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Tasmania Australia

Hi, i have watched a few dvds and read a few of the books recommended on here, but have a few questions regarding the vine growing.

So, to start with, my patch is around the 750sqft area.
when growing the vines, i am mainly talking about the secondary vines, do i really want as much vine growth as possible to fill my area before pollinating the pumpkin?

Or can you still grow the vine out the the edges of the patch while the pumpkin has been pollinated and growing, or is best to try to get the vines out there before pollinating?

I take it you start to bury the vines as soon as possible, or do you wait until the vines have reached their desired length before burying them?

Do you bury the main vine like you do the secondaries or is this best left above the ground?

And lastly, when you have chosen which pumpkin to go with, do you still run the main vine and secondaries on after it or just terminate the main vine a few feet after it?

Sorry for all the questions, just having a few problems trying to find an answer to there few.

If anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
Peter.

4/15/2014 5:00:08 AM

Germany

Step-by-step answers:

- You want an early pollination, because the fruit can grow for more than 100 days (putting on some 3-4 lbs around day 100 is very likely), and therefore I would not want to wait for another 2 weeks with pollination. During the first 3 or 4 weeks after polllination the plant will continue to grow like crazy, because the little pumpkin does not need too many from the minerals and from the goodies the plant produces.

- You want to have some growing vine tips until the end of the season, because the growing vine tips make the plant feel young and healthy, and the plant will continue to have young and productive leaves ready for support of the pumpkin.

- No vine borers in Australia, I suppose, and therefore you better wait and keep the vines exposed to air and bury only the leaf nodes (to stimulate growth of two tap roots).

- You can leave the main vine above the ground (or you bury the leaf nodes only).

- In case of a good fruit position and a rather long stem and a nice S-curve, you should let the main vine continue to grow (and if possible some secondaries), because if the plant makes troubles around the stump (foamer) you will have plenty of healthy plant available on the other side of the pumpkin.

4/15/2014 5:18:10 AM

Stanwood, Washington

The big ones seem to grow best from the 10-15 foot range. So shoot for a pollination in that zone. The secondaries will continue to fill out after pollination so don't worry about their length when considering pollination.

You should bury every single node on the main and the secondaries. they will put out a second tap root out of the top of the vine if you do this.

Don't bury the nodes on the main vine until the secondary vine tip is clear of the area you are burying. If you bury the tip of the secondary it is likely to stop growing.

Keep the main vine going after the pumpkin. Having younger growth out in front will back feed the fruit and it will really help late in the season when the older parts of the plant start to die off.

4/15/2014 4:48:22 PM

Tasmania Australia

Cheers, some very good and helpful information there, greatly appreciated.

Now this is going to sound really silly and may give you a laugh, but here it is:

You both have been talking about the leaf nodes on the main and secondary vines,
i am thinking the leaf nodes are the part of the plant where the leaf sprouts from, is this correct? please correct me if i am wrong.

If this is correct so far, are you saying only really cover the vine around the base of each leaf stem when it has formed and leave the rest of the vine exposed?

I know is is a silly question and you may be laughing, but this is the only part that has me a little confused.
Sorry about this.
Cheers.
Peter.

4/16/2014 2:12:34 AM

Germany

No worries, you are right, the leaf node is that part of the vine where a set of things emerge: the leaf, the tendril, a flower, a new vine (a secondary or a tertiary...depending on whether you are talking about a leaf node on a main or secondary vine, respectively) and one or two tap roots (usually one tap root on the base and one on top of the vine...the latter will develop in case of soil covered leaf nodes). Whereas you usually don´t pay particular attention to the development of tendrils or tertiary vines, you are interested in secondaries, leaves, flowers and tap roots. Therefore, before you bury the leaf node make sure the things of interest are properly developed and won´t be covered with soil, i.e., the secondaries should be long enough before you cover leaf nodes on the main vine, and the male flower buds should be long enough to reach out of the little mound of soil. Would be bad to have limited access to male flowers on pollination day just because you had buried the leaf nodes too early and the flower buds died in their grave.
Also, don´t bury leaf nodes around where you want to pollinate the female. Instead, create an S-curve in the vine.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=3&p=478852

4/16/2014 3:15:00 AM

Germany

...and yes, leave the rest of the vine exposed. If you don´t have issues with vine borers you don´t need to hide the vine underground.

4/16/2014 3:16:22 AM

Tasmania Australia

Cheers, all makes perfect sense now and easy to understand.
Oh and thanks for the link, some good information in there also.
Appreciated.

4/16/2014 5:10:58 AM