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Colorado

I had a female about 15 out on the main. It stopped growing at about 3" dia. 2 weeks ago and I cut it off then. The main is now at least 30' long and there are several new females coming on there. The first and second side vines (from the stump)are about 20 feet long and both have baseball sized females that appear to be growing. The second vine's fruit is the biggest so far (for the whole plant)and grew an inch in circumference since yesterday morning. Still it is only softball sized today. My question is: Would I be better off to get one of the ones at the end of the 30' main going or go ahead and cull all other females and bury the vines? I read where the power comes from behind the pumpkin so only the first and second side vines would be powering this one? I would hate to do the wrong thing and get the big one going in the wrong place.
This is a huge plant and it would be great if on the main is better even if it is 30' out.

8/8/2004 3:13:05 PM

Syracuse, NY

concerning the length of your secondaries, i'd like to suggest that you terminate them a couple of feet past the
last pumpkin you have set on each. the secondaries should not be allowed to grow past about 15 feet in any direction, as beyond 17 feet they become more of a sink of energy than a source:::they start fending for themselves and don't contribute all that much to the momma plant anymore.

www.homestead.com/henryholman/pumpkins.htm

try this website, and check-out the section called
"henry's rules on pruning" you will learn much from this
section, as well as the rest of the site!
ummm, my OWN ideal set-set-up has always been:
one main set on the main vine, and two total other sets,
one on each side of the plant. a triangle of giant pumpkins on the plant from above, the two on the secondaries being
primarily shock absorbers for the main one and for each other. i dunno when your season will be over, but i would
pollinate the ones on the main vine, and, judging by the date that they were each pollinated, cull-off the slowest growing ones after about 2.5 weeks, or whenever you can make a judgement, and the whole time keep the ones you have on those far-out secondaries, until you can see which ones of all those ones is the fastest-growing.....eliminations,
i guess you would call it. perhaps you will end up with
the fastest-growing one being on the main vine, but i myself have had the fastest one growing on the secondary
and they were BOTH pollinated the same day....

8/9/2004 6:51:55 PM

Syracuse, NY

hmmmmm, July 18th, and by the time the weighoff came around on September 30th or so, hmmmmmm....about 2.4 months, the one on the main vine had been culled off of there and i ended up with
a 421 Est. wt. and a 632.5 official weight on my 845 Bobier.
okay, either weigh, i saw the secondary fruit growing faster so i culled the one off of the main vine. (421 est.)

just think, if the plant only had ONE fruit on it, where would the "energy" come from, where would it go?
i'm guessing "from the plant" and "into my pumpkin"!

so, in any event, if you cull your plant down to just one fruit progressively and thoughtfully up until about
a month from the weighoff, it only makes sense to me
that the entire plant will be contributing to the growth of that one pumpkin. in the event of multiple pumpkins, the plant will decide which one or ones will get the most
grow-juice. i should pay more attention to these discussions of these things so i can make more educated judgements for myself as well! okay, e nuf out a me----
i guess i know what I'M doing when i get home!!!
culling! eric

8/9/2004 6:52:06 PM

Colorado

Makes sense. I went out and actually measured as best I could. The first secondary was actually a little more than 20'. Whacked (again) and buried it at 15' removing three pumpkins in the process. The 2nd secondary (with the big one right at about 15' out)was every bit as long. Whacked (along with 2 new pumpkins) and buried it 3' past the pumpkin. I know 18'...17'being ultimate limit but had about 4 feet too much and have to leave some past the pumpkin. Maybe the plant hadn't read any of this and won't know about that pruning technique tip. All other secondaries are buried at 15' or less. Tirtiaries, the vines that come off of the secondaries, didn't even realize I had them. Cut about 10 tirts off the 1st and 2nd secondaries. I cut about 15 lbs. of plant off tonight and you can't really see the difference. Getting rid of the tirtiaries did make some room enough for me to take a stroll were I hadn't walked since June.
Secondaries...Tirtiaries......I am telling you last year I must have had the luck. I followed only the minimal amount of Don's free web page advise...no sea weed, no rice hulls....no electric blankets....no hormones... 498 lbs.
Thank you again Eric.

8/9/2004 11:05:01 PM