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Ontario, Canada.

Curious about this? Does anyone have knowledge of plant or sink vigor relating to increased internode length on the main vine and or length of the petioles?

Thanks
Russ

2/16/2013 4:57:34 PM

Germany

IHMO, the length of the internodes depends on various things such as temperature, light, water and nitrogen availability, all of which contribute to the speed of your plant. Length of the petioles should also depend on nitrogen availability. It´s probably pretty tricky to find out about the influence of each parameter, one would have to grow clones of a plant in different soil, at different temperatures etc. etc. to see how much these parameters influence the features of the plant. Even in one and the same patch two different plants might show different growth behavior, but it might still be the difference in water and nitrogen availability. Why? Because you cannot measure the performance of the root system. A plant in poor soil which is growing nicely (fast grower, long internodes) should be a very strong plant and therefore capable of growing a big one. The good thing about long internodes is the larger distance between the secondaries, and therefore some more room in between the leaves, and therefore better air circulation...which is good for prevention of various diseases (mildew etc.). Making the plants grow too fast by using too much nitrogen probably causes troubles, you don´t gain any room by the longer internodes, because the leaves are also growing like hell...and they develop low quality tissue, which is more susceptible to diseases.

2/16/2013 5:13:33 PM

Colorado

Cold water effects my internode length -just saying

2/17/2013 3:06:57 AM

Germany

...talking about the same MAIN VINE Joe? :-)

2/17/2013 6:21:42 AM

Bethlehem CT

I always have thought that Internode length was almost solely affected by Temperature. And Petiole length was in response to light and fertility. If I understand your question, you are not asking for reasons why plants may have longer internode space or longer petioles. But you are asking; if a plant has these characteristics, is it beneficial to growing a bigger pumpkin? Kind of along the lines of thought that I have heard Andy Wolf mention before. He has suggested that environmental conditions can trigger positive genetic traits to be expressed or activated.

2/17/2013 8:28:45 AM

Ontario, Canada.

Joe you might in this case have some shrinkage issues. LOL;

I am interested in hearing from growers who may have or know of direct knowledge relating to plant vigor and sink strength when combined with elongated petioles and vine nodes. Has anyone noticed growth a correlation or come across any published information of such?

Environmental factors that influence the plants genetic traits is often termed as epigenetics. Theories I wish to investigate in AGP epigenetics are related to both temperature and light factors that affect plant development and growth.

For instance if a grower supplements a vine area with localized heating or increase and extended light does this affect the plant either harmfully or negatively?

2/17/2013 9:50:34 PM

Bethlehem CT

Hi Russ
Sorry you aren' t getting any responses on this. I do like your thinking.
In the bedding plant industry they have quite a bit of research on this kind of thing, as they are always trying to manipulate growth with hormones or environmental conditions. The plant needs to look good to sell, but it also needs to perform (Fruit or flower) for the customer.
My gut feeling is that a rapidly growing plant grown under ideal conditions will have nice long internodes and will be aggressive growers. These healthy fast growing plants will be the most likely to perform at optimum. I am not so sure about any benefit of long petioles, as I feel they may be stretching more to a factor of not enough light or crowding. It is interesting to note that the plants Matt D has in the greenhouse right now have the shortest petioles with the largest leaves I have seen.

2/22/2013 8:24:16 AM