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Mission Viejo, CA

I've traditionally been a vine-termination grower as my patch size is small. I've a little room this year so I let the main grow past the fruit. I've got a handful of secondaries growing. How much post-fruit growth do you allow? Is there a limit? At what point is it not contributing to the fruit growth?

6/20/2024 4:01:50 PM

Kutztown, PA

KC, I've been schooled by some guys/gals on this site that say it's best to pollinate at 12-15 feet out. I think 15' can translate between 7-9 secondaries on each side but that depends on the plant.. If you only have a "handful" of secondaries behind the pumpkin, you probably want to let the main keep on keeping on. If the final objective is to achieve a plant that covers say 700-1000 sf. then that should help you decide how much to let it grow. Fill up the space your have. You could also wait and pollinate further out on the main. As "Pumplet" once asked, " To terminate or not to terminate, that is the question". I've grown both way by now, but don't really have enough data or experience to say which way grows a bigger pumpkin. I'm sure you already know, terminating them makes vine handling much easier but the question "Pumplet" should have asked is: "Does terminating make the pumpkin grow bigger?" My thinking is that a big plant makes a big pumpkin, but check the 150 contest................

[Last edit: 06/21/24 3:19:23 PM]

6/21/2024 3:19:06 PM

Grittyville, WA

If your nutrients are limited then growing more plant would not lead to a bigger pumpkin, but if you have the space and enough nutrients available then go for it. It should help... mostly late in the year when the rest of the plant is in tatters.

[Last edit: 06/21/24 7:35:32 PM]

6/21/2024 7:28:32 PM

Grittyville, WA

Rethinking my last post, the real angle to consider: I think calcium is the nutrient where the plant could compete with the pumpkin for limited resources. With enough healthy roots you could grow more plant and not steal from the pumpkin. Imho.

[Last edit: 06/21/24 7:33:32 PM]

6/21/2024 7:33:22 PM

Hadley Ny

Is your handful of secondaries before or after the fruit and how many is a handful. Then your question can be answered properly. I've grown both ways.

6/21/2024 8:10:33 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

I am asking about how much vine growth is recommended after the pumpkin. Sorry for the confusion. The fruit is set at 15'.

6/22/2024 12:56:16 AM

Hadley Ny

Kevin there has been a lot of debate about this over the years. Some really good growers let the vine go and don't recommend cutting and other really good growers terminate at kin. If you're trying it let the main go as far as is allowable and run your secondaries out and terminate when you run out of room. It will all feed back to the kin...how much will it contribute is basically unknown but something is better than nothing.

6/22/2024 7:41:32 AM

Mission Viejo, CA

Thank you, Tony!

6/22/2024 10:45:37 AM

Hadley Ny

Kevin not sure if you did an S-curve-vine where the fruit was. If not and vines get in the way cut what you need to...but only if they are gonna hurt the kin. Most of the time you can train secondaries in afternoon heat. Only cut what you need to. I also pull main vine roots gently with the stem every other day. Have pulled them 18" out of the ground and still attached and producing. Why cut them? T

6/22/2024 1:29:51 PM

Grittyville, WA

Big T, I believe the fruit gets a small boost if it doesnt have to compete with the main vine. Part of this could be the auxins in the main vine could suppress the pumpkin for a few days, thats just part of how plants are programmed to allocate their resources. If the main vine is cut early on then the pumpkin doesnt suffer any conflict with the main vine and it will get the full resources available during those few days when the main vine might be competing with it. Its only a small difference, but later on a small difference could become 200 lbs or more....

However, I believe Rmen proved nicely that the main will backfeed the pumpkin, so there are two perfectly legit ways of growing them, either way could lead to success.

[Last edit: 06/22/24 2:18:44 PM]

6/22/2024 2:15:10 PM

valtierra/spain

The ideal is a strong back plant that feeds the pumpkin and also the growth after the pumpkin. When the entire back plant is old, what will feed the pumpkin are all the leaves and roots that are after the pumpkin. If you are able to make a large plant and, at the same time, feed the pumpkin, that's fine. The bad thing is what happens to me this year, the plant stopped, and it will take a long time to occupy the space, we will see if I can fill it in August, who knows if in August the pumpkin continues to grow well, but the ideal is that from 25 to 65 the plant has a lot of strength to feed the pumpkin, they are the most growing days. Travis had a large plant after the pumpkin, it is necessary if you lose the plant before the pumpkin, and last year I checked it, without a plant in the back, and with a small main guide and some secondary ahead of the pumpkin and growing.. the pumpkin manages to get fat.

6/22/2024 2:28:48 PM

Hadley Ny

I rarely cut my main..like as much late life as I can get

6/22/2024 5:44:29 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

Since the squash has started growing the vine growth has slowed to a crawl. It's gone from 8"-10" per day to maybe 2 inches per day. I have had this self-terminating experience in past seasons. The plant is smaller than I would have liked but nothing can be done about that now. The only way to change it would have been to wait for a later fruit set.

The fruit is well positioned Tony; thanks for the feedback regarding stretching those node roots near the fruit. I will work on that.

6/23/2024 11:56:02 AM

valtierra/spain

Kevin, the same thing has happened to me, have you done foliar analysis?

I'll tell you what happened to me. The nutrients in my soil are normal, well high.. what I have most in excess is calcium, sulphur, and maybe some nitrogen. the rest of the nutrients in the soil are fine. When the 3 pumpkins began to grow, the plants took some yellow leaves, the plants stopped the growth. I've gone crazy, thinking that it was magnesium, that it was iron, that it was nitrogen.. Finally, after leaf analysis, it is a combination of manganese and boron deficiency. The calcium in the soil, being so high, hinders the absorption of manganese to the roots, and in the absence of manganese, the plant takes bad nitrogen and makes poor photosynthesis. Today I started with foliar applications of manganese chelate, I did it once at the end of May, and everything seemed to be going well. Although the fruit is growing, the plant can slow down a little, but it is normal that it continues to grow if the nutrients are well balanced, you have an adequate pH in the soil, and the plant is healthy. If you have foliar analysis it would be good to look at it carefully. Good Luck

6/23/2024 4:09:33 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

Hi Ruben,
Yes, I have done a tissue test and the results were pretty great. I posted it in my diary if you would like to see it. There aren't any deficiencies that I can see.

6/23/2024 9:38:15 PM