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Minnesota([email protected])

In the past I've let the plants lie down on their own, but realize this could risk splitting of the vine. What do you recommend doing before the plant lies down? Do you help it, with sticks, to lie in the direction you want it to go? Or do you put support under the vine to protect it from lying down too quickly? Or both? Or something else?
My plants are at the point where I can see the mainvines, but they're sticking pretty much straight up. Before they get too large, and start leaning, I'd like to know a good plan of action.

5/25/2007 6:57:26 PM

Mount Prospect,illinois

This is a quaote straight from PAP from the New Growers forum (read all 3 sections from pap in th enew growers forum on what to do). If he says it is a good idea, you can bet the farm it is.

15. "once the plant starts to throw a main vine it is very critical that you do not use any commercial high nitrogen fertalizers. the nitrogen makes the young main very rigid and easy to snap. we build a small hill under the main so as to let it down gently by scraping out a little soil every day until the main is all the way on the ground."

5/25/2007 7:35:55 PM

Long Island,New York

Other than a 180 degree wrong way vine I don't see the big deal....you really don't have to turn it around right away. I prefer to wait a few weeks...let the vine grow a few feet then turn in the heat of the day after not watering for a few days....a 4ft vine just as secondaries are starting is so much safer and in my opinion easier to adjust than a rigid half-airborn new vine.

5/25/2007 8:00:14 PM

Ohio

G, I know I haven't told you this lately, but you are my hero, you know that don't you?, Well ya are dang it!, Really ya are.

Doug, Mines doing the same as yours, I'm just gonna support the main until it will lay down on its own, I'm going to pile dirt under mine and then remove the dirt a little at a time until it lays down,I'm basically gonna do what G-Man is talking about above. There is nothing I really can do with mine because the main vine is so thick and growing really aggressive. My plants 3rd, 4th and 5th leaf is helping hold the main up as well,I cant even dig out places for the stems of the leaves to fall down into to help lower the main,because they are all propped under the main vine at different angles. Only thing I can do is wait it out.

Brooks

5/25/2007 9:56:55 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Our 898 Knauss is doing the same thing. I don't want to risk the main snapping under its own weight, so I got some 5/16" dowel rod to gently apply pressure downward. patience is the key here.

However, I DO like Pap's idea. But in the case of the 898, the main is quite a ways in the air and up the stump a ways. Mounding soil under the main does me no good at this point.

5/25/2007 10:12:44 PM

Rhode Island

some times the leaf stem will hold the main up. in cases like that we just dig out a bit under the area where the stem is holding the main up.
just dont try moving anything in the early hrs when the main is still ridgid.
if you leave for work early am you can always work on the plant late afternoon

5/26/2007 6:32:50 AM

milford, CT,

I tried an experiment this year and it seems to have worked well. When I planted the seedlings I made sure the stem was angled in the direction the vine was going to run. My 1273 Howard layed down today without me having an anxiety attack! There seemed to be almost no stress on the base. Anyone else do this??? Mark

5/26/2007 2:05:17 PM

Carrollton, Ga.

I like to plant my plant at a 45 degree angle. This helps a lot. If it still tries to go up you can mound a little dirt under it.
When I use to plant them straight up I would take 4 sticks and with 2 of them I make an x under the main about an 1/2 to 1 inch under it. Each day I lower the sticks until it is safely down. With the other 2 I would make an x over the plant to keep the wind from blowing it around and spilt it.
doug
JN 3:16

5/26/2007 2:37:08 PM

Wilmington.Ma.

What ever you do ,do it during the heat of the day.
Things break when its cold!

5/27/2007 10:06:58 AM

San Jose [email protected]

another hint

DO NOT WATER OVERHEAD until the vine lays down or

SSSSSSSSSSSSSNNNNAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

5/29/2007 10:53:50 PM

Wi

Look at Unkadan's diary. The stick method he uses works very well. You only need a couple sticks though...not 10 per plant like he uses...ha ha. Just work the mine a SMALL amount every day. DON'T ASK how I know!

Angling the plants while planting works also. All of mine went the correct direction using that method.

5/30/2007 9:19:06 AM

Minnesota([email protected])

Thanks for the replies!
I did see what Dan does in his diary. Looks like a good plan.

5/30/2007 1:33:58 PM

C N Y

while we are all on the subject and i do not have anything concrete to offer-up....hmmmm, maybe not a BAAAADDD idea...
maybe someone will try experimentally to put an open-ended BOX, maybe about 5 to 6 feet long, over the plant that is having a hard time with its erect vine,
lol....in this fashion, possibly, the tendency of a plant
of ANY kind will grow NaturAlly toward the light,
so if the only light at the end of the tunnel happens to be coming from the direction you want the plant to grow in, then maybe the plant would grow that way on its own and well, like i say, or MEANT to say, lol,
maybe next year, as no one, not even me, wants to offer-up
their 845 and 940 and....898s or whatever...
to experimentation. but, if it worked....................eg

5/30/2007 7:34:53 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Pap,

To correct myself.......mounding beneath the stem of the 898 helped it to lay down just fine. And I have another condition on another vine exactly as you described: a leaf stem holding the main up. I'll take your suggestion to the patch tomorrow. Thanks.

5/30/2007 8:41:02 PM

Buffalo, MN ([email protected])

Doug last year I had one that did not want to come down, I used sticks for several weeks but it just reaching for the sky. I layed a big hunk of styrofoam under it and kept forcing it down. One day it just went down and kinked like a garden hose right by the stump. I guess looking at it bothered me so I covered the stump, vine & styrofoam.
That plant went on to produce the MN State Record of 1213.
They never are perfect but stick with them. I still use the stick method and dig into the ground if anything is holding the vine up. Have a good year Doug.

5/30/2007 10:05:14 PM