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Colorado

Things are going pretty good so far (thanks everyone for the help). Plants have gone nuts the last week and it time to start pruning them. I have suckers growing from the first couple leaves on up. see>>> http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=331403

Does it make a difference which one I keep for my main secondary vine? Will each sucker have a chance for first truss megas? Should I keep all/some of them and just cut them off after the first truss flowers if there is no megas. So many choices....

6/13/2022 11:20:29 PM

Grittyville, WA

I have one plant that is pushing out the large solid megas on every truss... But thats the first time for me. Usually only one or two are worth considering. I have sometimes pruned them off figuring "there's not much chance of a mega on that sucker" but then after I prune it off I look at it and sure enough there was one. My advice is pay attention but don't worry too much. Something special will come along, the key is to not miss it when it does. I've overlooked many and when I stumble on it a couple weeks later its too late to get it to develop well.

6/14/2022 11:12:09 AM

Grittyville, WA

*on every sucker

6/14/2022 11:13:58 AM

Colorado

I just bit the bullet and trimmed off all the suckers but the 3rd up. I'm going to use them for my cloning experiments.

6/14/2022 9:14:51 PM

Central NY

I remove the first two side vines if they are at ground level.. if I don’t, the plants seem to want to start growing outward..and keeps better airflow. After that I’m watching each side vine(sucker) if they are strong growers they stay…if they are slow..it goes. It seems on our bigger fruit we had 3-5 side vines and the main. But we shut down the plant tips right when we make a decision. I think others may be growing more plant then we are. We’ve tried all sorts of ways of growing these…. It’s part of the fun. We also started singing to them this week. It works…trust me.

6/14/2022 10:06:06 PM

Colorado

They would most certainly die if I sang to them. I have one plant that is weaker and sprouted much slower than the others. I was talking bad about it and my wife got mad at me. told me to shutup I might hurt its feelings. "The poor little plant is right there listening to you!" sheesh.

6/15/2022 12:13:57 AM

Central NY

You can talk firm to them but never talk smack in front of them….also- you can serenade them to at least 5.71 pounds sounding like an ol crow. Good luck..patience is a virtue at this stage.

6/15/2022 7:16:44 AM

Colorado

lol your going to get yourself in trouble :P

6/16/2022 1:26:50 AM

Colorado

patience.....hummm. (gets out the dictionary)

6/16/2022 1:28:19 AM

Bloomington, IN USA

I take off the first few axillary spurs for better air flow.
I grow in cages & I try to limit the plants to 5 growing points.
The blossom trusses frequently have a growing tip also & in the past I have kept these.
Now I'm thinking, how many megas have I seen on the subsequent blossom trusses on these spurs?
Probably better off to terminate these as I see more megas on the suckers (axillary spurs).
Patience-what's that, lol

6/23/2022 5:54:48 PM