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New Berlin,NY

This year with the cold wet spring my plants are not filling in the space I allotted like they normally do. My pumpkins are between 22-31 DAP. There is a lot of space after the pumpkins that have not filled in. (900-1000 Square feet per plant). Should I terminate and have smaller plants to focus energy into the pumpkins, or let the vines fill in the patches?

Thanks for your thoughts.

7/30/2019 11:46:21 PM

Colorado

Good question.Id try running the last 4 secondaries b4 pumpkin around it(spider pattern )out to the edge and the main let go around edge of plot.The two secondaries right b4 pumpkin will likely get slowed way down and take quite a while to get to the plots end.id terminate everything else.Id try that on one plant and see what king of growth you get late august into September.

7/31/2019 6:06:19 PM

Grittyville, WA

The vines farthest from the pumpkin should perhaps be terminated. I have found excess growth near the stump to not contribute much when its allowed to grow as much as it wants. But I believe many growers do well letting the main after the pumpkin grow as much as it wants... I hope someone can second me on that or give some evidence that this is not in fact optimal.
If the conditions favor it, most of the plants energy will go into the pumpkin and only any remaining energy will be used by the vine, which is why vine growth near or beyond the pumpkin can slow or stop even without prunning.

7/31/2019 6:38:55 PM

Colorado

By last 4 I mean 4 per side or "last eight"

8/1/2019 6:25:49 PM