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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Monday, June 08, 2020
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cjb
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Plymouth, MN
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Entry 26 of 73 |
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2020 planned growth pattern: the Topped Tree. I'm on a suburban lot with only about 400 sq ft of space in a rectangle.
In 2018, I grew in a swept back Christmas tree growing west to east, with the stump centered at the eastern third of the garden. This resulted in my PB but I felt the first secondaries were terminated too early and had issues with many of the other secondaries being too cramped next to the fence on the north or south of the patch at season's end, promoting some PM issues.
In 2019, I tried a flag pattern with stumps in the northwest and southeast corner, planning to pull the NW plant after successfully crossing it with the SE or when the SE plant was well established. I'd intended to train the secondaries over the main, but ended up cutting them when this proved to be impossible. Unfortunately, the secondaries growing nearest the fence were the ones that grew best (radiant heat from the silt fence?) and the other secondaries were slow to establish and the SE plant never filled out the patch post-pollination.
This year I'm growing one plant in the illustrated modified Christmas tree pattern. I should be able to get at least 12 secondaries in the 15' range behind the pumpkin. I haven't decided yet whether I'll keep the main after the eventual fruit set or cut it after the 'kin to minimize stem stress.
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