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Iowa

I am a new pumpkin grower. I currently have plastic down and my plants are now sprouting vines. Can I put newspaper down to keep the weeds from growing and will the vines go through the newspaper to the dirt? I have read you want those vines to root themselves to the ground for good growth, but I don't want the weeds. Or do I keep the plastic down and have the vines vine out on top of the plastic?

Thanks for your help.

7/15/2019 6:22:47 PM

stoughton WI

Take the plastic up, it can cause some bad issues. Not sure on the paper.

7/15/2019 9:13:29 PM

Grittyville, WA

I will take a shot.... I think wet/damp newspaper would be fine. So you'd want to cover it with another mulch or dirt. Should be fine for roots when damp. This might make it so strong weeds could push through, but most efforts involve a degree of compromise.

7/17/2019 1:06:44 PM

Eastern Pennsylvania

Giant pumpkin roots will penetrate through 2 sheets of standard newspaper. No thicker. Also you may want to put a thin layer of topsoil on top of the paper to encourage the roots to go. Best to use bagged topsoil or the exercise would be self defeating I’d think.

7/17/2019 3:56:55 PM

Syracuse, NY

I'm always right behind Orangeneck, it seems, lol---I just happened to think, HEY! maybe punching a few holes into ANYthing being used directly below the base of each leaf would still suppress weeds and yet allow more easily the roots to just go straight down to where they're gonna - eg

7/18/2019 1:19:05 AM