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Mill Bay, British Columbia

There have been some great discussions regarding main vine after the fruit versus terminating at or close to the fruit, and I have 2 follow up questions on the topic.

1) do you allow secondaries to continue to grow off the main past the fruit?

2) do you allow the main vine to continue to root, and if so, how far past the fruit to allow it to rise up with the pumpkin.

Thanks/Glenn

7/13/2019 10:22:59 AM

Plainville, Connecticut 06062

The answer to your first question is yes I let several secondaries grow off the main past the pumpkin. However sometimes your fruit if it is a good one is sucking so good that the main and secondaries are slow growing and you won’t have much work burying vines. You also have to consider when to stop burying the secondaries past the fruit to make them worthwhile mature in time to assist in the growth of the fruit! For the second question I have lost the main past the pumpkin and I have allowed them to grow until I run out of room. I would choose to allow the main to grow as long as possible and I continue to bury the main past the pumpkin at each leaf node up until about a week to ten days before a weighoff. I have grown nice pumpkins either way terminate or loose the main or let it grow! The amount of secondaries you keep past the pumpkin would be determined on how much room you have to work with but as a general rule for me my main would go another 15-20 feet past the pumpkin with 4-8 good secondaries off the main if all is growing well. I don’t believe there is any concrete evidence that by allowing the main to grow to the very end is a great advantage! Hope this helps with your questions!

7/13/2019 4:19:12 PM

Grittyville, WA

I vote yes on the secondaries. I think if your plant is cooperative you'll see a gain proportional to the additional square footage of leaves you allow after the pumpkin. Not saying every plant is that cooperative. My best grower right now seems to be quite happy with no pruning of anything near or after the pumpkin.

7/13/2019 8:01:07 PM