is smaller than the other 1!!!!!! the big one has 20 inch leaves and is growing every day has a really dark green color to it do u think clipping of some of the leaves will kill your plant or will it help draw more growth to main vine?????????????the green color matches my basil plants???????? its got to be good??????????? pizza

6/11/2009 5:41:00 PM

Rhode Island

that being the case then the rhode island growers will have leaves like umbrellas
but steve does have a good point. immagine that factor he brought up combined with leaves from the 1450 and you will have an idea what my leaves look like. huge on very long stems.

6/11/2009 6:07:05 PM

Hamilton Nj

ok pap now u did it had to get the tape out they measured 15 inches!!!!!!!! not 20 was think big, probably had dinner on my mind! ha!ha! just posted on diary check out please!!!!!!!1 pizza

6/11/2009 6:49:39 PM

Santa Ynez California

Wow. hahahaha. Thank you. I just thought they looked healthy hahaha. I am going to make a switch to a lower nitrogen fertilizer and see what happens. Right now mine is equal phosphorous and nitrogen but one of our plants has noticibly bigger leaves than the others - at least 20 inches across. The others are close to that size but not quite this big. However there are lots of leaves on all the plants - very dense foliage hahaha. Thank you. I will just cut back on nitrogen and see what happens as my plants are getting quite big anyhow - but they sure look healthy hahaha. Thanks again. Steve

6/11/2009 7:22:57 PM

Santa Ynez California

I checked my leaf color. It is not too dark so I talked to guys at hydroponic store. They said since I am basically growing hydroponic it will make leaves bigger than normal too - more air for roots etc.. I have the big main root area holes of each of mine filled with a mostly hydroponic soil that is mostly ground up coconut husk. I am hand fertilizing this root area daily with a seabird guana tea mixed with molasses - activates the micro organism better apparantly hahaha. However I am using two different strains of pumpkins and noticed that the one has much bigger broader leaves. These guys at the hydro shop are botanists and are saying more leaf surface more photosynthesis more energy for fruit. However I have also learned that these big pumpkins are their own animal completely hahahaha. So what is good for most plants is not always best for them. I am also noticing though that this year or tap roots are starting to pop out almost as soon as each leaf segment is formed. I think this is going to be a bit of an all or nothing year in that we are leaning way towards hydroponics in main root area - seems impossible to do the whole plant because of all the tap roots lol. However last year we did do a lot of hydroponic style hand feeding to catch up for late planting of seeds and had pretty good year - especially considering the mass of mistakes we made hahaha. good luck. Steve

6/13/2009 10:49:23 PM