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Cologne / Germany

Yesterday I checked was once used to be my pumpkin plants (very aggressive mildew attack this year) and did some measurements on the remaining vines.
In my opinion it´s not to cut every other secondary but - in general - to keep them at intervals of 30 to 35 inch when using x-mas style. Advantages: the leaves don´t scratch each other, walking between vines is possible, better airflow and drainage, reduced risk of spreading desease.
I can´t see any benefit in crowded plants so I´m going with the interval method next year.

9/17/2003 8:34:31 AM

Montoursville, PA

I think you are right Floh. One has to be able to get into the patch to service the needs of the patch. I grew a literal jungle this year. I terminated secondaries to near to my wind shield fence and locked myself out.

I literally had fifty percent leaf overlap and leaves hanging out over the fence gasping for sunlight.

9/17/2003 9:00:38 AM

Montoursville, PA

I think you are right Floh. One has to be able to get into the patch to service the needs of the patch. I grew a literal jungle this year. I terminated secondaries to near to my wind shield fence and locked myself out.

I literally had fifty percent leaf overlap and leaves hanging out over the fence gasping for sunlight.

9/17/2003 9:00:44 AM

Deer Park, WI

I experimented with the every other secondary idea this year and found it quite favorable, but with one drawback. This method allows for gigantic leaf growth, some of the biggest i have ever seen. If pumpkin leaves are not crowded by other pumpkin leaves, they will grow to maximum size. This means more leaf surface area, with less vine and stem material. Less vine and stem material means less burying, less pruning, and fewer avenues for borers to intrude. Every other secondary also means one can effectively weed inbetween the secondaries, without damaging the plant. Very useful indeed! The only drawback I experienced was a seemingly small plant around pollination time. I pollinated around July 5th, and only had 6 significant secondaries of my main. I was concerned about having enough plant material to support a baby fruit. However, as I approach the 1000lb mark, this seems to be not as significant of a problem as I had suspected. I will be using this method in the future.

9/17/2003 9:14:13 AM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

The only (but not small) problem I see in letting secondaries so far one from each other is about strong winds that can damage leaves in a higher grade.

9/17/2003 10:28:46 AM

Nova Scotia

i agree with don i like mine a little tight. that way wind is less of a factor as well weeds have no light to grow. and with the aid of a pole prunner i can keep unwanted vines in check. with watering and covering vines over every morning i have little poblems. but everyone has to find what works for them and there garden

9/17/2003 11:32:59 AM

Utah

do you think that in plants with cut secondaries the node roots grow bigger also ? seems logical.

9/17/2003 12:11:25 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

I guess my question to Joze is what if you allowed normal plant development until pollenation. then go back in and remove the offending secondaries at a later date...At this point the vine is still manageable and you will be able to determine if it is a small leaf or large leaf vine...I had a vine this year where allowing every secondary they never became obtrusive to the other leaves....what do you think?
then aain I had vines that needed to be pruned immediately.Thanks for post ..as I'm sure this is a great winter discussion.

9/17/2003 4:02:02 PM

Deer Park, WI

Chuck- I was thinking that exact same idea after finishing the post yesterday. That seems to make good sense and is something I will employ next year. I would probably leave all secondaries on the vine before the fruit, but go with every other after fruit set, provided the fruit is 10-12 feet out on the main. For many growers, this is only half the distance to the edge of the patch. So essentially half of the plant would be full growth, the other pruned. I like that idea.

9/18/2003 8:50:27 AM

Monrovia,CA

I was also thinking of Chuck's idea of leaving and burying every secondary then coming back later and maybe just removing the leaves of every other one..but leaving the vine and its roots so you still have your underground network and ALSO have the extra room for the leaves you have chosen to stay to get extra growing/ventalation space.

Just my novice two cents.

9/18/2003 10:37:09 AM

Amherst, WI

Interesting ideas. I went with every other secondary on each plant before the fruit. About 10-12 feet on the main, where I started setting fruit, I did less removing of vines. This was because I was spending more time with the small pumpkins. I wanted all secondarys on 'till I decided which pumpkin to keep, because I knew I'd be hacking out secondaries at that time. It worked well for me, but when the plant gets old and a bit of pm hits, the plant can look pretty naked near the stump.

9/18/2003 9:41:41 PM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

This year I have lost the min vine. Next season I will cut every second secondary to get the main vine as big as possible before the fruit set. After the fruit set I will basicaly fill the empty space.
Jernej

9/19/2003 4:28:34 AM