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Ellwood City PA

hello all! another new grower here. I think I made a big mistake i've been buried everything but the leaves my plant seems like it has two main vines and now all the second ones are shooting off of those. My vine goes about 10 feet out one way and about 4 feet the other with the main root ( i think what you guys call the stump ) in the middle buried should I uncover this or would that be bad? The plant looks great but do you think I may have ruined it by covering the stump? Thanks Spiel

7/5/2010 6:30:56 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

I call the "stump" the basal crown. Burying any part of the main vine invites disease though Squash Vine Borers will skip buried vines. Just bury the secondaries with VAM Mycorrhizae.

7/5/2010 7:12:18 PM

Ontario, Canada.

I have always buried my crowns without any problems...I have very minimal disease pressure....

7/5/2010 8:06:29 PM

Western NY

I've buried it all without problems. sometimes I wash the dirt back off with a heavy watering after the roots establish as much as they are going to, sometime I don't

7/5/2010 10:40:28 PM

Rhode Island

i have always maintain3ed that pumpkin vines and bases were intented by nature to grow above ground.
we got into the habit of burying the vines to discourage vine borers from entering the plant and also to encourage additional rooting of the plant.
by this point in the season my mains and a few ft of each side off the main are cleaned off of any soil coverings.
i never cover the base at all. why? because im cursed and if i did the base would either foam, rot or both.

7/6/2010 6:33:09 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Soil texture and history of Fusarium dictate whether burying the main will be tolerated by the plant. Access to quality contact insecticides thst are properly timed can remove all concern of SVB's anyway.

7/6/2010 8:34:41 AM

Navarre,OH

I buried my stump of my marrow weeks ago to prevent SVB's from making nurseries out of it. I was going to uncover the stump yesterday and noticed tons and tons of tiny tiny white roots everywhere when I started uncovering it so I covered it back up in a hurry. The entire stump is growing crazy roots so I guess mine is staying covered.

7/6/2010 9:32:34 AM

Joliet, IL

this is the first year in the last 3 years that i have buried the entire area at every leaf junction on both mains and secondaries to encourage more above vine tap roots to pop and make it down and around. i use to do it all the time but found in the past 3 years unburied vines were always the healthiest at the end of the year so i quit doing it. but this year i did bury while adding myc fungi on both the mains and the secondary leaf junctions for more tap roots and i went back and whiped off what didn't wash off along all the mains from rains and left the secondaries alone to get washed off eventually. the problem was a missed one spot on one of my mains and a 4" segment of main and the adjoining leaf junction were buried only with about a little over a half inch still covering it completely. when i noticed the section with dirt still on it 5 days ago, i went to wipe it away and i found to my dsimay a girdled soft main vine that ended up shriveling and rotting 2 days completely after discovering it. i was too late and lost the plant from the stump to almost the pumpkin and now just slowly growing the pumpkin for a halloweeny. we had a very heavy rainfall total in june up to about 10 days ago. i am sure the wet soil on the vine contnuously could't have helped. no borer holes and diligent weekly spraying means insects were not a problem and didligent disease control has been going on since late may with all the rain humidity and heat early on. not sure the exact reason or specified the rot spore or disease yet and i have a sample for a lab and may have it tested. but realized one good solid lesson, i will not bury my main at any point ever again. once bitten twice shy.

7/6/2010 11:33:42 AM

Pataskala,OH

These plants have so many roots already that adding 3 or 4 more roots at the stump probably has no/minimal effect on the plant. There are literally thousands of roots already you could dig 5 feet away from the stump and run into roots.why risk rot burying the stump if there is probably not that great of an advantage? Of course I could be totally wrong on this.lol

7/6/2010 2:19:02 PM

Ellwood City PA

Wow! Thanks for all the help everybody, i never expected so many replys! I guess I will leave things the way they are and hope for the best. I'm now wondering should I at least cut off all the leaves around were I think the stump is under the dirt? And do I start a pumkin on the main line or one of the seconds? Thanks again everyone! Spiel

7/6/2010 4:28:13 PM

Georgetown, Ontario

I bury everything and have never had a disease problem. I have enough things to worry about and I figure if I can't see it I can't worry about it :)

7/6/2010 6:47:59 PM

Navarre,OH

Nic so your telling me even after finding hundreds to thousands of tiny roots coming off every square inch of my stump I should uncover it anyway? Also at all my leaf nodes where buried there are taproots coming off the top and bottom of the vine. lol Found that out today. haha
Seems everywhere on my vine I want to unbury there are roots that would be exposed. I see your guys points to uncovering them but this thing literally has roots almost every square inch the dirt is touching the vines. I did not use myco because I cannot afford it. lol

7/6/2010 7:02:51 PM

Navarre,OH

My main is nearing the 32' mark so I'm doubting anything is wrong with the vine itself.

7/6/2010 7:04:34 PM

Joliet, IL

i have a small section of main vine that split on its own with growth right where a secondary and main meet about 2' from my 991 stump. a very aggressive secondary reached over when laying down and after rooting itself started to tear a little fissure at the junction. it was noticed with minor rot in the fissure because it was unburied. if buried i would have never saw it. it was cleaned, brown tissue removed, covered with a small white patio table, captan placed on it and dried with a fan that is still blowing on it today. l left it in place and that area is totally healed and now only one third of inch wide and i inch long. if the main was buried right there and out of site at that point, i would haven't noticed it until later in the game when too late. i have read where don young has had multiple fans running at multiple places on each plant's main through out the season to keep the major ambilical cord in tact and rot free. my feeling about the secondaries is not as critical as the main. the amount of tap roots i have encouraged from burying only at leaf juntions is silly compared to other years so i get the benefits completely. just not on the mains from here on out for me.

7/6/2010 9:43:09 PM

Navarre,OH

Uhggg all this talk about rotting vines/stumps has me scared to keep mine covered roots or not. I'm torn on what to do. :( I dont want my first year at vining giants to be cut short because of something I couldnt see because of buried vines.

7/6/2010 10:00:54 PM