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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Sunday, June 16, 2024
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Pumpking
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Germany
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Entry 18 of 31 |
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Crown of another AG plant in my patch, same points A, B and C, which are of interest, so you can see the systematic thing about the "Crown Cosmetics". Usually, I do that when the plant starts to develop a decent main vine (when the main is about 2 - 3 ft long). Itīs my personal choice to do that around that age or size of the plant, because I think doing it earlier has the disadvantage that removal of some leaves would mean a removal of a significant fraction of leaf surface and thus weakens the plant for a while. Doing it later has the disadvantage of progressed vine growth around the crown, the first few secondaries are getting thicker, and removal will cause larger wounds, which cause more loss of juice and which take a bit longer to heal. ...and why do I do that at all? There are some reasons: 1) You want to keep the crown part of the plant dry. Hence, there should be good air flow around the crown (not a jungle). 2) You want to let the plant know that it should push the juice flow forward to the tip of the main vine (rather than making the first few secondaries grow horribly strong). 3) You want to avoid stress to the vine. In contrast to the regular vine pattern, where the secondaries emerge perpendicular to the main in a nice horizontal way and lay down flat to the ground, the first few nodes of the vine exhibit different directions of secondariesī growth (up or down, back or forward), which isnīt helpful for the vine pattern. Also, that part of the main itself is not flat to the ground, and strong winds and the weight of the first few leaves (and tension by secondaries, which grow rather upwards) can twist that part of the main and cause cracks. The initially superficial growth cracks can then easily get deeper and can become open cracks, an entrance for diseases.
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