From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Gays Mills, Wisconsin

Observation of the beauty of a giant pumpkin plant at it's juvenile stage.
Theory:
"If plant is aligned:
N for 1st true leaf....then
S will be 2nd true leaf... then (here's the beautiful part)
W will be the side of vine for third third leaf
the vine starts taking on a characteristic where the leaves go upwards from ground and the plant will lay down to the east most naturally :)"
I have found it difficult forcing the plant to lay down away from its first true leaf in the past, sometimes cutting the second leaf was necessary.
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryView.asp?season=2014&grower=23143&action=L

2/5/2014 9:05:01 PM

Anamosa, IA [email protected]

I had problems getting the mains to lay down opposite the first true leaf last year. 5 out of 6 were off 90 degrees, but in the opposite direction of yours.

2/6/2014 5:53:22 PM

Gays Mills, Wisconsin

My unkown due to lack of data is the direction of the third leaf stalk, does it always form on the "W" side?
I have always had first and second leaves go opposite each other. In your response I'd like to explore the direction of your third leaf. Did your plant lay down opposite or toward the third leaf?

2/6/2014 6:02:46 PM

Anamosa, IA [email protected]

Really can't remember that. Just that they were off 90 degrees, and opposite of yours. In other years I have had excellent luck getting the main to go opposite the first true leaf.

2/6/2014 7:34:05 PM