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Could I effectively plant two AG plants in 800 square feet??

We broke ground yesterday and all I will have to work with this year is a long strip of land that is 80 feet by about 10 feet (maybe 11 feet).

I have been told that a "flag" configuration is best for a long, narrow plot. Stillwaiting for my Langevin book to arrive in the mail.

Any suggestions from all of you would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Michele

11/10/2002 11:46:59 AM

Kuna, Id.

Will it be ok for the secondaries to grow out of the patch. If so you can make it work. If not I hope someone has a answer for ya cause I dont.My patched started at a 20x150 and has been enlarged over the last couple yrs. It should be around 70x150 by spring. This may not be the right way to figure this, but I figure I need min. of 12' from each side of the plant and 20'min. for the main. I have a lot more then that, but some nice pumpkins have been grown in 500 sq. Someone else may have a patch like yours and be able to help you out a little more.
Good luck
Ken

11/10/2002 12:55:00 PM

Central Connecticut

I would start both plants on the center edge and let them grow in the opposite direction. Run the main along the long edge with the secondaries running perpendicular to the main to the other side (10ft). You would only have secondaries on one side but the main would have plenty of room to grow before running to the end of the patch...Chris

11/10/2002 1:26:51 PM

Caceres, Spain

Hi Michele. Chris idea is nice. looking for aesthetic simetry and a littlemore distance betwen stumps I would plant both of them in the center one meter apart, but in opposite edges with secondaries running them in opposite directions: one plant, one edge. go east with secondaries go north (for instance); another plant, another edge. go west with secondaries go south. And, remember! pollinate female flowers only on the secondaries side, and cull off the other side ones. The fruit should be in the same side as secundaries.
This advice looks like a road map! -:)
Don

11/10/2002 2:39:27 PM

Thanks for the great ideas.....I was doodling today and looking at the "modified flag" pattern.....what do any of you think about putting my two plants in the center but closer to one edge, running my mains diagonally in opposite directions with secondaries coming off of them then turning the corner with the mains and and having secondaries coming off of those also? Someone has a diagram of modified flag on this website....basically it would be that pattern, with a mirror image (like when you revers blueprints).

Any thoughts?? My thinking for keeping my main plants in the same general area is, I want to dig way down and and basically have a pit of enriched soil, as well as ammending the the rest of the patch. This would keep me from having to dig deep in two different places....but if the plants do better when separated I can adapt!

Thanks in advance for your time :-) \
Michele

11/10/2002 7:44:27 PM

Caceres, Spain

Oh, Oh, Oh! a pit of enriched soil..., long time have passed since I realized this is not more than a trap. I do have tried different ways of enriched soil pits... to work less, of course, but with the excuse of helping the plant.
Avoid enriched soil pits, work all the soil the plant is going to ocupate in the same manner, as good you can, but all the same. There are many reasons for that, but, for me, the best: my experience.
Take your time preparing your patch soil, you don't need to finish the work in a moment; one day, a little, another day, another little, and when you realize, it's finished. If you need more manure, no problem, ask it, buy it, save money from your childrens food even -:), but get a good uniform pit that covers... all the patch!
No matter one can say "Was good for me", sure would have been better get all the patch prepared as well as that little pit.
Sorry, Michele, but I would stay with the normal flag.
Don

11/11/2002 12:30:23 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

Michele, You're gonna get plenty of good ideas from everyone. It seems like your already hooked! Believe me you cannot stop watching these vines as the take off...I grew some Big Max in the garden before I tried an AG...What a difference...You miss one week of pruning with an AGand it takes a week to figure out what is what...Remember this most people are trying to set the pumpkin 8 to twelve feet out from the stump...this is the same time in a modified flag your cutting off half the plant and only growing one side of the secondaries...The patch dimensions of ten foot by eighty might be good for a modified "Anaconda"..which is just a main vine grown snake pattern...I think Brett Hester talks about it in one of the Growers Transcrips...Just a thouht...it would give ya both sides of some secondaries maybe you can contact someone for some help on this! Grow Em Big! Chuck

11/11/2002 10:48:56 AM

Herndon, VA

The "Anaconda" can be tricky when it comes to female flowers. If they're on the wrong side of the curve you could run into trouble with stem stress. The advantage is that you'd have secondaries on both sides, but I think I'd stick with the flag fir the 1st time, and consider other patters in future years. 800 sq ft should be plenty; I grew two over 550 lbs on one 700 sq ft plant this year. -Bryan

11/11/2002 1:37:20 PM